© Ceal Floyer, Waterline

It could be said that the artistic investigations of British artist, Ceal Floyer, fall somewhere between Marcel Duchamp's linguistic ambiguities and the strict, spatial methods reminiscent of conceptual minimalism of the sixties. In combination with such predecessors, Floyer's unsurpassed feeling for the singular detail; her curiosity concerning how an observer at all recognises and identifies an image according to the perceptual conditions, forms an irresistible ménage a trois.

Ever since early work such as Light Switch (1992), a projected image of a switch, or Carousel (1996), a vinyl record playing the sound of a working slide projector, Floyer, in an intelligent and convincing manner has shown which tradition she follows, and with an authority - even though authority is not exactly the right word in this context - she safeguards this legacy in work after work. It has been stated that in the artist's ephemeral and, in most cases, immaterial world, there are continual references to illusionism, opinions the artist herself disputes. According to Floyer, all her work is characterised primarily by an effort to convince the observer that something really exists and is part of the world, even if this was not necessarily needed to question, or even to state, to begin with.

The exhibition at Index is the artist's first solo show in Sweden. The lower gallery features a video projection, Waterline (2002), installed in a way that shows an express feeling for the architectural framework. The work plays partly with concepts such as abstract imagery and/or figuration, partly with a kind of hydrophobic scenario, a room slowly filling up with water. The audio piece Goldberg Variation (2002) has been installed in the upper gallery with thirty different pianists performing their interpretation of the first aria from Bach's baroque masterpiece. Floyer has recorded the versions, layer upon layer, so that Bach's distinct musical system becomes a confused cacophony of sound. Both works showed at Index carry the hallmarks of Ceal Floyers' artistry: sparse and quite simple concepts with unmistakable poetic undertones. Welcome!

This exhibition is supported by the British Council, Stockholm, IASPIS (International Artists Studio Programme in Sweden) and System-Text AB.

For further information and press images, please contact Index.

The Index exhibition programme is curated by Andreas Gedin, Helena Holmberg, Mats Stjernstedt and Niklas Östholm.