Artist: Merlin Carpenter
Exhibition title: Stress Busters
Venue: Kunstraum Schwaz, Schwaz, Austria
Date: February 10 – May 4, 2024
Photography: all images © Verena Nagl/Kunstraum Schwaz / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Kunstraum Schwaz
Note: Exhibition floor plan is available here
A dead rat lies in the field outside the
window. Its dark fur glows in the white
snow. I stand in the kitchen sorting pens.
I turn to the newspaper rack in the corner. A
thin layer of dust coats the magazines and
journals. A puzzle activity book peeks out
from beneath the layers. „Large print
puzzles. Puzzle fun at a glance.“
The activity book is from 2012 and no one
missed it or looked for it. There are a few
entries on two pages, the rest are blank.
I sit down and study the predefined black
and white squares. When I find the right
word, I enter a state of rapturous
enthusiasm. Searching and finding transfers
the longing of “remaining open” to
everything else.
Strange that this activity book should
appear right now and function as a filler for
the inconsequential in-between times –
between lunch and an afternoon stroll,
between hair drying and calling Susanne,
between entering the waiting room and
being called in, between a glass of red wine
in the evening and going to bed.
– Nadja Ayoub
