Larsen Warner is pleased to present Uncanny, a curated presentation of seven historical and contemporary artists. The presentation takes its starting point as an imagined home interior, with each artwork in some way depicting an element of our home lives.

The term uncanny was first used by German psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch in his essay On the Psychology of the Uncanny in1906. Jentsch describes the uncanny – in German ‘unheimlich’ (unhomely) – as something new and unknown that can often be seen as negative. However, in 1919 Sigmund Freud published his essay The Uncanny, repositioning this idea as the instance when something can seem both familiar and yet alien at the same time. Freud suggested that this ‘unhomely’ feeling was specifically in opposition to ‘heimlich’, which can mean homely and familiar but also secret and concealed or private.

Artists have for decades created artworks that draw on this description of the uncanny, combining familiar objects in unexpected ways to create feelings of surprise, confusion and unease in the viewer.  The surrealist movement in particular utilised this idea within their work. The seven works featured in this presentation all in some way flip or challenge our notions of what is expected, creating a whimsical and unexpected environment for the visitor to explore.