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The search of meaning in what we see and what we experience is inherent to mankind. To explain the world and to communicate with each other we have created signs which represent things outside and within us. The oldest systems that represent reality are iconographics, they are based on drawings which try to «copy» what we want to preserv of the real world. At the beginning, the association is direct: object-sign. However, gradually the distance between them became larger and more arbitrary. The numerical system as well as the alphabet are arbitrary systems whos structure has to be learned. The difference is that the number transmits a concept by it self but the letter represents a sound in the structure of the language and does not have a meaning of its own (although there are some people who affirm the contrary). The relation between numbers and letters has fascinated many in the search of new meaning.
Heterogénesis has the privilege to have professor Jean Sellem as Guest Director for this issue. Professor Sellem has choosen to concentrate on the northamerican artist Karen Shaw, who works with numbers and letters in a very special way. She creates relationships between numbers and letters in images paraphrasing and questioning our highly propaganda oriented culture. Specially interesting are her «price lists», like the ones we usually get with different kinds of offerts, although with concepts: Disgust and Dazeling for 99 while Forgiveness for «only» 39. Jean Sellem is born in France and has been living in Sweden for the last three decades. He introduced the international avangarde during the 70's and 80's in Sweden from his gallery in the heart of Lund.
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Box 760, 220 07 Lund
- SWEDEN
Tel/Fax: +46 (46) 15 93 07
E-mail:
heterogenesis@heterogenesis.com