A soundscape of layers including birdsong, the flapping of wings during taking off, and a subtle heartbeat welcome visitors into the exhibition GRAVITY by Swedish-American artist Joanne Grüne-Yanoff. The sounds are evocative and lay the groundwork for the exhibition which unfolds into three scenes spread throughout the gallery’s rooms and encourage exploration, imagination, and interaction. Along the way, the presence of someone can be felt and traces of their existence begin to emerge from one room to the next. It is Cassandra; she guides us on a journey of contemplation and shows us how to reach for the sky.

Whether through Ovid’s Daedalus and Icarus, Da Vinci’s flying machines, or Rebecca Horn’s winged body extensions, flight has continuously inspired human existence. In Grüne-Yanoff’s Cassandra, the thought of flight envisioned through imagination is a catalyst that encourages a sense of self and what it means to be human. Cassandra reflects humanity; she is identifiable through her longing. The emotive desire behind Cassandra trying to fly fuels what Grüne-Yanoff calls, “the absurd gestures of Cassandra” and evidence of her attempts are revealed in different ways in the exhibition.

The lenticulars all share a nostalgic aesthetic emphasized through a palette of colors that evoke a calm, energized beauty in the works not unlike the unique light that settles across Swedish landscapes. The images could be memories of a place we have seen, visited, or dreamed of. Within each lenticular, Cassandra is captured in various moments: she is jumping, flapping her arms, preparing for take-off, resting, balancing on tightropes, and revealing secrets. The viewer is an integral part of this performance – as one moves in front of a lenticular, Cassandra’s gestures are activated and she is released from a static state. Her gestures are instructions, encouraging one to access a different way of behaving. For the artist, the acts of flapping arms and jumping contain a certain absurdity, and therein lies their power. It is through the physical and emotional exertion of pretending when imagination becomes real. While the surrealists of the past painted, wrote, or photographed dreamscapes of the mind, Grüne-Yanoff presents a physical and bodily experience that fosters the pathway to these other realities.

Grüne-Yanoff is an interdisciplinary artist working across video, sound, sculpture, and textile. Her role expands further to include director and playwright, inventor and maker, storyteller and community builder. Through her practice, she works with various materials that perform and support her fascination with the innate realm of being. Cassandra is a part of this, a character who investigates contemplation and longing. Metaphorically, Cassandra embodies Grüne-Yanoff’s practice, that of a grounded being who looks up to the sky, thinking about flight.