ACTION ON HOLD is a three-part exhibition and artist residency, on display at Green Hill Gallery hosted by Kulturschöpfer between December 2020 and February 2021, investigating subliminal responses to the current global pandemic. Over the course this period, the gallery space will be deconstructed and re-assembled twice, concluding at the end of February. When we perceive danger, the body elicits one of three automatic responses that are out of our control but which aim to protect us from immediate harm. Each reaction is the result of a complex chain of hormonal and physiological changes designed solely for our survival. But what happens when our actions are put on hold? Where do we turn to in order to secure our own safety when the threat we seek to overcome is one affecting so many aspects of our lives?
In an attempt to address some of these concerns, artists Florent Lubienicki (FR), Silvia Sarsano (IT), Jeremy Philip Knowles (UK), Audriana Acuña (USA) and Kon Turner (DE) present a varied and personal response to life under pressure by exploring how we react to moments of crisis.
ACTION ON HOLD part I: THE SYBIL
"A hundred doors a hundred entries grace; As many voices issue, and the sound Of Sybil’s words as many times rebound.” - The Aeneid, book VI, Virgil
As a reaction to times of extreme uncertainty, we retreat inwards. The current closures and circumstances force us to seek comfort in the internal worlds that we in perpetuity, are constructing for ourselves. Our insides serve as a sanctuary, lest our inner demons be summoned by fears and anxieties, shinning a light on the sometimes illusory rituals of protection we have all invoked from an imperceptible threat. If we can’t be totally safe within ourselves then who do we turn to in moments of immeasurable crisis? We invite you to the entrance of the cave of our Sybil. We must pass through 100 entrances in order to ask our most pressing questions. The Sybil may have the answers to restore order to our personal worlds, but they are jumbled and cryptic, requiring deep listening and divination to interpret. Try as you might, you may find exactly what you seek or you may be left with gibberish, disappointed and more confused than before starting the journey to the Sybil’s cave. During profound moments of instability, people often look for answers in religion or belief systems, from partners, friends or a therapist. We may find ourselves looking for answers externally, but often what is most needed and overlooked is the ability to hear our own voice. Our Sibyl is you, what could you say to yourself to feel the most comforted? Using the cave doors as a reference to the entrance of our own inner world, we listen and feel for a sense of certainty. The sounds we hear may provide us with comfort but their undertones also contain a of warning. It is the balance of the two opposing inner voices that may help us to find our equilibrium. For this exhibition, we as artists find ourselves are working in new mediums to expand past our own habits and limitations. Using qualities of the immaterial; light and sound, we play with the contradictions of seeking answers to impossible questions, and to the duality of safety in illusions.