SUPERFLEX

For the upcoming solo exhibition at von Bartha S-chanf, Switzerland, SUPERFLEX presents Hospital Equipment. The work consist of an installation displaying an operation theatre - and a photograph of the operation theatre exhibited in the gallery. Setting the scene of a life and death situation inside the gallery space, the viewer is positioned as a voyeur to a fatal conflict of war and loss. When the exhibition ends, the hospital equipment will be shipped directly to the Salamieh Hospital in Syria to be used by doctors and patients, and the photograph will remain with the collector. The work questions not only our divergent reaction to the heavy stream of media and humanitarian fundraising campaigns involving the Syrian conflict, it also challenges the concept of contemporary art practice, collections and ownership. SUPERFLEX refers to the work as a ‘readymade upside down’. Transitioning from a Duchampian ‘readymade’ to a potentially lifesaving medical instrument, the equipment oscillates between artwork and functional object, highlighting the role of context in the definition of artistic practice - and the will of the individuel mind to make direct change in the world we are living. The equipment consists of a state-of-the-art surgeon's table, a mobile surgery lamp and a surgical instrument table, that has been carefully selected for the Salamieh hospital. Hospital Equipment is an act of exchange.