Lisa Jeannin

Between March 20 and April 8, the Greek Vilhelm together with the Russians Janne and Kokos, will be staying in Index’s storefront gallery. During the opening night on March 20 these gentlemen – together with Lisa Jeannin – will play on a pedalsteel guitar in an installation entitled Island, constructed specifically for this situation and their stay at Index. This however does not indicate that Index will be turned into a temporary batchelor’s den – or maybe it does – since Vilhelm, Janne and Kokos are not just a couple of normal guys – or maybe they are. …there is room for ambiguity…but what can definitely be established here is that Vilhelm, Janne and Kokos are tortoises, usually living together with Lisa Jeannin, a student graduating this year from Malmö Art Academy.

The World of Fables is a classic example of how animals through the agency of mankind enter a human state of being, communicating with each other in a way normally observed in people. This classic tale serves as an important source of inspiration for Lisa Jeannin, but her artistic world does not take off or end here, while the subject matter that she explores in her performative work rather borders on phenomena such as perception and communication. Her sculpture Submarine (1996) is yet another example, with the viewer placed lying down in a small submarine, watching the artist’s drawings through a periscope. Perception and communication are basic characteristics that are shared by both people and animals, sometimes uniting the two, creating a feeling of community. In the case of Lisa, Vilhelm, Janne and Kokos, this unification is initiated in music, and in a common appreciation of the low, intensive bass chords in music from heavy-metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Motörhead, though the quartet’s performance at Index will probably stand out as much more experimental.

Mats Stjernstedt

In connection with the exhibition, Index offers Lisa Jeannin’s CDs for sale; Soundtrack for a Movie (2000, 20 mins), och Soundtrack for a World with four turtles who use sensors triggering a tape recorder with music from that place (1999, 20 mins, in collaboration with Kristoffer Lindgren)

Lisa Jeannin’s exhibition is part of the Index Projects series; small format exhibitions running parallel with our regular exhibition programme.