Ceal Floyer at Museion

Museion opens its 2014 programme with a solo exhibition by Ceal Floyer.

With their characteristic simplicity, wry irony and keen sense of the absurd, the works of Ceal Floyer (b. 1968) destabilise our perception of apparently familiar objects and situations. Her precise interventions on everyday items highlight the unexpected interstices between sight, reality, language and perception.

The artist, who took part in the exhibition Light Lab in Museion’s previous venue in 2005, now tackles the vast area on the fourth floor of the new building. She contrasts this imposing space with the imperceptibly light touch and ironic approach that her work is known for, focusing our attention on how we perceive each work, and thus raising the issue of how perception functions in general.

Floyer’s works explore the interstices between sight, reality and language, and from this point of view the titles are key to understanding and appreciating her creations. The objects she picks out, like Duchamp’s ready mades, take on a life of their own thanks to the titles she gives them.

Most of the pieces in the exhibition, curated by Letizia Ragaglia, play with the apparent clarity and directness of visual perception: from new, specially created works like the installation Blick (2014), inspired by the museum’s architecture, to a selection of videos and installations from public and private collections, such as Scale (2007), Long Distance Diptych (2009) and Overhead Projection (2006). As a whole the show offers a subtle, original alternative to the classic canons of academic art, prompting a rethink of the exhibition space, the visitor’s presence and the white cube model.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue in three languages (Italian, German, English) with texts by Christina Ritchie, Sergio Edelsztein and Letizia Ragaglia.