Participating artists from Norway:
aiPotu
Lene Berg
Annie Anawana Haloba Hobøl
Pushwagner
Special Projects:
Vibeke Tandberg
Matias Faldbakken
aiPotu, Island Tour, (sketch), 2008
Courtesy of the artists
Entitled Revolutions – Forms That Turn, the 16th Biennale of Sydney is curated by its Artistic Director, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, a visitor in OCA's International Visitor Programme (IVP) in January 2007. The theme of this year's biennial suggests the impulse to revolt, a desire for change, and seeing the world differently. By inviting artists, thinkers, filmmakers and writers who celebrate, investigate and re-think the concept of 'revolution', the biennial explores the impulse to revolt, the etymology of 'Revolutions' (re-volvere), as well as the gap between associations with the first part of the exhibition title ('revolutions') and the second ('forms that turn'). Revolutions – Forms That Turn will exhibit works of approximately 180 historical and contemporary artists, including around fifty new works; installations, large-scale sculptures, film and video, sound works, performances and online projects.
Norwegian artists aiPotu (Anders Kjellesvik and Andreas Siqueland) will contribute to the Sydney Biennale with two separate works, both related to aiPotu's ongoing Island Tour – a series of island expeditions. The first work, entitled If you don't like the weather – wait 15 minutes, is a newspaper printed in Sydney containing a series of posters documenting different performance projects made in Iceland in 2007. The second work is a maritime campsite at the Cockatoo Island, outside Sydney Harbor. Annie Anawana Haloba Hobøl will exhibit a new video and sound installation, which explores the personal experience of circularity, change and flux in the world today. In her new work for Sydney, filmed in the Australian desert, Haloba engages with the experiences of women from different cultures and different perspectives. According to the artist, these women (an Aboriginal, an African and a woman of western descent) are to translate the changes and turns within the private realm. Pushwagner will exhibit the paintings Klaxton II, (2000) and Self Portrait, (1979), the pictorial novel Soft City, (1968–1976) and the animation Soft City, (2006–2008). Lene Berg will present a new project consisting of a video and a series of images and objects entitled The Drowned One. Having the first photographic images of a human being (The Drowned One by Hippolyte Bayard) as its point of departure, The Drowned One deals with photographic paradoxes. The work will be shown on Cockatoo Island outside Sydney Harbour and in October, the project will be presented at Fotogalleriet in Oslo, Norway.
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev has also invited Norwegian artists Vibeke Tandberg and Matias Faldbakken to take part in the biennial's online venue, a experimental space that encourages the public to discover an expanding universe of ideas. Within the online venue, Vibeke Tandberg will exhibit the video Old Man Going Up and Down a Staircase (2003) and Matias Faldbakken will present a slide show as a continuation of his recent image series Untitled (Young is Better Than Old) (2008). The images are composed by overlapping words rendered with black isolation tape on canvas, paper or directly onto the wall. In such a manner, the text becomes unreadable and the message is obscured. According to the artist, this way of working suppresses language in favor of a mute and negating visual gesture. In addition, the Sydney Biennial will also exhibit an important historical work from Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely entitled Vega 222 (1969-70) from the collection of Erling Neby in Oslo, Norway.
The 2008 Biennale of Sydney has been supported with a grant from OCA's International Support Programme. A portion of this grant is provided by 03–funding*.
For further developing information, please refer to Biennale of Sydney, or contact info@oca.no. For press inquiries, please refer to imogencorlettepr@gmail.com.
Trentino — Südtirol/Alto Adige, Italy
Curated by:
Adam Budak
Anselm Franke/Hila Peleg
Raqs Media Collective
19 July–2 November, 2008
Press preview: 17 July and 18 July, from 11:00–19:00 in the exhibition venues
Press Conference: 19 July (time to be confirmed)
Among Artists:
Knut Åsdam
Annie Anawana Haloba Hobøl
Kristina Bræin
Helen & Hard Architects
Special Projects:
Elisabeth Byre as part of Konstfack CuratorLab
Espen Sommer Eide
Kristina Bræin, The Problem of Functionality (detail), 2004
Courtesy of the artist and Stenersenmuseet, Oslo, Norway
Manifesta 7 will take place at the region of Trentino – Südtirol/Alto Adige, Italy, and will emphasize the use of public spaces by inviting artists, curators, intellectuals, and diverse publics to consider the region as a zone of contact. According to Manifesta 7, the biennial's conceptual framework is an invitation to investigate the liminal and emerging aspects of the global contemporary experience in order to generate a series of subcutaneous reflective possibilities'.
