Jacob Dahlgren

Heaven is a Place on Earth, 2008

Often Jacob Dahlgren’s spatial sculptures challenge observers to intervene actively with the object, as the installation Heaven is a Place on Earth demonstrates concretely: the piece consists of a variable number of bathroom scales positioned on the floor in a rectangular basic arrangement that challenge viewers to enter the area. But the idea of climbing on to the object and loading the scales with one’s own body weight – in principle an action performed every day – seems strange here because of a crucial variation: the serial constellation of equal elements. By decontextualizing the trivial by placing it in a frame of reference defined by the artist, Dahlgren transfers the concrete into a picture sequence he has defined himself, aiming at abstraction. Thus by focusing on detail, Jacob Dahlgren does not only sharpen our eye for the trappings of the everyday equipped with symbols, but at the same time offers viewers an opportunity to find the symbolic in the everyday.