Josef Strau

Bibliothekswohnung, Berlin

Bibliothekswohnung

An installation view of a dim gallery space with white walls and a parquet wood floor. The back wall of the gallery is made up of windows looking out to the roof of another building. The center of the gallery is full of lamps. Four large floor lamps are clustered together in the gallery. Two of these lamps have spherical paper lamps added to their bases like beads while the their tops are illuminated with traditional lamp shapes covered with papers and tape illuminated into a patchwork surface. All four lamps have books hanging from strings down their sides and long pull cords. In the center of the image, a large stuffed tiger lies on a rug, partially covered by a blanket. To our right an inflatable lamb sculpture of translucent white is lit from within.

A tighter view of the floor lamps in the gallery. The image is positioned from above, close to the height of the floor lamps. From this angle we can see that pages of text have been taped to lamp shades to be easily read. Spherical paper lanterns hang from twine along the stems of the floor lamps. Photographs have been scattered along the floor next to the stuffed animal tiger lying on the rug under a blanket and the lamb sculpture/light that from this angle looks like a pile of illuminated white on the floor.

Another installation view of the gallery filled with lamps. Some lamps are turned on while others are off. The room has a cozy and dim atmosphere. The windows at the back of the gallery showing full darkness now and reflecting back the lamps in the room. The tiger sculpture on the rug and under a throw blanket appears ready to read by lamplight next to the lamb sculpture who is itself a lamp. The lamb might be a kind of half inflated creature, partially collapsed but glowing with light from within.

Another view of the gallery full of lamps taken from an angle close to the floor. The glow from the lamps and illuminated lamb sculpture glazes across the floor. Three floor lamps glow over the lamb and tiger sculptures, two with traditional lamp shades and one a spherical paper lantern. Four other spherical paper lanterns are unlit.

A tighter image of the floor lamps taken from above. For the first time we can see the top of one of the traditional lamp shades. The tape which attaches papers with text to the sides of the lamp shade has been applied in overlapping stripes over the top to make a star pattern.

Another image taken from above. The stuffed animal tiger looks up directly at us from it's position on the carpet, covered partly with a throw blanket. Its eyes are blue. It is a white tiger with black stripes. The rug it lies on is black with strong block stripes of tan and brick red. On the floor near the rug are a pile of five pamphlets (or they appear to be pamphlets although they might be single images). To our left in the foreground, part of a white lamp brightly fills the corner of the image.

Another image taken from floor height. The gallery is much darker and only the floor lamps provide light. The lamb sculpture/lamp is a white blob in the foreground while the floor lamps provide very warm, orange light from above. On our right, a person crouches near the lamb/light while reading a pamphlet.

A detail of a lampshade with a text taped over it. The text reads: <br>"S. turned on the light in the bathroom, and locked the door behind her as far as that was still possible - the lock was halfway ripped out already. I had rented the apartment mainly because of the bathroom. The light could be varied. You could lie in the bathtub and observe the reflection of the water’s surface on the ceiling. S. dad moved in a few days ago. To get to the bathroom she had to pass through my room, and this was now her second time. It was still very early and she passed me, silent, quietly and as if invisible. I was alarmed, she might have a plan. She tried once again to close the door properly. I listened. She ran the bathwater, but then didn’t use it after all. She undressed and tried once again to close the door. She lit a cigarette. Finally she took the cap with the cannabis leaf off her head. She wore her hair as a great bush of delicate hairs that had grown together, like felt, which she now, using the humming haircutting machine, separated from her head in one sweep from front to back - she could almost hold all of the cut-off hair in one piece - and buried it in a small plastic bag. In certain spots she remained a little unsure. On the entire back of her head up to shortly before the hair line, only short hair remained, and the little rest had the same length as before and could hang down in slight waves in front of her face and also a bit on the sides, in front of the ears. Afterwards S. opened the door, picked the rest off the floor, and no longer paid any attention to the new face. She turned away from the mirror and noticed that the Venetian blinds were down, but not properly closed. She could have been observed from afar in the small, brightly lit modern bathroom. It was late at night and the sky was still partially dark blue between the slats of the bedroom, holding the bag with her buried hair in her hand. I was still in bed with the books of demons. She tried to get past quickly. I had noticed from the sounds that she would come out at any second, and switched on the lamp - with my invention for turning it on without having to move much, of which I was particularly proud. When I had money and had moved into the new apartment, I finally bought a large floor lamp, a design by Schinkel with porcelain glazing. I had placed the pale beauty next to the mattress, and only months later came up with my invention. I had taken two of the long green velvet ribbons S. once brought home, tied them together, and attached this to the old fashioned but much too short metal chain that switched on the porcelain lamp. The chain had the right length only for someone standing up, but I wanted to turn in on from the bed, without having to move. As my invention the green ribbon became a green velvet leash and as I laid in bed and pulled the velvet leash before S. emerged from the bathroom, it was without having to get up. Now I saw, instead of the eternal drug cap, her short hair and small bag in her hand. The large round cylindrical"<br><br>Another page of text is taped along the curve of the lampshade but is impossible to read.

Josef StrauThe Bad ConscienceBibliothekswohnung, Berlin

Exhibition Images

Josef StrauThe Bad Conscience
Bibliothekswohnung, Berlin