Ohlsson/Dit-Cilinn at CINNNAMON

Artists: Ohlsson/Dit-Cilinn

Exhibition title: Tadpole

Venue: CINNNAMON, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Date: June 4 – July 9, 2016

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and CINNNAMON, Rotterdam

“In Tadpole , nature is found in the many skin-like, noduled or porous surfaces.   The synthetic body is the continuation of nature, not separate.”

The tadpole, as the larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, is a simple organism that holds a huge potential for transformation, making it a perfect analogy of metamorphosis and self- realization. Its sleek, wet appearance and its shape are the visual features used as the formal access point to the exhibition, since the resemblance of the tadpole to the sperm cell incorporates wonderfully the theme of the human body evolution presented in the exhibition.

Ohlsson/Dit-Cilinn have a deep and personal interest in the various forms of meta-programming and spiritual practice: methods are used by the artist duo to ﬁnd a common ground of dialogue between the metanarratives of transcendence – accomplished by the mind, by means of meditation – and separation – experienced by the body, by means of the skin.

In Tadpole, the sculptures are created as devices for consciousness manipulation, which have the same purpose of “poetic technology” as the mirror that John C. Lilly (philosopher, neuroscientist) used during a meditation technique he named “cyclopsing”: by leaning his head against a mirror, he would immerse himself in the reﬂection of his face and consequently enter a deep trance (thanks also to the use of Ketamine). He would transcend both his bodily image and the steel barrier of the object.

In such a way, the sculptures serve as vehicles-of-thought through which the viewers confront themselves with the themes of post-post modernism, post religiousness and the mystical present; the viewer has then the possibility to elaborate on the ambiguous socio-political implications that the presented art works have.

In this artiﬁcial ambience, various existing objects are rebuilt and rearranged in such a way that they lose –par ally or entirely- their original function in order to create new entities that have such a speciﬁc visual conﬁguration that they looks organic, sometimes almost biological, living.

The transcendental nature of the exhibition is ﬁrstly experienced through the body, by perceiving the connection between the ﬂesh and the artiﬁcial material of the art works, and after a while “neither mind nor matter holds priory over the other, but instead ﬂow back and forth in mutual states of potentiality and actuality.” (Jonatan Ahlm Brenander)

–Marth von Loeben

Ohlsson/Dit-Cilinn (David Ohlsson, Sweden, 1985, and Dit-Cilinn, Sweden, 1983), have been working together since 2007. They have exhibited at Canal|05, Brussels; Regina Rex, New York; Museo de la Ciudad, Querétaro; Vita Rosen, Gothenburg; CMU Gallery, Chiang Mai among others.

Ohlsson/Dit-Cilinn, Cyclops (The study of Nature is Intercourse with the Highest Mind), 2016
Othalanga seed, silicone, plastic, clay, nylon, metal, mirror