The Bardo Tudol, the Tibetan book of the dead and the living that, according to Buddhism, accompanies the deceased on their way to the next incarnation, forms the conceptual basis for Adi T. Hoffman's exhibition. The book and a sketchbook that the artist wrote during the days when she was at the bedside of a close family member are the starting points for the process of working on the exhibition. The exhibition raises questions about ongoing intermediate states, the presence of death in life, and the spirit in matter.
Each sketchbook entry is an attempt to capture and document a fragment of a moment from the ongoing present in the hospital: wheelchairs, medical equipment and patient beds are inscribed in black charcoal. The works in the exhibition are derivatives and incarnations of this drawing action. In their new incarnation as the works in the gallery, the book's drawings have undergone processing, refinement, planning and expansion, but their expressive essence has been preserved. By adding and subtracting material from the surface of the painting, along with references to the body and references to Anita's paintings, Hoffman invites us to observe and reflect on the question of the passing of time and the dark presence of death at the various stages of life. This presence is always present, in every object, situation or emotion, and indicates that even the present moment is but a fragment from the prolonged processes of the formation of life and death.

* auto translate