Lisa Tan on the influence of Mike Kelley

Mike Kelley, Sublevel, 1998 Installation view, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany, 1999. Collection of Eric Decelle.
Photo: Nic Tenwiggenhorn. © Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts/Bildupphovsrätt.
Lisa Tan. Foto: Jean-Baptiste Béranger Bildupphovsrätt 2025

THE EXTRACURRICULARS
MIKE KELLEY: GHOST AND SPIRIT

Mike Kelley supposedly said: “I create art to give other people my problems.” In the first part of the programme series “The Extracurriculars”, artist Lisa Tan selects some of Mike Kelley’s problems and reflects on how they resonate in her own practice. Artist Lisa Tan opens the program series “The Extracurriculars” by focusing on Mike Kelley’s work “Sublevel” (1998) and the earlier work “Educational Complex” (1995). She examines how Kelley used architectural models to express his fascination with how places and educational environments shape our social behaviours and norms.

Art has long been used as a tool for self-knowledge and has often turned to architecture to explore what lies hidden in the psyche and its concealed corners. Through spatial representations, one attempts to understand the complexity of inner life, approach topics such as memory, trauma and indoctrination, and show how our subjectivity is shaped by the functions and behaviours that each spatial environment gives rise to.

In her talk, Lisa Tan will bring to life Kelley’s influence on her own work, where the complexity of subjectivity and psyche take shape as spatial constructions.

Language: English

Price: Free of charge, pre-registration required