Book Launch

Toronto Book Launch of A Sudden Drop

8eleven

May. 30th – 12am, 2015

A Sudden Drop features photographs of clothing found on streets in a central part of Oslo. The book is part of a larger body of work that includes cartographical material, sculptures and installations. The theme of these works – consumer consumption and decay in a specific geographical area – takes on a somewhat abstract and scientific tone. Jóhannsson’s photographic method follows up ideas he has explored in earlier publications: instrumentality is juxtaposed with temporality yet also infused with consumer aesthetics and technical misunderstandings.

The booklet Eight and a Half Days, which documents what happens to the articles of clothing pictured in A Sudden Drop, is in some respects like a redundant insert; it can also be understood as a completing coda to the photographic book or as an independent work. The found material is archived and rendered unusable by means of a mechanical crusher. It is then returned to the location where it was originally found – now in a ‘zipped’ or compacted version of past and present. The four heavy, cubic sculptures are observed carefully from day to day, exposed to public view and the exigencies of urban life.

Organizers	Edgar Leciejewski, 8eleven, Xenia Benivolski
Website	8eleven.org
Address	Toronto, Ontario, Canada