PlayTime

Around the two pillars of the exhibition space, a rhythmic rail in bent steel slips in and mimics a simplified version of the roller coaster we know from amusement parks or flea markets. At knee height stands a series of suction cup arrows that have been sucked to the floor as if it was the target of a shooting tent, and at the end of each arrow we find the prize; a synthetic rose. In the installation PlayTime, Signe Rohardt Lund examines the anatomy and self-narrative of the amusement park; a place dedicated to optimizing a sense of free play, fun and leisure, and which is enshrined in our childhood memories of endless summer vacations. Between stalls and carousels, Rohardt Lund stages how the experience-economic framework of the place sets up a capitalist space of opportunity, where excitement and freedom are among the prizes promised. The installation balances on the edge of the recognizable, like a theme park, whose narrative opens up to the viewer’s own narratives. The exhibition title Seeders draws on peer-to-peer file sharing, where the term covers the user who uploads the original file to a file sharing platform. From here, others, leechers, can download it and share it in an endless cycle. Throughout the three exhibitions, Rohardt Lund, Cygan and Jung share thoughts, observations and images of a contemporary stretched out between capitalist demands for efficiency and profit optimization, and the need to look inward and direct a gentle attention to what we come from and that, which we sow. The exhibition is kindly supported by the Danish Arts Foundation and Aarhus Municipality.