Three curatorial teams have been selected to realize the project, each working as a coordinated, but autonomous curatorial unit: Raqs Media Collective, formed by Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula & Shuddhabrata Sengupta and OCA's International Studio Programme (ISP) visitors in April 2008, will be presenting the exhibition entitled The Rest of Now at ex-Alumix – an industrial building from the beginning of the 20th Century, in Bolzano. Anselm Franke and Hila Peleg, will develop their exhibition entitled The Soul (or, Much Trouble in the Transportation of Souls) at the former Post Office, a rationalist building from the 1930s in Trento, and Adam Budak, OCA's IVP visitor in October 2007, will develop his exhibition entitled Principle Hope between the 20th Century ex-Peterlini industrial building and the 19th century Manifattura Tabacchi, in Rovereto. The curators will collaborate on the fourth venue within the fortress of Fortezza with a project entitled Project Scenarios, which will occupy the fortress with voice recordings, text, light and landscape in order to question the idea of how imaginary scenarios shape ones understanding of past and future, circumstance and possibility.
In the Ex-Peterlini, Knut Åsdam will present a new work entitled Oblique - a hybrid narrative of cinema and architecture. It consists of a film shown within an installation of fences and plants quoting public or semi-public spaces within a city. Through a play with the history of film and the notion of place, the work animates representational systems and orders of belonging that map cross-regional tensions where complex identity factors are negotiated, and express the struggle to find a place within language and social change. In ex-Alumix in Bolzano, Annie Anawana Haloba Hobøl will premiere the video The Air between Two Women: a conversation between Italian video artist Francesca Grilli and Annie Anawana Haloba Hobøl about their mental 'residue' and how they can find a language in which these 'mental residues' can co-exists collectively. Kristina Bræin will exhibit a partly site-specific installation. The installation, entitled The Problem of Functionality insists on a human softness and homely scale amidst the raw, huge spaces of the abandoned factory of ex-Alumix. The Stavanger based architecture office Helen & Hard will present a site-specific installation entitled The Naked Garden that, by synthesizing possibilities for physical, biological and climatical transformation, initiates resonance and evocative relations between natural and cultural/political spaces.
Espen Sommer Eide, Phonophani_1_KAO, (2007)
Performance at Curating Degree Zero,
Bergen, Norway, 2007
Courtesy of the artist
As part of CuratorLab, a research based curatorial residency programme organized by Konstfack in Stockholm, Sweden, Elisabeth Byre will participate in Manifesta 7 within a special project entitled Hot Desking: Four broadsheets, four cities, four events which is a response to the exhibition The Rest of Now at ex-Alumix. The project consist of four publications, and four short-term exhibitions in the context of four different cities: Paris, Stockholm, Istanbul and Rome. Collaborating with curator Adnan Yildiz, Elisabeth Byre will curate the exhibition and publication in Istanbul, under the working title Local Utopia, Global Phantasy. In a special project within The Rest of Now — Tabula Rasa: 111 days on a long table, Espen Sommer Eide will present the performance entitled Building Instruments, to be realized 12 September. During the performance, the artist will construct a work integrating vinyl records obtained at local shops or donated by the public of Manifesta 7.
For accreditation form for the press preview, refer to Manifesta 7's website. For planning and organizational aspects of a visitor's trip, click here. For professional accreditation, please contact: professional@manifesta7.it. For press inquiries, please refer to press@manifesta.it. Please refer to manifesta7.it for further information.
Manifesta 7 has been supported with a grant from OCA's International Support Programme. A portion of this grant is provided by 03–funding*.
