a habit a day (165), 2024
400 cm x 150 cm
laminating foil, chewing gum
BestOff x Parallel
Kirchengasse, Gmunden
a habit a day (165) is a spatial installation that analyzes everyday repetition and collecting behavior. The work is based on questions of repetition compulsion, mastication and Freud‘s beyond the pleasure principle.
The installation is accompanied by a text: a short iphone note reflecting on the process of chewing. The text refers to the origin of the foils, which contain laminated chewing gum (165). Each slide preserves the number of gums that were chewed on the corresponding day. Arranged in archival order, they form a calendrical field on the ground, that is added on every day. Therefore the ongoing work oscillates between Jana Ehls‘ past as a dentist and a psychological analysis of daily behavioral patterns.
The work was firstly presented as a habit a day (126) during a residency at the Bauhaus University Weimar and exhibited as part of BestOff in Gmunden in cooperation with Parallel Vienna, curated by Simone Barlian and Elisa Schmid. As a habit a day (217) it was currently on view in C21 Atelierhaus, Vienna as part of a group show.
a habit a day (217), exhibition view, Atelierhaus C21, part of the group show Von Zwiebeln muss ich weinen, photo credits: Martin Bilinovac
