Melancholia – a Sebald variation

The exhibition, be presented in Inigo Rooms at Somerset House, is approached from the standpoint of the synergy that is established between art and literature, elucidating the boundaries between the two disciplines and establishing a dialogue in which the viewer can approach Sebald’s work in a way that goes beyond passive reading.

The exhibition takes as its starting point W. G. Sebald’s written work and, on this basis, establishes a series of immersive relationships with the work of other creators, artists and writers. More than a re-reading or reworking, Melancholia is a contemporising of Sebald’s emergent spirit which makes it possible to create parallels between the events of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

On this occasion, King’s College offers an exploration of new ways and means of speaking about Sebald’s work and influence, keeping some of the works that were presented in Barcelona—among them those by Susan Hiller, Guido van der Werve and Jeremy Wood—but also adding new material by international artists like Tess Jaray, Anselm Kiefer, Martin Kippenberger, George Shaw and others, with compositions consisting of texts and static or moving images.

This is a multidisciplinary, multimedia show combining expository formats aiming both to bring Sebald’s original works to viewers and to transform them into contemporary pieces and readings.

Melancholia – a Sebald variation is based on the exhibition Sebald Variations: The Art of Storytelling, curated by Jorge Carrión and exhibited at CCCB from 11^th March to 26^th July 2015.