Daniel Leber – PSYCHO SOMA

On Monday, 9th September 2024 from 5 pm onwards we invite you to Cirkulacija 2, Ajdovščina underpass Ljubljana, to attend the opening of the interactive project

Daniel Leber – PSYCHO SOMA

The exhibition will be open from 9 – 14 September from 17.00 to 20.00.

The Psycho Soma interactive project is an invitation to reflect on the nature of drawing. Starting from the semantic differences between the English terms labyrinth and maze, and using ideas from the Surrealists’ automatic drawing and the Situationist derive, the exhibition invites visitors to explore public space, starting in C2, where by forming knots out of cloth, tape of different colors, they first create a mental drawing, which they can later materialize and incorporate into the exhibition. The C2 exhibition space will also display drawings and notes by the artist and other individuals related to this experiment.

Daniel Leber, an Argentinian artist of Slovenian origin who usually works with painting, drawing and sculpture, uses the interactive project Psycho Soma in and around C2 as a starting point for experimenting with a new form of drawing. The space becomes a trigger that turns the mind into a canvas and the body into a pencil. Isn’t an image always a mental projection of a holistic experience? The exhibition invites visitors to explore the public space, starting in C2, where by forming knots of cloth, tape of different colours, they first create a mental drawing that can later be materialised and included in the exhibition. The C2 exhibition space will also display drawings and notes by the artist and other individuals related to this experiment.

In English, the words Labyrinth and Maze refer to two completely different concepts. A Maze is a complex journey with many confusing paths, designed to confuse and disorientate, where it is easy to get lost in between. Labyrinth, on the other hand, has a single path, a single and uninterrupted course that leads us towards the center and then back to the beginning. In different cultures, the labyrinth has been used as a meditative tool, an introspective journey that leads the traveler to a deeper understanding of himself and his environment. The journey through the labyrinth requires only time and patience.

But what happens when we superimpose the ideas of the surrealists’ automatic drawing and the situationist derivative on the labyrinth? The question opens up a new spectrum of possibilities for understanding space (public and mental) and movement from a creative perspective. In an attempt to expand and problematize the limits of drawing, Leber conducted a series of walks (one per day) marked with knots of cloth, a ribbon of different colors. These mark the mental formation of drawing within the passage of public space. The walks, intertwined with the unpredictable complications of urban life, lead to a new graphic-mental experience, the outcome of which is impossible to predict in advance.

By gradually overlapping these walks, a complex network of lines is created, a visual representation of time and space that shows paths traveled without a specific destination. This progressive process reflects not only deliberately chosen paths, but also chance encounters and unexpected obstacles that occur in the urban environment. It is an artistic process in which a public space is transformed into a canvas, and a simple gesture of walking into a vibrant and changing drawing.

When was the last time you walked around the city without a specific destination? Have you ever tried to make an imaginary drawing without paper and pencil? Imagine your feet drawing invisible lines, guided only by curiosity and chance, creating a mental roadmap that reflects both your inner state and a city in constant transformation. This kind of drawing aims to explore the urban landscape in a way that is both meditative and creatively liberating.

Daniel Leber (1988, Buenos Aires, Argentina). He grew up in Malaver, in the San Martín district, in a Slovenian community. He graduated as a professor of fine arts and art historian at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). In 2012 he participated in the Artists’ Programme at the University of Torcuato Di Tella (UTDT). In 2022 he was awarded the first prize of Itaú Visual Arts. He has received artistic grants from ASEF, Oxenford, the National Art Fund (FNA) and the Banco de San Juan. His most recent solo exhibitions were “Endokosmos” (Smol, 2023), “Idea Fija” (Calvaresi Contemporáneo, 2022), “Leberinto” (Isla Flotante, 2021) and “Pedo Místico” (PM Gallery, 2020). He has participated in several group exhibitions, including “The History of Imagination in Argentina” (2019, Museo Moderno, curated by Javier Villa) and “Municipal Cherry Party” (2019, Piedras Galería, curated by Juan Laxagueborde). It explores the work of Federico Manuel Peralta Ramos, Liliana Maresco and Joaquín Torres-García. He is the editor of Detox, a journal of mysticism and current affairs. He leads the Metaphysics and Esotericism study group at LAR-Buenos Aires, the experimental meditation space at Pulpería Mutuálica, and, together with Marté, he leads the Perception Research group at Galeria Media. He lives and works in the city of Buenos Aires.