The novel is rich in layers and the possibilities for interpretations are many. At the core is the critique of science and the (male) genius who puts himself over nature and God. It is possible to draw parallels to present time gene manipulation and artificial intelligence, but also to what “monsters” we human beings creates with our climate footprints and environmental pollution. Besides, the book is also a travel-log from a borderless Europe absent of passports, where nature with it´s mountains, lakes and thunderstorms, play a key role in shedding light to a state of inner turmoil. Frankenstein filled with trepidation and shame of having made the creature, does not dare telling anyone of the monster. The monster, who is born with many strengths; good, strong and intelligent, provoke horror in everyone who sees him. He is perceived as grotesque, ugly, different. It is easy to identify “the Other” in the monster, the one we reject, the one we cannot self-identify with: the fundamentally impossible of recognition.
The exhibition title is a quote from Mary Shelley´s iconic horror novel. Observing the novel´s 200-year jubilee, the nine members of the artist group VERKLIGHETEN have worked with the theme Frankenstein´s Monster. The exhibition explores different aspects of the Frankenstein thematics through film, sound, photography, drawing and installation. The art in the exhibition brings forth subjects such as the archive, present-time monsters and natural experiments gone wrong.
Hendrik Zeitler