In a society governed by presumably universal principles, the work of the Luxembourgish artist Su-Mei Tse (b. 1973 in Luxembourg, lives and works between Luxembourg and Berlin) affirms the subjectivity of experience. Her poetic videos, installations and interventions appeal to our sensitivity to try and make sense of the world around us.
Gregor takes the form of an installation in two parts based on the main character in Franz Kafka’s seminal novel The Metamorphosis. The sculpture of a beetle paralysed by the weight of a rock can be read as a metaphor for the individual’s powerlessness in the face of impending (natural, sanitary, political or family) disasters. As an image of an anxiety-ridden society, it embodies the real or imagined restrictions that condition us and prevent us from living life to the full.
As for the placard at the foot of the steps leading to the Gëlle Fra monument, it refers to a billboard work by Yoko Ono, which Tse photographed in the public spaces of Berlin. In counterpoint to the beetle stuck under the rock, the inscription reminds us of the unsuspected resources that lie dormant in each of us.