Arnheim, The Netherlands
Curated by: Anna Tilroe
14 June–21 September, 2008
The Oslo based artist Charlie Roberts participates in the 10th Sonsbeek International Sculpture Exhibition in Arnheim, The Netherlands entitled Grandeur — Unique tradition, legendary reputation as curated by its Artistic Director Anna Tilroe, from 14 June–21 September, 2008.
Participating artists from Norway:
Lene Berg
Vasif Kortun, a visitor in OCA's International Vistior Programme (IVP) in April 2008, invites Lene Berg to exhibit within the 2008 Taipei Biennial, taking place in various venues throughout the city of Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. According to the curators, this year's biennial 'will not have a single theme, but a constellation of correlated themes, most of which address the chaotic states of things in this time of globalization'. Within the biennial Lene Berg will exhibit Stalin by Picasso, which has as its point of departure an old dispute about Picasso's portrait of Stalin with a moustache and feminine features.The 6th Taipei Biennial has been supported with a grant from 03–funding*.
Participating artists from Norway:
Elmgreen & Dragset
Danae Mossman and Fulya Erdemci, curators of the 5th SCAPE Christchurch Biennial of Art in Public Space, have invited Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset to exhibit the public artwork I am thinking of you, within the biennial. I am thinking of you, originally commissioned for Villa Manin's Sculpture in the Park, Italy, 2007, is a stylized aluminum phone box, with a telephone inside, which constantly rings. When one answers the phone, she or he can hear a message that says 'I am thinking of you'. According to the curators, the 5th SCAPE, entitled Wandering Lines: Towards a New Culture of Space, will look at the 'impact of Globalization on the transformation of cities which are guided by a culture of consumerism'. The 5th SCAPE Christchurch Biennial of Art in Public Space takes place in Christchurch, New Zealand from 19 September to 2 November, 2008.
Bjarne Melgaard, Untitled, 2007
Courtesy of Greene Naftali Gallery and the artist.
Bjarne Melgaard is invited to a solo exhibition at de Appel in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from 21 September to 30 November, 2008. For the exhibition, curated by Ann Demeester, director of de Appel, and entitled The Rod Bianco Show, Melgaard will develop a site-specific total installation.
26 October is the opening date for Børre Sæthre's solo exhibition at P.S.1/MoMA, New York, USA. Curated by Lia Gangitano, Curatorial Advisor to P.S.1/MoMA, the exhibition will incorporate and adapt elements from the exhibition For Someone Who Nearly Died But Survived, which was on view at Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway in 2007. According to the curator, 'Sæthre transforms physical space as an integral layer his open-ended, quasi narrative installations, whose pacing, much like [Kubrick's] 2001's meditative slowness, enables time to reveal the intricacies of an environment's multi-faceted character'.
Floris Kruidenberg, Co-curator of 1646, in The Hague, The Netherlands invited Kristina Bræin to hold a solo exhibition, entitled Business as unusual at the newly renovated artists–run Project Space 1646. Kristina Bræin developed a site-specific work within the frame of her artistic practice and in line with the aim of the new exhibition/project programme to be a place were artists develop new work on location rather then delivering a ready, detailed plan. The exhibition will take place between 6 and 28 June, 2008.
Kjell Bjørgeengen is invited for an exhibition together with the late American artist Paul Sharits, and two separate performances at this years Kill Your Timid Notion at Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Dundee, UK. Curated by Graham Domke, curator of Dundee Contemporary Arts, and Barry Esson and Bryony McIntyre, curators at Arika, an independent music festival production company, Kill Your Timid Notion is an annual festival which explores the relationship between sound and image. In the 2008 edition, the festival will explore the notion of the 'Flicker'. For the exhibition, also entitled Kill Your Timid Notion, Kjell Bjørgeengen will occupy the main exhibition space with an immersive installation of single channel works on monitors. For his performances, the Norwegian artist will present a collaboration project with Keith Rowe and Phillip Wachsmann, two of the leading figures in UK improvised music. Kill Your Timid Notion open on 19 September, 2008 and culminates with a music and cinema programme from 10 to 12 October.
