Meta Isæus-Berlin

Nattlogik [Nocturnal Logic] was the title of Meta Isæus-Berlin’s solo exhibition at Waldemarsudde a little over a year ago. It was a resounding success, both among the public and with the critics. The exhibition’s title is also shared by the piece that she is showing in 1100 Degrees: an almost-to-scale bed made from patinated bronze. Well, we shouldn’t really call it a bed, because it isn’t one. It’s actually just the bedding, i.e., the textile parts that come closest to the body: the mattress under the sheet, the blanket, the duvet, the pillow, and the pillowcase. All these things are the very opposite of hard bronze, which has been hardened to survive both flesh and thread alike. In an interview, Meta Isæus-Berlin explained that she is “interested in the fragility of waking up, and the importance of caring for your inner life. It has to remain intact until the world outside requires you to emerge from your bubble, your wishes be damned. That’s what waking up and having to live is like. I love living, but it’s difficult, right? You awaken to the world. That’s what it’s like for all people…”

The title Nattlogik [Nocturnal Logic] evokes the idea of another kind of logic. Not the opposite to rational, but different from “day logic”. The night, the in-between state of sleep and consciousness offer parallel or alternative cerebral routes, connections and conclusions. Hence the bed as a metaphor for intellectual portals. The bedding in Nattlogik [Nocturnal Logic] seems completely new. It has never been weighed down or warmed up by anyone, and the creases from the folds are all intact. The scent of laundry detergent is hinted at by the whiteness of the fabric. The blue colour seems institutional somehow–perhaps this is a scene from a youth hostel or boarding school somewhere? In any case, it’s neither a home environment, nor some place of ostentatious luxury or miserable destitution. It’s just neat and tidy, basically. In her sculptures, installations, and paintings, Meta Isæus-Berlin focuses exclusively on the fundamental aspects of life and the rooms and shells we inhabit, whether they be water, clothing, or the micro-communities that arise between friends, siblings, or animal and human.

Meta Is.us-Berlin’s works are represented in the Moderna Museet collection and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki, and she has executed public artworks on commission from Public Art Agency Sweden.