ANDREAS HAMMAR
03.13.04-04.10.04 Natalia Goldin Gallery, Stockholm
Andreas Hammar has a long-standing interest in role-playing computer games and imaginary dreamworlds. In an earlier project, he created a miniature, doll-sized town—complete with shops, homes, a casino, and even its own currency. For his first solo exhibition at Natalia Goldin, "Into the Lands of Adventure," he has created another fantasy environment, this one on a human scale. The installation, inspired by movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, is basically an elaborate set: You enter the darkened gallery via a muddy path and find yourself in what looks like an Ottoman palace that has been overtaken by the jungle. Five goldfish swim about in a puddle while the sound of trickling, dripping water fills the air. On a pedestal covered with moss, the "treasure"—a golden lion—presides, lit by a candle, like the deity of some obscure cult. Amazingly, all this fits into the small white-cube gallery, which seems to have completely disappeared.