Kobie Nel (b. 1984, Bloemfontein, South Africa) is an artist based in Bergen. She holds an MA from Bergen Academy of Art and Design (2016) and a BA in photography from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia (2011). In recent years she has participated in exhibitions at Norsk Billedhoggerforening (2021), Parabol – Kunsthall 3,14, Bergen (2020), Gyldenpris Kunsthall, Bergen (2020), Bergen Kjøtt (2018), Tag Team Studio, Bergen (2017), Galleri FELT, Bergen (2017) and Bergen Kunsthall (2016). Internationally, she has participated in exhibitions at places such as I: Project Space, Beijing (2017), Hong Kun Museum for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2017), Colour Factory, Australia (2013) and the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra (2011). In 2017 her artist book Black Lake Monologue was published by CODA Press, Bergen.

I asked to see “the sample of ectoplasm.” The librarian looked at me strangely; he said, “Are you sure? It’s very nasty.” My response was, “Would you prefer me to look at it somewhere else?” I thought there might be a desk of shame, where I could be supervised and other readers would not be disturbed. He said, “No, but be discreet.” *

Ectoplasm (from the Greek ektos, meaning "outside", and plasma, meaning "something formed or moulded") is a term used in spiritualism to denote a substance or spiritual energy "exteriorized" by physical mediums. It was coined in 1894 by psychical researcher Charles Richet.

Kobie Nel’s recent works reflect a desire to give two-dimensional images three-dimensional form. They also demonstrate an examination of light and colour as basic components of representative systems. Nel creates staged installations that probe, provoke and raise awareness of the universe in which we find ourselves. For Nel, navigating these waters means sailing close to the wind. She invariably asks her audience to match her level of self-examination by triggering instinctive knowledge. Her long-term projects develop through investigative fieldwork involving photography, film, writing and material experiments that draw on archives, history, rituals and ecological awareness.

In Gyldenpris Kunsthall, Nel has used the floor as her sketch book and studio combined. For the past month the floor has been filled with materials, developing into sculptural works: silicone, wax, latex, foam, soap and glass. Liquid and solid, melted and moulded, until it has found its space in the architectural surroundings. The inserted materials have changed both the way we move, and the way we listen. Both the architectural and acoustic surrounding have been changed and moulded into a new whole. We are invited into a space that, by bringing us closer to materials, questions our place in the universe. In Kobie’s own words: we are sailing closer to the wind.

* Warner, Marina: “Ethereal Body: The Quest for Ectoplasm, Seeing is believing” 

Special thanks to S12 Galleri og Verksted, Tim Belliveau, Æsa Björk, Stig Anderson and Annine Birkeland.
Project supported by Bergen Kommune, Norsk Kulturråd and Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond.