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PRESS RELEASE primates |
| "Lying under the cerebral hemispheres, at the top of the brain stem, are the reptile brain and the brain of the old mammal, which contain the basic survival programs related to flight from danger, hunger, thirst, procreation and parental care. These parts of the human brain evolved between 100 million and 300 million years ago. Experiments have shown that much of the human repertoire of behavior originates in deeply buried regions of the brain that once directed the business of life for our ancestors". The Swedish conceptual artist Gunilla Leander continues her investigation of the human instincts. This time with a Web project and the English version of the CD primates. The project has its release in London, 31st May 2000. CD primates is a unique vocal exposure of so-called "civilized" humans. 45 minutes of a quarrel between a man and a woman, a married couple. Family, work, sex and love - it is, at times, ugly, horrifying, and even funny. How far have humans really evolved? The concept, direction and collation is by Gunilla Leander, and the performance by the English actors Vic Bryson and Graham Christopher. - I am interested in what takes place under the surface of we humans. The inspiration for this project came from a discussion with a friend, about whether or not humans are innately evil. I said that this is not the case. That humans are driven by a need of self-preservation and self-realisation, and that this is a force which is related to instinct. When our identities are threatened, we fight. My friend maintained the opposite; "Look at all the evil things humans are capable of doing". The discussion resulted in my exhibit Primates Society at the Kalmar Museum of Art in 1997, of which the Swedish version of this argument was a part. From an open window at the entrance of the Museum you could hear a man and a woman viciously quarreling. The realism created insecurity in the visitors. The argument also awoke strong reactions with memories from childhood and own broken relationships. This quarrel was presented as a separate work on CD when Stockholm was Cultural Capital of Europe 1998. It was presented as part of the project Konstautomaten, where the public could by art from ordinary candy mashines placed in different public places around the city. - I have chosen the quarrel as focal-point, because it contains several basic components. Threats and constructs are used as weapons; war from a daily perspective. The quarrel in itself is uninteresting, but within it our human needs are clarified; the needs to be seen, fulfilled and to have a value. It is about survival. When the quarrel is related to our evolutionary instincts - survival and reproduction - it takes on a new perspective. The Web Project primate society is a visual representation and a further development of the ideas of this project.
Subsidized by The Arts Grants Committee, Sweden |