Milumbe Haimbe is invited by Mulenga K. Chafilwa, Chairman of Zambia National Visual Arts Council, to hold a solo exhibition at the Henry Tayali Visual Arts Centre, in Lusaka, Zambia, between 7 and 21 July, 2008. The exhibition entitled Color Book explores a socio-political texture by making a comparative study between the democratic landscape of Scandinavia and Sub-Sahara. The exhibition seeks to generate interest among art scholars and practitioners to engage in social-political and cultural explorations in the context of democracy and free-expression. The project is supported by 03–funding*.
Pushwager, Dadadata, 1995
Private collection, Courtesy of the artist
Pushwagner is invited by curator Cosmin Costinas to exhibit within Like an Attali report, but different – on fiction and political imagination at Kadist Art Foundation, in Paris, France, which opens 14 June and run through July 27, 2008. According to the press release, the exhibition 'unfolds like an essay on the numerous links between political imagination in a given society at a moment in time and the fictions that society is producing'. The works exhibited within Like an Attali report, but different in various ways, alters and participate in the fabrication of narratives, representing a point of interaction between story telling and political imagination. Within Like an Attila report, but different, Pushwagner will exhibit Vertigo (1990), Dadadata (1995), and Jobkill (1988–90). The Kadist Art Foundation will host an opening reception Saturday, 14 June from 18:00 to 21:00. The exhibition is accompanied by interventions of writers and critics (29 June) and by a film programme (from 14–24 June). See the Kadist Foundation website for full programme.
Sissel Tolaas and Verdensteatret have been invited to exhibit within Synthetic Times — Media Art China 2008, at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. The exhibition, curated by the New York, USA based media curator, Zhang Ga, is organized around four distinctive yet interrelated themes that testify to the incessant and obsessive pursuit of an ideal world through artistic intervention into media and communication technologies as well as bio-cultural spheres. Sissel Tolaas who is one of few artists currently working with smell, creates installations that explore real scents, questioning certain cultural prejudices. For Synthetic Times she is contributing with the project Fear 9, in which she collects and displays the smell of different men who have nothing in common but the fear of body contact. The Norwegian collective Verdensteatret is presenting the installation The Telling Orchestra, 'where images, sculptures, sound and video are deeply integrated into each other to form an audio-visual-spatial'. As part of the Synthetic Times, several evening programs dedicated to countries that have made significant contributions to the developments of media art and culture is taking place in Beijing, as well as a special screening programme at the Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition includes approximately 50 media works, from both established and emerging artists and runs from 9 June through 3 July, 2008, as one of the more important cultural events leading up to the Olympic Games in Beijing. The project is supported by 03–funding*.
Verdensteatret, Fortellerorkesteret (The Telling Orchestra), 2003
– ongoing installation, Courtesy of the artists
Martin Skauen is exhibiting within There is no Story to Tell, taking place at Tang Contemporary, Beijing, Republic of China, from 17 May to 14 June, 2008. There is No Story to Tell, curated by Liu Ding, Lu Hua and Wei Xing features the works of number of active and upcoming artists from Europe and Asia who's works can be used to illustrate 'universality' and examine the state of cultural production within the international economic and political ideology of neoliberalism.
On 24 May, 2008 MUSEION – Modern and Contemporary Art Museum, in Bolzano, Italy inaugurated its new building designed by Berlin based architectural firm KSV Krüger Schubert Vandreike. The new building corresponds to a redefinition of the museum's project to be an international laboratory for research with an interdisciplinary focus. As an exceptional event for the opening of MUSEION's new building, Corinne Diserens, Director at MUSEION, and OCA IVP visitor in November last year, curated the exhibition Peripheral Look and Collective Body and invited Unni Gjertsen to select films by Swedish director Mai Zetterling for the screening programme of the exhibition. Peripheral Look and Collective Body takes as a starting point the notion of 'peripheral vision', or the ability to see objects and movement outside of the direct line of vision to discuss the question of the collective bodies in contemporary visual art considering the tight relationship with architecture and performance, dance in particular. On the 3 July, Unni Gjertsen will give a presentation on Mai Zetterling's films, at MUSEION. Peripheral Look and Collective Body opened on 24 May and closes on 21 September, 2008.
