JAK – SOUL BLINDNESS – fall into indescribable scenes

In the foyer of the Villa Merkel an old tree trunk some seven metres tall rises up as a sculpture, borne by a slanting, mirroring, garish green surface of epoxy resin; a landscape in drifting mist; floating objects made of porcelain – these are the settings from a film script. The works are by JAK. But who is JAK? Has JAK, while we read these lines, already taken up residence in our heads? Since 2013 JAK has been working on the film SOUL BLINDNESS, although the process of its making is not like that of a „normally“ executed film project. From exhibition to exhibition JAK continues the story of the script, using a variety of media such as drawing, text, video, sound, sculpture, painting, photography and installation. This continuously shot film describes how its protagonist deals with agnosia, a mental anomaly in which objects can no longer be clearly recognised or classified, and which is therefore also termed „soul blindness“. Interestingly, JAK – auteur film-maker and artist in one – and agnosia as a „disturbed“ relationship to the world cannot be clearly told apart, so that the parties and the levels short-circuit one another and render each other unrecognisable: JAK remains anonymous, and agnosia remains within the realm of the illusory, which corresponds admirably to its status as an illness. Meanwhile, everyday actions from the script of SOUL BLINDNESS are transformed, or take concrete shape as stage sets. Three solo exhibitions have already been staged in the run-up to this complex project by JAK, in Stuttgart, Taipei and Leonberg; the exhibition at the Villa Merkel had its overture in March 2017 at the Landesvertretung Baden-Württemberg in Brussels. The book offers extensive insights into JAK’s work – yet it really gives no information at all about who JAK actually is!

Exhibition:
Villa Merkel, Galerien der Stadt Esslingen, 18/6 – 27/8/2017