2011 | Untitled (The Sublime Trip)

Untitled (The Sublime Trip)

Drawing and reading performance with artist Sarah Lüdemann
(with fragments from 'The Magic Mountain' by Thomas Mann)
30x2000 cm
2011

http://vimeo.com/29553417

'Untitled (The Sublime Trip)' (2011) comprises a sequence of simple line drawings in graphite and coloured pencil on a roll of paper twenty metres in length. The drawings illustrate a single chapter from German writer Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain (1924), where the central protagonist undertakes a journey to the top of a mountain. The work was first presented as a ten minute long performance during the exhibition preview. The large drawing was unfurled and revealed in full, with extracts from the novel read by a narrator, artist Sarah Lüdemann. Similarly to 'After Susan Sontag' the use of spoken narrative as a central part of the performance encourages the viewer to engage imaginatively. The drawings act almost as a storyboard, marking sections of the chapter as if stills from a film.
(Text by Emma Dean, curator; originally published on Axisweb, a showcase of contemporary art in UK)