Camille Henrot, The Pale Fox, 2014 – 15,
Installation view at KÖNIG GALERIE.
Courtesy the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE, photography by Ulf Saupe
Camille Henrot’s “The Pale Fox” has been on the tour through Europe recently, but never has it been set in such a majestic tomb as St. Agnes – a former church and one of the youngest buildings in Berlin to be listed as an architectural curiosity. Its cold and endless concrete walls reach the skyline in various directions, and the roughly rendered box in its very middle emits low, erratic frequencies. As you make your way around the cubic structure a small narrow opening guides you into an explosion of regal cobalt blue.
Camille Henrot, The Pale Fox, 2014 – 15,
Installation view at KÖNIG GALERIE.
Courtesy the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE, photography by Ulf Saupe
Henrot created an immersive environment that guides the viewer through a collection of objects set out like a futuristic Ikea showroom. Visually mapping the ideas of evolution, starting with the Big Bang through to the birth of humankind, as we know it and beyond. The title “Pale Fox” is taken from the Dogon religion. The African myth says pale fox was born from the first mating of Amma and Mother Earth. All other divine children were born as fraternal twins, male and female. Pale fox became the symbol of loneliness, having no female counterpart he produced chaos and madness with the imbalance bestowed upon him throughout the world.
Early on in the collection huge ostrich eggs sit in Scandinavian minimally designed showcases, scientific chlorophyll thumbnails act as background images to traditional African sculptures; sparse yet refined. Slick aluminum shelves stand empty purely object-based while marble structures step in as substitute bookcases. Flip folders, filled with models showing off their sunburns and bikini lines, allow the viewer to idly flip through what could be the pin-ups of the future, or not.
Camille Henrot, The Pale Fox, 2014 – 15,
Installation view at KÖNIG GALERIE.
Courtesy the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE, photography by Ulf Saupe
Camille Henrot, The Pale Fox, 2014 – 15,
Installation view at KÖNIG GALERIE.
Courtesy the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE, photography by Ulf Saupe
A remote-controlled snake winds through the visitors’ ankles, comically symbolising the duality of the creature that represents fertility and vengeance. The birth of internet communication seems the most chaotic part of the timeline, exploding piles of images clutter the heavy cobalt carpet, kitsch digital photo frames with eBay sales and the ingenious double egg cup fade in and out, models in wheelchairs and the retro post-human imagery of David Watson all make up an already nostalgic collection of our time.
Camille Henrot, The Pale Fox, 2014 – 15,
Installation view at KÖNIG GALERIE.
Courtesy the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE, photography by Ulf Saupe
What’s interesting about Henrot’s work is that the artist jams herself into cultural artifacts that might have little value to her. And that has got her attention and criticism for her statements of “positive primitivism”. As you walk around the room some of the shapes pull you into the works, slick smooth lines of silver or bronze but the next minute you’re coming across spirals and fake breasts next to game cards of Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Terminator”. Yet all the objects seem to be producing culture, and us. “This is our world, we are the great and almighty creators!” – they scream, but also show us how ephemeral life is, how dated we are. A “to do” and a “to do later” lists sit unused amongst images of Stonehenge at sunset, frolicking arctic foxes and a gorilla portrait that tell us to rate it from one to ten on quality. It seems clear “the pale fox” is still wandering the earth, simultaneously creating chaos and destroying but the viewer is impotent to stop this overhaul of imagery and production. For better or worse, we are all pale foxes in this perplexing place we know as planet Earth.
Camille Henrot, The Pale Fox, 2014 – 15,
Installation view at KÖNIG GALERIE.
Courtesy the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE, photography by Ulf Saupe
Text by Penny Victoria Rafferty
Camille Henrot, “The Pale Fox” is show at König Galerie St Agnes until 1 November
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