A GLIMPS OF THE PROJECT “JONAS FALCK – A REJECTED EXPLORER’S OBSERVATIONS” WILL BE ON VIEW AT RICKLUNDGÅRDEN IN SAXNÄS, SWEDEN
If you are in the area around southern Lapland during this summer, make sure to stop by Ricklundgården in Saxnäs, Sweden, and have a look at a section of my latest project “Jonas Falck – a rejected explorer’s observations.” The project has been created during my residency stay as their Sparbanksstiftelsen Norrlands 2013 recipient. The exhibition will open on June 16th and run until end of August.
SOLO SHOW AT THE ART MUSEUM IN SUNDSVALL, SWEDEN
The exhibition, taking the form of an installation with photographs, stories, and museum objects, will tell the story about an old house in the northern part of Sweden. The house, built in 1866, was the location of one of the most brutal mass murders in the history of Sweden. The installation, oscillating between what we perceive to be fact and fiction, will effectively paint a picture of how much the concept of “truth” can be stretched in a museum context.
The opening will be on Saturday, February 1st at 1 pm and will run until March 23rd.
THE NordArt 2013 EXHIBITION AT KUNSTWERK CARLSHÜTTE IN BÜDELSDORF, GERMANY
I am excited to be part of the NordArt 2013 exhibition at the former iron foundry Kunstwerk Carlshütte in northern Germany. They received applications from 2458 artists from 93 countries. 240 artists from 55 countries were selected. Since 1999 the NordArt has established itself as one of the largest exhibitions of contemporary art in Europe which takes place annually in the summer months. The exhibition areas are: the former Carlshütte foundry (22,000 sqm), the ACO Wagenremise (400 sqm) as well as the historical park (80,000 sqm) and public places of the town of Büdelsdorf. NordArt 2013 will take place between June 8 – October 6, 2013.
RECIPIENT OF A GRANT AND RESIDENCY AWARD AT RICKLUNDGÅRDEN IN SAXNÄS, SWEDEN
Sparbanksstiftelsen Norrland award each year two artists from the northern region of Sweden a stipend and a month-long stay at their studio at Ricklundgården in Saxnäs, Sweden. I feel honored to be one of this this years awardees. The studio is the artist home of Emma och Folke Ricklund, built in the 1940s. In her will Emma Ricklund expressed her wish to turn the house into a studio space for visiting artists. The first stipend was awarded in 1972.
THE UNWRITTEN QUARTERLY WILL BE IN THE SHOW “COPY.RIGHT?” AT 33 CONTEMPORARY GALLERY IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
My newsprint magazine The Unwritten Quarterly will be part of a show opening on February 15 at 33 Contemporary Gallery in Chicago. The show, “copy.right?,” is juried and curated by Sergio Gomez (33 Contemporary Gallery director) and Jennifer Moore (photographer). The show will be up until March 9, 2013.
The Unwritten Quarterly is a magazine dedicated to the fabrication of life and the editor of the magazine, one Bernardo Soares, could be said to be a darker version of myself. In his editorial letter he writes: “I once created a writer, whom I used as a tool, so that I could eventually make myself into nothing. I made myself into nothing so that I could become everything and everyone. I am several, am many, I am a profusion of selves. In the process I may have lost myself. But what I really gained was the possibility of becoming anyone.” Herein lies the clue to the nature of the magazine. As an artist I have taken the shape of many different characters, many of whom have been created by others. One example would be the article written by Gregor Samsa – the struggling insect in Kafka’s novel “Metamorphosis.” But in my article he managed to escape his apartment and is now living in the nearby park. The literary components of the magazine are to some degree built upon existing fiction. The images are likewise built upon existing material, but in this case I have created composited images based on photographs found browsing the Internet.
Curatorial statement:
As long as there have been artists, there have been artists who appropriate. To appropriate is to borrow elements in the creation of new work. Appropriation recontextualises whatever it borrows to create something new. In some cases the original ‘thing’ remains accessible as the original, without change, but in other cases, the new work takes on a completely different facade and ultimately new meaning. Thus, blurring the line of what is fair usage and challenging the implications of copyright laws. The practice of appropriation can be traced back before the Renaissance, but became popular with the Surrealists, Dadaists, Pop Artists and the Neo-Geo Artists when mass production became a cultural norm.
Art is not created in a bubble. Artists are influenced by almost everything: the internet, television, literature, history, news and even other artists. The “copy.right?” exhibition seeks to give forum to contemporary artists who explore the idea of appropriation through concept, materials, awareness and who also challenge global mass culture.
“THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL JURIED PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION” AT VIRIDIAN ARTIST IN NEW YORK CITY
I am excited that my work will be represented in “The 3rd National and International Juried Photography Exhibition,” (the juror was Nat Trotman, Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum) at the NYC Chelsea gallery Viridan Artists. The exhibition will take place Feb 5 – Feb 23, 2013. There were 514 artworks submitted out of which the juror picked a selection of 25 photographs. The work that I will show will be a serie of eight photographs from the project Cellar in the Attic.
“REPORTED MISSING” SOLO EXHIBITION AT UNSPEAKABLE PROJECTS IN SAN FRANCISCO
I am happy to announce my first US Solo Exhibition, opening up on Thursday, November 15 at Unspeakable Projects in San Francisco. The show will be on view through Saturday, December 8.
In “Reported Missing” I am inviting the viewer to visit a parallel world filled with people who are truly lost. Characters gone missing from the world, specifically extracted from an archive of people reported missing, has become fragmented and dissolved. In a process of layered composites they have pushed through into possible realms and formed new identities. The observer gets to participate in the extraordinary and paradoxical event where characters briefly reunite to prove that they are no longer lost. The fragments of what once disappeared have been pieced together and a new world has opened up.
CELLAR IN THE ATTIC IN LOS ANGELES AND FORT COLLINS
I am happy that my photographic series will be showed at two places this summer. Opening on June 2nd, and on display through July 1st, Danielle Sommer has curated my piece into the show “Pop-Up Library: The Collectors” at Monte Vista Projects in Los Angeles, California. 42 of my photographs will be represented.
To investigate an experience, we often turn to its physical detritus. We collect it, savor it, fetishize it, or even reproduce it. If none exists, we will go so far as to create it. Pop-Up Library: The Collectors features artists working with the idea of collecting or archiving. Each artist or group featured has been struck by a particular moment, place, experience, or event. Each artist has found his or her own way of attempting to return to the moment, to freeze or expand it, to critique it or reproduce it.
12 photographs from the same series will be on display in the show “illusions” at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado. The show will be up between August 3rd to September 1st and I am proud to be the recipient of the “Director’s Selection.”
Illusion: A false idea or belief, a deceptive appearance or impression, something that betrays by producing misleading impressions of reality. Synonyms: delusion – hallucination – phantasm – phantom – mirage.
“FICCIONES” AT KROWSWORK GALLERY IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
I’m very excited to be part of a three-person show at the amazing Krowswork Gallery in Oakland. My installation will introduce the butterfly lady Margot Waltz. Gallery director Jasmine Moorhead writes about my contribution, “Waltz’s story is told from the perspective of the artist, now serving the role of reporter. To understand her subject Rödén lived for two weeks with three housemates whose interactions with Waltz, a sometime visitor in their home, had changed their own relationship to each other. A series of articles and dialogues with the tenants, some of which were published in The New Yorker and Cabinet, craft a portrait of Waltz, while helping us understand her untimely death and the mysterious Butterfly Bush that is the focal point of the memorial at the gallery. Rödén’s deft handling of a complexly layered narrative makes the illusion seamless and guides us to situate ourselves as a literal part of every story.”
Opening reception for the artists Saturday, May 12, 6-9 pm
On view May 12 – June 16, 2012
480 23rd Street-side entrance, Oakland, California
Read full press release here.
SKOWHEGAN SUMMER RESIDENCY IN MAIN
Out of the 2056 applicants to the Skowhegan Summer Residency, I am very excited to belong to the 3 percent that were accepted! Skowhegan is an intensive nine-week summer residency program for emerging visual artists established in 1946. The residency is located in Maine, and will take place between June 9 to August 11, 2012.
“FORÅRSUDSTILLIGEN 2012” AT KUNSTHAL CHARLOTTENBORG IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
February 24th is the opening for Forårsudstillingen 2012 (The Spring Exhibition 2012) at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen, Denmark. Four of my photographs were included in the exhibition, all from the series “A Reunion of Lost People.” Forårsudstillingen is one of the most important open submission exhibitions in Europe, and has been held annually in Copenhagen since 1857. The exhibition is held at “one of the largest and most beautiful spaces for contemporary art in Europe.” For the Spring Exhibition 2012 there were 715 applicants. 70 artists have been selected, including 66 first-time participants and a total of 92 works. The youngest artist was born in 1990 and the oldest in 1949. 31 artists come from Denmark, 15 from the rest of the Nordic region, 18 from other European countries, and 6 from other countries around the world. The end date for the exhibition is May 6th, 2012.