Curators Johan Sjöström, director pro tem of Göteborgs Konsthall, Sweden, and Mika Hannula have invited Josefine Lyche and Martin Skauen to exhibit within Tomorrow Always Belongs to Us, a group exhibition with new Nordic paintings. The curators selected the works The Scent of a Woman series (2008) and What goes around comes around (2008) by Martin Skauen, and Dream Machine by Lyche. Lyche will also produce a large three-dimensional painting on a specially constructed wall. Among other participating artists are: Anastasia Ax, Louise Dorph, Henrik Eriksson and Christina Malbek. Tomorrow Always Belongs to Us takes place between 5 June and 28 September, 2008 at Göteborgs Konsthall, Sweden.
Rachel Dagnall,
Iconic Moments of the 20th Century, 2000
Courtesy of the artist
In the context of Henry VIII's Wives, Rachel Dagnall is invited by curator Chema González to exhibit the work Iconic Moments of the 20th Century within This is how history is written, at La Casa Encendida, in Madrid, Spain. The exhibition presents a consideration of the rethink of history in contemporary art. Iconic Moments of the 20th Century is a photo series made for the exhibition Evolution Isn't over Yet at the Fruitmarket Gallery, in Edinburg, UK, 2000. This is how history is written, takes place between 24 June and 1 September, 2008. Other participating artists inclued: On Kawara, Hito Steyerl and Feliz Gmelin.
Matt Packer, Curator of Exhibition and Projects at Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, UK, has invited Marte Johnslien to exhibit within Bookish, at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery from 26 June to 26 October, 2008. The exhibition presents works from artists, including John Baldessari, Richard Prince and Rainer Ganahl, who refer to publications and printed matter as constructs in different medias. Within Bookish, Marte Johnslien will exhibit Le Livre Sur Le Livre, which focus on the book as a medium for distribution of knowledge.
Henrik Placht is invited by Jack Persekian, Director of Al-Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, and head curator of Al-Ma'mal's, to exhibit within The Jerusalem Show, edition 0.1. The exhibition, which takes place in and around the Old City of Jerusalem between 9 and 19 July, 2008, will exhibit the works of Palestinians and international artists that reflect on the spiritual import of the city of Jerusalem, promoting the re-reading of the city in a creative, accessible and interactive manner. For The Jesuralem Show, Henrik Placht will create a new work entitled We apologize, which has as its theme the act of apology and takes different expressions shuch as a neon sign and buttons. Among other participating artists are: Phil Collins, Hana Farah, and Judy Price. The project is supported by 03–funding*.
Enrico Lunghi, Artistic Director of the Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain, Luxembourg, has invited Bodil Furu and Talleiv Taro Manum to exhibit within Don't Worry – Be Curious, at the Casino Luxembourg from 12 July to 14 September, 2008. The exhibition, curated by Dorothee Bienert, Kati Kivinen, and Enrico Lunghi is an extended version of the Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art, that, after being exhibited in Kiel and Berlin, Germany; Tallinn, Estonia; Pori, Finland; and Riga, Latvia will be shown in Luxemburg. Within Don't Worry – Be Curious Bodil Furu will exhibit the video installation My Ambience (2005) and Talleiv Taro Manum will exhibit the installation Greetings from Ringnes (2007). Among other artists exhibiting are, Olga Chernysheva, Kaspars Goba and Angel Vergara.
Randi Nygård is exhibiting within NO BORDERS (Just N.E.W.S.*), taking place at La Centrale Électrique in Brussels, Belgium, from 19 June to 28 September, 2008. The exhibition brings together the work of 29 young artists who recently graduated from 22 art schools in European countries. According to the curator, Ramon Tió Bellido, 'the purpose of the NO BORDERS (Just N.E.W.S.*) (in actual fact N.E.W.S. constitutes the initials of North, East, West and South) is to raise the profile of young artists from all over Europe in a way that reveals both their common roots and their diversity of expression'. Within NO BORDERS (Just N.E.W.S.*), Randi Nygård will be exhibiting How to describe the world is still an open question.
