One of human nature's greatest gifts is the ability to let the mind wander and to imagine things that are absolutely impossible. Sometimes it seems that what goes through one's head when dreaming, high, lost in thought, or engrossed in a book, is as real as day-to-day life. The reason for this is that these mental and emotional wanderings are capable of leaving traces and changing our memories of things. The Danish artist Jesper Just visualizes psychological states between reality and fiction, dream and fantasy. The protagonists in his films set off on trips that start in conventional settings and situations, but which as they progress see the realization of visions,   desires, memories and passions. As a result, metaphysical lines are crossed, so that upon return from the trip reality has changed. The viewer himself cannot help succumbing to this shift in reality, this 'fantasy within a fantasy'. The large-format film projections intensify the mechanisms of empathy, suggestion and immersion. [...]

Yvonne Ziegler
Translation: Sarah Trenker


Catalogue excerpt
fast forward 2. The Power of Motion
Media Art Sammlung Goetz
Editors: Ingvild Goetz and Stephan Urbaschek
Ostfildern, Hatje Cantz, 2010

Ausstellungsansicht „fast forward 2. The Power of Motion“
(mit Werken von Jesper Just (li.) und Rodney Graham)
Foto: ONUK


Jesper Just, A Room of One's Own, 2008
Single-channel video, color, sound
Edition 2/6 (+ 1 a. p.)
8' 29"


Jesper Just, A Question of Silence, 2008
Single-channel video, color, sound
Edition 2/6 (+ 1 a. p.)
6' 18"


Jesper Just, A Voyage in Dwelling, 2008
Single-channel video, color, sound
Edition 2/6 (+ 1 a. p.)
11' 11"