Lars Laumann
11.03 - 20.03.22
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:
IN THE CLOSET⃣ presents new work “Untitled Wallpaper (Hercules, 38 years)“ by Lars Laumann
In “Untitled Wallpaper (Hercules 38 years)”, Lars Laumann documents the used walls of the famous gay sauna of Oslo city "Hercules" (Saunahuset Hercules). The establishment served as a liberal haven for the gay, the bi and the curious men of Norway since 1984. Where nobody cared who, where and what you were, this house existed as a place of desire, fantasies and the fulfilment of dreams. On February 28th 2022 the doors of the premises were permanently closed.
Through this work, Laumann moves around the space with a photo camera, in the footsteps of the many anonymous visitors, documenting the stories of repetitive actions that are left behind on the walls. His eyes are caught by paint peeling off in layers in the interior of the sauna. Those peeling paint clusters are the documentation of countless anonymous sexual encounters, the acts of mechanical movement that accumulated in the specific points of the interior and social architecture of the space. Painted over and over again throughout the decades of use, these flaking spots of repetition, the act of catharsis, the patterns. These "fixes" become archaeological dig sites printed onto wallpaper documenting countless sexual/anonymous encounters over the decades.
Special thanks goes to Yogi Smila!
Lars Laumann b. 1975, Brønnøysund, Norway. Lives and works in Brønnøysund, Norway and Marseille, France. Best known as an Norwegian artist working with video art, Laumann has also throughout been working with textiles and printmaking.
He most recently participated in “Every moment counts. Feelings of AIDS” at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Norway, “100 YEARS OF CONVIVIALITY: what you can see is what you can imagine “at Kunstnernes Hus Oslo. In 2021 he was awarded Bodø 2024 grant for developing a new project for Lofoten International Art Festival (LIAF) 2022.
