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A Mythical New Universe: Lina Iris Viktor at Sir John Soane’s Museum
Past-meets-future-meets-myth in this dreamlike exhibition...
By
Rhea Mathur
October 31, 2024
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
With her new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lina Iris Viktor responds to the British architect’s elaborate collection that decorates three floors of his home/museum. Designed by Sir John Soane, a Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy, the home-turned-museum was intended for architecture students to interact with classical art and architecture in the form of paintings, sculptures, architectural fragments, books, drawings and furniture. The thousands of objects in the museum span the Ancient civilisations of Egypt and Rome, finding their way to modern and contemporary art. Viktor hones in on the museum’s expansive collection as a journey not just across the globe, but also space and time, reaching for something beyond. This new exhibition is a harmonious intermingling of artists, collectors and cultures to explore a world beyond our constant reality, looking past wars and histories, and searching for a deeper meaning, perhaps one that brings us all together.
Walking through the museum in search of Viktor’s work, which is spread across all three floors, evokes a sensation akin to a treasure hunt. A map handed upon entry marks the rooms where her work can be found and is surprisingly easy in a house where each room is filled to the brim with spectacular, historical objects - largely due to the Liberian-British artist’s use of 24-carat gold. The artist mirrors the collection in her use of a mixture of media, including materials such as matte canvas, bronze, black bronze, acrylic and wood. Most works in this exhibition are also dusted with gold, allowing them to contrast Soane’s collection encompassing treasures such as the alabaster (a translucent stone) sarcophagus of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I. The focus on white limestone, marble, granite, plaster and ceramic in the collection allows Viktor’s materials to draw attention, bringing African histories into the mix with more Euro-centric objects. For her, gold, bronze and silk are materials she is naturally drawn to that also emphasise the complex economic, historic and cultural significance of these commodities in West Africa. These materials also present a sheen and colour, playing with light that brings darkness to the space, an unexplored dimension.
In the Museum’s Crypt are two chairs titled the Ritual Throne I and the Ritual Throne II, made from gold gilded oak and designed by the artist as an exploration into the play between light and dark. Placing these shiny, golden chairs in a dark, basement in London, forces the audience to think about the extraction of these precious metals from deep within the Earth’s surface and their journey across the globe. The chairs sit on either end of the central room of the Crypt, reflecting all the light in the room. They are made of oak wood that has been thinly covered with a gold leaf creating a texture similar to thin aluminium foil covering a surface; in this way, the gold does not mask the oak but rather allows its edges, bends and curves to come through. The chairs do not come across as polished and perfect thrones but rather as objects that cover a different history within themselves.
With the chairs sitting on the same level as a sarcophagus, the collaboration between the artist and the architect takes us through a journey across histories, focusing on objects that outlast our legacies. Looking across dimensions and into the Earth’s surface, the audience is also allowed a look into Viktor’s theory of blackness as the primary material or materia prima, the substance from which the universe is born. The exhibition simultaneously asks its audience to speculate history that is not Euro-centric, and to think about the use of these elements in West Africa and their cultural history while also going beyond human history.
On the ground floor, in the Foyle space and next to the Museum’s central Dome, is a room with three paintings on each wall and a sculpture in the centre. The paintings- Constellations V , Constellations X and Constellations VII are made from 24-carat gold, acrylic and varnish on matte canvas while the sculpture titled Web Weaver is crafted from bronze, black bronze and wood. In this collection of artwork, Viktor refers to gold and bronze and their histories, but also uses her canvases to create the night sky. These constellations - an endless maze of spirals, curved lines, and dots, all crafted out of gold on a black canvas - explore possibilities beyond our vision. It forces its audience to think about the darkness as a beginning from which the universe has evolved, while also reflecting on the endless possibilities that lie ahead of us as we look at the night sky.
This spectacular exhibition stands as a reflection by two artists on the endless capabilities within our cosmos to create a variety of realities. It reflects beyond space and time and broadens our vision of our future; truly an exhibition that cannot be missed.
Lina Iris Viktor: Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings is showing at Sir John Soane's Museum until 19th January 2025.
