Katrín Sigurðardóttir: Supra Terram

Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art is delighted to present Katrín Sigurðardóttir: Supra Terram, the Icelandic artist's first major exhibition in a public London institution.

Supra Terram is a large and ambitious grotto-like sculpture that extends through the ceiling of the ground-floor gallery into the one above. The ceiling/floor between the foundation's lower and upper galleries literally slices horizontally through the sculpture. Although influenced by the artist's awareness of folly architecture, the work itself is inspired by Sigurðardóttir's interest in the dichotomies of perception present in nearly all matters of life. Such binaries have been at the core of most of her works, from Boiserie, 2010–2011, an installation she created for an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, to Foundation, 2013, which she built for the Icelandic pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

From the Latin term for 'going above ground', Supra Terram combines the features of a natural subterranean cave and a man-made grotto. This site-specific work is the artist's response to the two floors of exhibition space at Parasol unit, where visitors must move between the lower and upper galleries to fully discover and mentally unify the two parts of the sculpture. The immersive habitat becomes a stage, on which a sequence of experiences unravel as visitors encounter a disorientating shift in scale, from being dwarfed by the structure downstairs to getting a giant's-eye view of the grotto's peak in the upper gallery.

Structurally, Supra Terram was developed by the application of paper pulp over a wire-form supported on a wooden framework. As daylight passes into the cavity space through the translucent membrane it gives the work a lightness that contradicts its apparent mass. The outer skin, thin as a line, defines the huge structure. This ghostly, ethereal piece exists more as a thought than a real space – a transient rendering of a dislocated place.

A ubiquitous feature in both art and literature, especially those of Greek and Roman mythology, a cave or grotto is often portrayed as an ambiguous place that lends itself to repose or is seen as a sanctuary with mystical connotations. Yet, at the same time they also doubled-up as dwellings, featured as theatrical backdrops, or were used for other forms of public recreation, all of which disturb our generally held concepts of private and public space. Such double-edged aspects are apparent in most of Katrín Sigurðardóttir's installations: one part illusionistic surface, the other the physical reality of its construction. Through building fictional architecture, the artist explores the effects of physical structures and boundaries on perceived reality, using the language of architecture and sculpture to evoke profound experiences.

This exhibition, curated by Ziba Ardalan, Founder/Director of Parasol unit, is accompanied by a unique limited edition print and a publication, available together in a special presentation box.