Klara Lidén: 
Paralyzed

As part of the Towards Photography series, DFI e.V. and the Julia Stoschek Foundation are pleased to invite you to the opening of the solo exhibition Paralyzed by Klara Lidén (*1979).

In her iconic 2003 video Paralyzed, the Berlin-based Swedish artist dances ecstatically in a subway car, while the passengers remain frozen in a state of emphatic non-participation. A "non-place" transforms into a public space, disrupting the everyday with the simplest of gestures—a theme prevalent in many of Lidén’s works. The exhibition at Eiskellerberg, featuring a total of nine pieces, centers on a medium Lidén has been exploring for some time, and one that holds a special allure in the digital age: analog slide projection. In the dim light, viewers see images of the urban Seine in Paris and a monkey climbing a sleek modernist column in the heart of the city. In her 2011 C-print Untitled (Down), the artist disappears into a manhole at Berlin’s Ostkreuz station. What lies beneath remains a mystery, but the allure of these works is unmistakable. Lidén’s art suggests that we can appropriate the city according to our own rules, rather than merely consuming it by established norms. Architectural interventions and objects repurposed from urban spaces are characteristic of her sculptural practice. For the first time, this exhibition in DFI e.V.'s project space highlights the role of photography in her work, functioning as a silent witness to places we might hesitate to explore ourselves. In the programmatic photograph Untitled - Self Portrait with the Keys to the City (2005), Lidén offered an early portrayal of herself and her working methods. Wearing tattered jeans and T-shirt, she reveals the tools discreetly stored in her trench coat's inner pockets: a powerful flashlight, bolt cutters, wrenches, and a manhole cover lifter. These tools suggest access—literal and metaphorical—without needing the titular "keys to the city."