Events/Openings

The big size installation “The Whiteness of the Whale part IV” by Charlotte McGowan-Griffin is the beginning of the exhibition series “Espace Surplus Le Grand” curated by Bettina Springer. This series of large scale, voluminous installations, which in their site-specificity create a poetic symbiosis with their surrounding, artistically transforms the marvellous architecture, inviting the public – just for a limited time and just Between You and Me.

The reference of “The Whiteness of the Whale part IV” is simple: Melvilles Moby Dick. But unlike this malicious creature Charlotte McGowan-Griffin seems to have pulled ashore an animal that does not pose any threat at all. The multiple “Cuttings” of the slit white paper as the “skin” of the whale rather alludes to its vulnerability. Introducing the “White” apart from the citation also creates a link to white as a seemingly untouchable and in its proclaimed purity dominant “colour”. All the same the innocence of the animal shines through.
The whale as we are seeing it here is only threatening by its size if at all. The massive presence of this stranded titan with its quite delicate and detailed appearance reflects perfectly the character of its surrounding – presenting itself like a giant jewel from ancient times – aged and damaged over time but still bright and radiant from inside.