Roger Ballen: Call Of The Void

Roger Ballen. Call of the Void is the eighth in a series of exhibitions at Museum Tinguely under the title Danse macabre with works responding to Jean Tinguely’s late work Mengele―Dance of Death , shown in direct proximity to it. In his work, Ballen examines the human psyche and asks both himself and the viewer questions about being and becoming. Ballen writes: "My show that I have chosen to title Call of the Void is an attempt to come to terms with what I believe to be the most central questions in human existence namely, where did we come from? What are we here for? And where do we go once we die? Whilst I do not claim to provide answers or even questions to these most profound and difficult issues, it is my hope that my exhibition will challenge the viewer’s perceptions and consequently set up a process of self-examination leading to a more inquisitive state of self-consciousness.". The exhibition consists of two parts that define and enrich one another. The walls are hung with photographs from Ballen’s last analogue series, while the centre of the space is dominated by a shack, a poor dwelling for people on the margins of society of the kind often featured in Ballen’s work.