Mickael Marman

Tote bags are what, in psychoanalytic terms, we might call overdetermined, that is, caused by multiple factors, both trivial and potent. But where dreams, as were Freud’s concern, are private and often elude memory, tote bags achieve their special significance precisely from being excessively public, at once sign and signification, container and contained. This does not mean that we are able to control what they say about us anymore than we are able to control our dreams. Is it possible to bring a bag to the supermarket without revealing your personal punctum? Is there such a thing as a blan ...

These questions were part of my everyday life, for roughly ten years, in that specific order most of the time.

I wonder how many times I have answered them.

People were often surprised that I didn‘t like to talk about it, even got offended when I declined to do so. From when I was 15 till I was 25 I had to deal with this film on a daily basis by people approaching me on the street, subway, even when traveling in neighboring countries.

It was great fun to shoot the movie, I made very close friends and it‘s an experience i‘m happy to have done, but not sure if I would have done aga ...

"Marman juggles issues of reputation and reality, notoriety and its justifications in Heimweh, which incidentally means “homesickness.” In a field where visibility is what many crave most of all, it is interesting to see an exhibition that addresses the discomfort of being recognised. Anonymity and visibility are not necessarily privileges one can choose to step in and out of, but conditional benefits."

– Excerpt from Review by Nora Joung in Kunstkritikk