
The Unhomely
8 November 2003 – 11 January 2004
Sigmund Freud’s 1919 essay ‘Das Unheimliche’, literally ‘The Unhomely’, is more usually translated as ‘The Uncanny’. This exhibition explored the unhomely aspect of Freud’s essay and in doing so responded to the house at Kettle’s Yard, echoing some of its furnishings, fixtures and fittings.
Works focussed on familiar objects rendered or made to appear, in different ways, inexplicable, uncomfortable or supernatural.
Amongst the exhibited works was Carsten Höller’s ‘Crocodile’, 2002 – a lifesized transparent cast of an adult crocodile. Over four metres long, the work recalls a story, recounted by Sigmund Freud, about carved wooden crocodiles coming to life. Robert Gober exhibited ‘Drain’, 1989, his iconic sinkhole. Bernadette Kerrigan’s untitled works presented fantastical landscapes meticulously fashioned from empty aluminium drink cans. Alongside these existing works Caroline Achaintre, Des Hughes, Jim Lambie, and Simon Periton, made new works for the exhibition.