The work of Lisa Kohl (b. 1988 in Luxembourg) can be understood as a conglomerate of digital media, installations, field research, documentation, staging and narration. Her artistic excavations revolve around the ephemeral, the absent and the imaginary. Aesthetic phenomena of absence, migration and situatedness play a central role in her work. In the field of tension between material presence and actual events on the one hand, and the realm of the possible, the fictitious and the invisible on the other, she finds near-endless artistic possibilities to merge both instances into simulations.

HALIDOM

Photography Series | Canary Island | Spain-North Africa

2022

The series HALIDOM represents sainthood on an iconographic level – as a pictorial metaphor for life and death, presence and absence, limitation and expanse, height, and abyss. Sculptural figures in barren areas and border zones become symbolic monuments and representatives of the unseen. The veil is synonymous with concealment, protection and camouflage. The relief and the folds of the cloth suggest notions of divinity, heroism and inviolability. This series confronts us with spaces of transition – an allegory for the longing for freedom and redemption.

BLINDSPOT

Photography Series

Bihaç | Bosnian-Croatian Border / Calais | France 2022

The series BLINDSPOT embodies on a metaphorical level the presence of the absent and the visible of the invisible. The elements depicted in the triptych, such as the shelter, the mihrab carpet and the physical imprint, symbolically refer to the refuge and appropriation of anonymous living and prayer spaces. The sacred mood here refers to faith and hope in terms of identity and strangeness, intimacy, and homeland.

IN SILENCE

Sculptural Video-Soundinstallation | 2017

A close-up video of waves is projected onto the surface of steel plates, which are attached to the ceiling and divide the space into two parts. They are connected to two loudspeakers that send the sound of a sound capture of naval engines through an ampli-tuner. The vibrations thus generated cause the plates to oscillate. The sound that emanates, both constructive and destructive, creates a subtle sensation of danger and tension in the exhibition room. The interaction between material, image and sound produces a visual, sensory experience that invites a multi-layered reading. The starting point of this work was a refugee's testimony of his attempt to escape, inside a container, on a cargo ship.

https://lisa-kohl.com/more/installation/INSILENCE.mp4

HALIDOM and BLINDSPOT are subsidized by Kultur | lx - Arts Council Luxembourg and Aide à la création et diffusion en photographie 2021, Centre national de l‘audiovisuel