The museum's web announcement
December 4, 2001 - February 24, 2002
German born and educated, Christel Dillbohner has worked as an installation artist in this country since 1987. Her installations have been exhibited in Germany, Japan, Australia, British Columbia and the United States and are known for their use of natural materials and overlapping layers of metaphorical interpretations.
Much of her life has been spent as a traveler, explorer and as a student of anthropology - these cultural and personal experiences have deepened her awareness of the spiritual landscape which is evident in her site-specific installations.
The Repository contains a visual encyclopedia of personal and historic events, holding a multitude of found and made objects that are stored in books and boxes and on shelves. The concept for this installation is based on the renaissance Wunderkammer or curio-cabinet - the first private, small scale museum. The objects that make up the exhibition, Repository, fall under the categories of 'natural materials' and 'cultural debris'.
As an artist, Dillbohner is fascinated by the visual associations and tactile inspiration of an object rather than by its original function or 'value'. Within their new context, the objects become visually transformed and laden with memories and association, creating a curiosity that becomes a driving force directing the viewer towards the unknown - the Terra Incognita. The pleasures of search and discovery, the selection and gathering of books, images or objects reinforces the desire to seek new visions. As viewers we create an order from our personal responses to the collection of peculiar and particular objects - we begin to define ourselves and what we represent in the larger world.
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