Artist: John Bohl (with anonymous)
Exhibition title: A Place Before a Name
Venue: Wild Flower, Baltimore, US
Date: July 18, 2016
Photography: images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Wild Flower
A
You are standing in a forest…
NORTH is a moss covered stone staircase.
> look at staircase
A
You feel in the pit of your stomach that you have trespassed.
>north
A
You walk up the stairs. There are the ruins of a small structure. WEST is the front door.
>west
A
As you turn the corner, in your periphery, you see a figure inside. They appear to paint a canvas laid against the dilapidated wall. When you stand in the empty door frame you see no one. A painting rests on the wall.
NORTH is the painting.
>north
A
You approach the painting. It lifts itself up hurriedly and settles blocking the right window. A light crawls out from beneath the soggy chimney. More things follow, pouring themselves outward.
>look at the light
A
You stare into the light and begin to lose consciousness. In your mind you hear a voice speaking calmly. It says, enunciating emphatically…
“Objects are not permanent as they appear. Piaget told us how hard it is for humans to learn to accept this illusion as infants. Things are coming together and breaking apart at the same time, unendingly. Being meat, you mustn’t like to dwell on this fact for too long.”
You awake feeling rested. The lights and objects have gone. Your final score was 185,600.
John Bohl, Untitled, 2015
John Bohl, Untitled, 2016
John Bohl, Untitled, 2016
John Bohl, Untitled, 2016
John Bohl, Untitled, 2016
John Bohl, Untitled, 2016
John Bohl with anonymous, Untitled, 2015