Kryptos - Brigita Ozolins
Kryptos
2008-10
Brigita Ozolins
Born 1954, Melbourne, Australia; moved in 1983 to Tasmania; lives and works in Hobart, Australia
Concrete, concrete render, steel, aluminium, gold, lead, mirror, LED lighting, cuneiform artefacts. sound tracks x 3
She did and here it is
By David Walsh
Some years ago, in 2005 apparently, Brigita Ozolins applied for a $12,500 art bursary that we call 'The Scholarship' even though it isn’t a scholarship. One of the conditions of this not-scholarship is that an artist is ‘emerging’ which means, in artspeak, that nobody likes them yet. It’s highly probable, of course, that nobody will ever like them. Brigita didn’t qualify for the money because lots of people already liked her, which is easy, and her work, which isn’t.
I rang her and asked her to make something for me. She did and here it is. It could have been here for most of those intervening years since she designed it straight away. The binary digits on the walls are an encoding of a translation of the very old Mesopotamian text, ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’. It is so old that it is the source of the biblical flood myth wherein Noah is rescued by his ark. It also contains a lot of blood and guts and seemed an appropriate work to conceal within this museum, which is quite concerned with blood and guts. I suggested using ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’ to Brigita, I think. She might remember it differently. I’ll ask her and get back to you.
It is arguable that I ruined the work by influencing her unduly, but I don’t think this is the case. I know this because if it had been perpetrated by me it would be crap and it patently isn’t, it’s actually spell-binding.
I wasn’t very concerned about it being crap for two reasons. Brigita makes good stuff and also I could easily have plastered up the door and no-one would have been the wiser.
This turned out not to be necessary.
Kryptos - Brigita Ozolins
Kryptos
2008-10
Brigita Ozolins
Born 1954, Melbourne, Australia; moved in 1983 to Tasmania; lives and works in Hobart, Australia
Concrete, concrete render, steel, aluminium, gold, lead, mirror, LED lighting, cuneiform artefacts. sound tracks x 3
She did and here it is
By David Walsh
Some years ago, in 2005 apparently, Brigita Ozolins applied for a $12,500 art bursary that we call 'The Scholarship' even though it isn’t a scholarship. One of the conditions of this not-scholarship is that an artist is ‘emerging’ which means, in artspeak, that nobody likes them yet. It’s highly probable, of course, that nobody will ever like them. Brigita didn’t qualify for the money because lots of people already liked her, which is easy, and her work, which isn’t.
I rang her and asked her to make something for me. She did and here it is. It could have been here for most of those intervening years since she designed it straight away. The binary digits on the walls are an encoding of a translation of the very old Mesopotamian text, ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’. It is so old that it is the source of the biblical flood myth wherein Noah is rescued by his ark. It also contains a lot of blood and guts and seemed an appropriate work to conceal within this museum, which is quite concerned with blood and guts. I suggested using ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’ to Brigita, I think. She might remember it differently. I’ll ask her and get back to you.
It is arguable that I ruined the work by influencing her unduly, but I don’t think this is the case. I know this because if it had been perpetrated by me it would be crap and it patently isn’t, it’s actually spell-binding.
I wasn’t very concerned about it being crap for two reasons. Brigita makes good stuff and also I could easily have plastered up the door and no-one would have been the wiser.
This turned out not to be necessary.