C24 Gallery is pleased to present What is the Color of Scent? A solo exhibition by artist Katja Loher marking her third solo exhibition with the gallery. What is the Color of Scent? will be on view September 6 - October 27, 2018 with an opening reception on Thursday, September 6 from 6 – 8 pm.

What is the Color of Scent? transforms the gallery space into an ethereal world in which the viewer journeys through an enchanted universe altered by vision, sound, and scent. On view will be Loher’s signature Videosculptures, Videoportals, Videoplanets, Videonests and Videotables.

Expanding on the artist’s exploration into the delicate relationship we have with our ecological environment, Loher’s Videosculptures are inspired by nature and its self-organizing systems. Whimsical videos are embedded in physical objects that mimic organic forms, such as pollen and corals, without hiding the artifice of the technical process. Hand blown glass holds microcosms of beauty and complexity that capture entire alternate worlds and realities. Reminiscent of bubbles and eggs embedded in hand woven abstracted bird’s nests, the organic glass shapes are a poetic commentary on the fleeting nature of time, impermanence, and the natural elements and processes of the world.

The deconstruction of the rectangular format of traditional video plays a central role in the intention of Loher’s fantastic environments. The artist breaks away from the canon of video art by liberating video from the constraints of its standard or traditional form. Video is not limited by its medium - it instead becomes a portal into a magical world.

Loher’s videos reveal movements of magical beings that create hypnotic mind and eye-bending Mandalas exploring the elements Air, Water, Fire, Earth and Love. The creatures of her videos act in harmony to evoke awareness of nature’s beauty and fragility, and reveal the secret lives of flora and fauna. The dancers assemble into provocative questions on screen, engaging the viewer in a rhetorical conversation that urges them to explore the complex balance between humans, nature and the consequences of contemporary environmental issues.

The visual collages are generated using a combination of elaborate, choreographed dance pieces overlaid with footage taken from the artist’s international travels to the Peruvian Amazon and India. Inspired by cultural traditions, each element represents a mandala, and forms a blueprint of the exhibition. Unique scent combinations accompany each element, engendering a subtle yet powerful scentscape that complement Loner’s fully immersive, sensorial experience.

At the apex of the exhibition, all five elements and Mandalas come together to form a miniature universe consisting of Videoplanets of various sizes floating in the two-story atrium of the gallery. Videos representing the five Mandalas form a spiritual representation of the universe and are projected onto the Videoplanets, animating the perfectly round spheres and unifying the elemental themes of the exhibition.

Loher’s work is conceived in a collaborative process with her team. For the present exhibition, artist Tansy Kaschak creates unique aroma combinations to accompany each element, engendering a subtle ‘scentscape’ that complements Loher’s fully immersive sensorial experience.
 

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