Detail from Martin Sjöberg Trans cortical high velocity lead theraphy.

The orchestra in the "Haunted House" installation could have been taken from an old film from the 40's. The white cuffs contrast against the black hands. The smiles are frozen. But instead of a melancholy melody, as we might expect, we hear a suggestive rapping that literally shakes the foundations of the installation. Our notion of the past crosses over into the present. But has so much actually changed. In "Haunted House", the decay sooner or later oozes out of obscene holes.

Power and violence, political and private, are recurring elements in Martin Sjöberg's work. The title "Haunted House" refers to Western culture's recurring need for inquiry. Violence, suppression and genocide have gone hand in hand with enlightenment and democracy. Festering wounds after slavery and colonisation return to haunt us and undermine our ability to co-exist.

The series of pictures "Sons of Sam" reflects an identity crisis and a homelessness that has gone to rack and ruin. Freud determined hysteria to be a female complaint. "Sons of Sam" is a representation of a pathological condition, the white male, the serial killer.

Martin Sjöberg, born 1957, is educated at Konstfack's Photography Academy in Stockholm, as well as the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York, among others. Currently, he lives and works in Stockholm and New York.

Karina Ericsson Wärn


installation view: Martin Sjöberg Haunted House