HR GIGER & MIRE LEE
The Depths of the Human Psyche Explored by Two Brilliant and Complex Minds
The human psyche is a complex place, with continuous paths to explore in the darkest aisles of the human body. The current HR Giger & Mire Lee exhibition presented at the Schinkel Pavilion delves into this, and presents a journey through two brilliant artists’ minds.
Curated by Agnes Gryczkowska, and assisted by Hendrike Nagel, the HR Giger & Mire Lee exhibition cleverly juxtaposes the work of late Swiss visionary artist HR Giger and the South Korean artist Mire Lee confronting viewers with their individual perspectives and approaches. What a pairing to present Giger’s surrealist and other-worldly works with Lee’s ‘organisms’ of existence. They explore themes of extremity in their own way, confronting and thought-provoking, the way great art indeed be.
With newly-commissioned works by Lee, the Schinkel Pavilion is activated with her kinetic sculptures and alchemic installations; one sculpture spins endlessly in loops on the floor, another Carriers – offsprings (2021) suspends from the ceiling. Made up of bulbous multi-limbed creatures, they are fed with viscous liquids pumped through motor-driven tubes, reminiscent of umbilical cords, that occasionally squirt. Lee, born in 1988, explores sexuality, corporeality and technology in her works.
Giger, born in 1940 and whom transcended in 2014, is best known as the ‘father’ of Xenomorph – the protagonist monster in Ridley Scott’s 1979 film ‘Alien’. A painter, sculptor and designer, his works are saturated in meaning and message. As a late surrealist, the exhibition presents the artist’s oil paintings, ink drawings, sculptures, as well as previously un-exhibited private diaries: his Gesamtkunstwerk. His diaries highlight the age-defying Freudian horror and societal fears so deeply implanted in his work. Surprisingly, this is the first institutional exhibition of Giger’s work in Germany.
Described as a “equally seductive and dystopian scenario” the exhibition is both intriguing and evocative, with the two artists’ worlds combined raising questions of the future for both human and machine, individual and combined.
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HR GIGER & MIRE LEE
18 September – 16 January, 2022
Schinkel Pavilion
Oberwallstraße 32, 10117 Berlin, Germany
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