ME: And then we pass through a dilapidated gateway and the next thing we see is a child in a carrycot in front of a cash machine, and a dead man floating facedown in a pool and a big pile of garbage bags coming out of a trash bin. And in the hope of finding some clues to a better life, we climb up the stairs to the first floor in search of enlightenment by some other kind of experience, just to find a whole bunch of small architectural models of museums that all look alike, and on the wall, paintings that consist of actual paint from the walls of powerful international museums, that also appear more or less identical, except for their different shades of white and different textures …
ID: Again, something you’re normally not supposed to see or notice is put on display.
ME: … and in the background you have a real person painting the walls over and over again for absolutely no reason, a Sisyphysian situation. It’s quite embarrassing that the Astrup Fearnley Museum couldn’t even finish the exhibition in time! [Laughs] It’s a bit like being a bad parent and not having decorated the Christmas tree in time for the children, who come in expecting something wondrous. I have the impression that in the basement and on the first floor there’s a certain kind of realism, even illusionism, and then upstairs the works are more symbolic, more abstract.