The first solo exhibition in the UK by Danish artist Jesper Just will premiere the newly commissioned film trilogy A Voyage in Dwelling in addition to a selection of earlier works, including Just's acclaimed film A Vicious Undertow.
The new trilogy - consisting of the eponymous work A Voyage in Dwelling, A Room of One's Own and A Question of Silence - stars renowned Danish actress Benedikte Hansen whose character, a woman in middle age, embarks on a psychological journey of displacement to unravel her sexuality. The films register as an uneasy mapping of female desire, as they chart the slippage between one woman's actual and imagined sexual self. Just sensitively explores the idea that "the received paradigm of a man's journey is that he always returns to the point of departure expecting to find his home and wife unchanged, unaffected. Benedikte's experience, by contrast, is one of pleasurable displacement - she becomes a nomad in her own mind, never returning to her former status quo." Shot on a remote island and on a dilapidated Polish ferry, the trilogy also features an original soundtrack by Theremin composer Dorit Chrysler and American transgender singer/songwriter, Baby Dee.
Over recent years, Just has crafted his own signature breed of filmmaking characterised by glossy production values and emotionally-pitched soundtracks. He has created a unique cinematic language, but one which is deeply informed by film history, eliciting comparisons to Tarkovsky, Resnais, Bergman and Antonioni. His works are unified through their careful elision of narrative climax, leaving the viewer emotionally seduced but without a sense of resolution.
Just's videos attempt to dissect the nature of human interaction and the awkwardness of relationships. As in A Vicious Undertow (2007) - a seductive pas de trois between a middle-aged woman, and a younger woman and man - Just often seeks to emphasise the absurdity of gender roles and the way which cultures generate them. He presents charged relationships that could be perceived as perverse and endows them with beauty and dignity. With little, if any, dialogue, Just's repertory casts unpredictably sing in chorus, embrace, and weep, creating suggestive yet ambiguous situations.
A Voyage in Dwelling has been generously supported by Outset Contemporary Art Fund and the Danish Arts Council.
