Case – Siri Hammarén

“But over the years of working at it, I came to think of translating as a room, not exactly an unknown room, where one gropes for the light switch.” - Anne Carson, Nox

Raw daylight streams in through the big windows, casting the bodies beneath into a panel of gray figures. A judge reads aloud before his monitor, but his lips don’t move. In fact, he doesn't have any lips at all—only a disembodied voice echoing between the silent walls. 

We are placed in the blinding light of the courtroom. A young woman listens to her own story retold by two voices, only one of which she can understand. She falls through the presence of her past, as her memory is translated into testimony through legal and linguistic mediations, soon to be consigned to the afterlife of the archive. 

Case is the first solo exhibition by Siri Hammarén. It brings together her latest film Du sagst, dass du auf der Party bleibst, weil es dir Spaß macht (You Say That You’re Staying at the Party Because You’re Having Fun) with a series of sculpture work. The sculptures are shaped by the architectural vocabulary of the film and the gallery space, whose large windows echo those of the courtroom, as well as by gestures of prudence and by systems of consequence. 

The film is 27’45” minutes long and plays every half hour. 

Siri Hammarén’s (b.1999, Göteborg, Sweden) work has previously been shown at exhibitions including Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Goethe Institute in Glasgow and Künslerhaus Frise and at international film festivals such as CPH:DOX, Curtas Vila do Conde and Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg. 

Text by Emmy Wassén 

Case, Siri Hammarén 
Opening on Friday 7 August 
17:00-20:00 

Exhibition dates
8-22 August 

Gallery KHM1 
Friisgatan 15, Malmö 
 

Opening Hours
Wednesday - Friday 12:00-18:00
Satuday - Sunday 12:00-16:00 
or by appointment sirihammaren [at] gmail [dot] com (sirihammaren[at]gmail[dot]com)

The Master's programme in Fine Arts (MFA) is a two-year graduate programme which includes presenting a solo exhibition at the Academy's gallery.