Ida Ekblad MarIus Engh anawana haloba lars lauMann - Statoil

1. Friedrich Nietzsche,
The Birth of Tragedy (1886).
Installation view: Lycanthropic Chamber, 2008, StAndArd (OSlO), Oslo, Norway
It is at this point that we manage to glimpse
(in what seemed to be dry and essential
geometric forms) the dismantling of tools of
torture, objects that in some way lead back
to the human figure, contemplating it as the
subject of its function. These objects have
assumed a different and almost opposite
formal value to the originals, which were used
as the analytical instruments of a particular
point of view and which have transformed
their nature into a narrative element. What
seems to be the effective subject of this
transformation is the myth hidden behind the
image of the lycanthrope.
Myth, closely linked to the concept of
history and archaeology, serves as a reference
point for reflection in Engh’s work. The artist’s
research is linked to Myth in a similar way. He
searches for those traces that go beyond what
is visible, pushing into the universe of thought
where the attainment of reality occurs through
intangible and indemonstrable forms, the
abstract concept to which the artist reduces
the form originally carrying specific meanings
The Greek word “mythos”, the meaning of
which can be expressed by the concept of
“irrational discourse” or legend, immediately
indicates to us the almost “supernatural” sphere
to which it refers. In this perspective, the work
of the artist can be re-interpreted as the search
for myth and its roots, for myth in its multitude
of meanings but especially as the guide, spirit
and soul of history and humanity.
In our days we are much concerned with killing
the myth. Today humans are left deprived of
the myth, starving among all its antecedents
and have to dig in panic for roots, even if it
should be in the distant antique past. 1
According to existential psychologist Rollo May,
contemporary society is in crisis because of
its loss of values and consequently of identity.
May, reflecting on Nietzsche’s claim that God
is dead, concludes that new myths must be
sought and created to symbolise new values
that will help and sustain Man in his endeavours
to improve his existence.
If we start from this assumption, Engh’s
latest project Exhume To Consume can be
better understood; more than the others, it
enters into a dialogue directly with myth, its
necessity and its creation.
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