Kadet Kuhne: The Way Through

**SPECIAL CLOSING EVENT ON APRIL 12 - LIVE SOUND IMPROVISATION BY THE ARTIST - 3PM - CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS**

March 7 - April 12, 2014

It will be I? It will be the silence, where I am? I don't know, I'll never know: in the silence you don't know.

You must go on.

I can't go on.

I'll go on."

—Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable

Krowswork is pleased to present The Way Through, a solo exhibition by Kadet Kuhne. Her work centers on an existential dilemma (and dialectic) of movement versus non-movement, resistance versus surrender, receding from versus emerging into...space, presence, being. At its heart Kuhne's art is seeking a way to explore and come to know the unconscious while avoiding the very real potential of being drowned by it. In order to fully investigate this struggle, Kuhne makes it palpable by creating specific, experiential artworks that employ single- and multi-channel videos, intensive sound design, sculpture, and two-dimensional images. With these works she provides a visual, aural, and also somatic simulacrum of our tightly spun-together nature—one in which any movement toward transcendence is simultaneously frustrated by inertia, negation, or perceived boundaries. Kuhne, like one of her artistic heroes Samuel Beckett, understands that this strange union, even if often dark and uncomfortable, is peculiarly human and inevitable. Kuhne does not shy away from it. She is aware that it is exactly in these moments—"states of stasis," she calls them—that consciousness comes into being. They do not require escape. But to ultimately move beyond the duality of their tangle requires trying to tease them apart.

The Way Through features single channel, multi-channel, and interactive video installations; video stills in the form of lenticular prints, which approximate movement; 3D-printed stills in light boxes to illuminate the layered material; and 3D-printed sculpture based on the architecture of sound waves. The waveforms of spoken words are phase shifted, or inverted, to create cancellation, rendering the perceived sound silent. This cancellation brings into consideration the transitory nature of thought and aims to question the solidity of language.

With the works in this show (see full descriptions below) Kuhne demonstrates a gorgeous and admirable patience that she has acquired over her twenty-year film and video, visual art, and sound career. She has learned how to spend time within these states of resistance, intrepidly negotiating their necessary restraints and compromises, surrendering to them, and finding peace, even. Like any good artist, she relies on her creation not only to define the outline of her journey but to integrate into it and become it. Through this, she is learning that even if the limitations at first appear unyielding, contemplating the way through is the antidote, which is of course the work.

For more about Kadet Kuhne: tektonicshift.com

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In quantum mechanics particles can, with a very small probability, tunnel to the other side of barriers - a process that cannot be directly perceived, but much of its understanding is shaped by the microscopic world. The subject featured in Quantum Tunneling traverses physical and perceived obstacles, into the molecular, atomic and sub-atomic levels of consciousness.

Interference Series

The Interference series consists of 3D printed sculptures that are based on the architecture of sound waves. The waveforms of spoken words are completely phase shifted, or inverted, to create cancellation, rendering the perceived sound silent. This cancellation brings into consideration the transitory nature of thought and aims to question the solidity of language. The models featured in this series are based on the words "Perceived Limitations" and "Dependent Origination," themes inherent in the video works

Emerge

Emerge is an interactive video installation intended to generate somatic experiences which in turn may prompt visceral responses to movement and sound. Projected from overhead, images of white space fill a screen that is viewed from below. When the participant steps underneath the screen, video loops are triggered by infrared sensors, giving the impression they have been submerged in a deluge of rushing water. The aggressive sounds associated with this onslaught of pouring water aim to concretize and exaggerate the video’s impact, and then return to an ambient space of reflection. Comprised of intervals, disjunctions and suspensions of space-time, the situations presented in this experiential piece attempt to capture, play and delay — from anxiety to resolve.

Rebound

Kadet Kuhne’s video short Rebound begins with white space containing a figure dressed in all-white attire in the center. Its face is covered with white cloth, leaving openings for eyes and mouth, white horse-blinders directing the span of its visual field. The androgynous figure begins a journey of becoming with a series of abrupt displacements and repetitive falls as if being sideswiped by an invisible force. Despite forceful drawbacks, the protagonist rebounds, overcoming victimization and disempowerment, similarly to Samuel Beckett’s description in The Unnamable: "You must go on, I can't go on, I'll go on."

This project’s boundless spatiality situates the viewer in an internal dimension, a self-conscious and reflective space. Such space of reflexive consciousness represents the bodily consciousness – its defeat, pain and resilience – with the consciousness of the mind – its lethargy, confusion and will for a progressive change. Kuhne thus resounds Beckett as her character resolves to fully embody a willingness to rebound during the endless process of becoming.