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Helga Steppan

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Belongings Apart, The Book, 2007
Belongings Apart, The Book, 2007
'BELONGINGS APART', 2007.
'Belongings Apart' takes the process of documentation further by internalizing it as its artistic principle. Steppan asked different people each to lend her one transparent object belonging to them. Next, she documented the physical spaces once occupied by these objects in the owners� private interiors. In some of the images, the void left by the missing object is glaringly obvious, like the melancholic emptiness of a trinket box that might once have contained a piece of jewelry. At other times, the disappearance of the object seems to leave no significant mark on
the interior.

Steppan also asked each person to compose a piece of text about the object they lent her and incorporated these personal accounts into the work having first suppressed the name of the object to which they relate. Finally she combined all of the individual transparent objects to produce a single sculptural installation. Displaced from their original environment, erased from the accounts describing their meaning and juxtaposed with other objects in a new context they become anonymous and subject to multiple different readings and interpretations.
See-through, 2006, Installation.
See-through, 2006, Installation.
personal accounts into the work having first suppressed the name of the object to which they relate. Finally she combined all of the individual transparent objects to produce a single sculptural installation. Displaced from their original environment, erased from the accounts describing their meaning and juxtaposed with other objects in a new context they become anonymous and subject to multiple different readings and interpretations.

�Belongings Apart� questions the extent to which an object or possession can ever represent its owner or hold particular meaning and invites the audience to discover its own associations in the work. The Transparency of the objects provides only a faint trace of the narratives that these objects used to be part of.
Belongings Apart, 2007, C-type Print. Image 01
Belongings Apart, 2007, C-type Print. Image 01
Belongings Apart, 2007, C-type Print. Image 02
Belongings Apart, 2007, C-type Print. Image 02
Belongings Apart, 2007, C-type Print. Image 03
Belongings Apart, 2007, C-type Print. Image 03
�Belongings Apart� questions the extent to which an object or possession can ever represent its owner or hold particular meaning and invites the audience to discover its own associations in the work. The Transparency of the objects provides only a faint trace of the narratives that these objects used to be part of.

Belongings Apart, Link�ping 21 August 2006. Image 01 left:
I remember the object from my childhood home. It was standing on the side table in the dining room. My thoughts wander on to the dining table where the whole family sat gathered during dinner. It is a beloved memory to me. Maybe it can tie together generations.

Belongings Apart, Stockholm 12 August 2006. Image 02 left:
The object is a souvenir from our trip to China. It was bought next to the ring wall in Xian (China's old capital). Parts of the object are made by hand and the man that we bought it from also made it. We liked the object a lot as it reminds us of a fantastic trip. We lend it to you because we hope it can spread mystical Asian fragrance.

Belongings Apart, London 11 June 2007. Image 03 left:
Well, for me, their meaning comes from their function. I don't have emotional attachment to these things, apart from the fact that I Quite like them. They also make some things easier. One holds things together. One I'm not certain about, but I think it hold things in place, and the other one, ...holds things too I suppose. Being transparent has got nothing to do with what they do.
See-through, 2007, Installation.
See-through, 2007, Installation.
BELONGINGS APART, The Book,
ISBN-13 978-0-9556292-0-4

Belongings Apart has been published as a book, containing 89 photographs and texts written by the participants of the project. With an introductory essay "Live/Work On belongings, longings, being together and being a part" written by �sa St�hl.

'Belongings Apart', is available to buy from a variety of bookshops in Sweden and UK. Or you can buy it from the artist for �14 + postage.
Contact: [email protected]

If you are interested in stocking 'Belongings Apart', contact the artist for further information.

Malmo
Sweden
Europe
T: +46 7378 21146
F:
M: +44 77 2929 7069
w: http://cargocollective.com/helgasteppan




 Web Links
Man&Eve; Gallery, London (UK)
Helga Steppan website (work-in-process)
TPD_The Production Department, London/New York (UK/US)
ArtNews.org
Parallelistic Imitations / Solo Exhibition 2010
Be long a part / Solo Exhibition 2008
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