Unni Gjertsen,
Creative History, 2003-2004
Courtesy of the artist
Unni Gjertsen is invited to exhibit the work Creative History within The Last Marquise, organized by vzw Gynaika, in Antwerpen, Belgium and curated by Ann Geeraerts. The Last Marquise will exhibit a selection of contemporary artworks in dialogue with the life of the marquise Arconati Visconti. Unni Gjertsen's Creative History is composed by 10 silk screens with tabloid statements about women intellectuals and artists. The statements are a mix of facts, lies and possible truths that provoques a questioning on how history is created. The Last Marquise will take place from 12 September to 23 November, 2008 at the Castle van Gaasbeek, where the marquise lived, in Gaasbeek, Belgium and among other artists included are Cindy Sherman, Katharina Fritsch, Sylvie Fleury and Barbara Visser.
Ida Ekblad is invited by Ruba Katrib, Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, USA, to exhibit within Dark Continents, taking place at MOCA from 26 September to 9 November, 2008. According to Ruba Katrib, 'the exhibition strives to investigate and question the themes and aesthetics of the primitive and exotic through a contemporary lens'. For Dark Continents, Ida Ekblad will produce new works approaching themes raised by the exhibition such as, the relationships between femininity and nature, notions of primitivism and exoticism in art, psychoanalysis, and anthropology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among other artist exhibiting within Dark Continents are Hadassah Emmerich and Naoi Fisher.
Maya Økland and Jan Freuchen,
Detail from Tableau #1-4, 2007
Courtesy of the artists
Maya Økland is invited by curator Doris Frohnapfel, for a solo exhibition at Kjubh Kunstverein e.V., in Cologne, Germany, as part of the 19th Internationale Photoscene Köln, a photography festival taking place every two years. In the exhibition entitled I Recognize You, Maya Økland will exhibit the works In the Void if Meaning I Cry for Sanity (2005-2008), Tableau #1-4 (2007), with Jan Freuchen, Stranger in Motherland (2005-2008) and IRL_In real Life (2003). In addition, the artist will exhibit a new work, produced specially for the exhibition in Germany. I Recognize You will be open for visitation from 25 September to 26 October, 2008.
Jesper Alvær is invited by The Foundation of Modern Art in Situ in Warsaw, Poland to exhibit within the second edition of Passengers, an annual international festival for public space and art. Curated by Zuzanna Fogtt and Kuba Szreder, this year edition of the festival, entitled About Walls, Fences and Other More or Less Visible Barriers, takes place from 9 to 16 September, 2008, in Warsaw. Poland. The festival investigates the 'problem of today's public space and its participants, its present situation in the era of globalization and consumerism'. About Walls, Fences and Other More or Less Visible Barriers, which includes artistic realizations in public space, exhibitions and workshops, focus on the vanishing if a city public spaces. Jesper Alvær will contribute to the festival with a project with the working title Rhythmanalysis that seeks to explore how one might usefully employ elements of rhythm analysis in artists fieldworks and representation. Among other artists exhibiting within the festival are: Kuba Bakowski, Miklos Erhardt and Farida Heuck.
Toril Johannessen is invited by Canadian Historian David Pantalony to present the project In Search of Iceland Spar at the Scientific Instruments Commissions (SIC) Symposium 2008, which will takes place at the Museum of Science at the University of Lisbon, Portugal from 16 to 21 September, 2008. SIC is part of the International Union for History and Philosophy of Science and the project In Search of Iceland Spar is a quest to trace Iceland Spar, a mineral central in the development of natural sciences, originating from a specific site on Iceland, the Helgustadir quarry.
Anne-Britt Rage is invited by Gudrun von Schoenebeck and Dr. Heidrun Wirth to exhibit the video documentary Heavenly Unrest within Women at the Olympic Games – Olympic Games 1896 – 2008 at Frauenmuseum, in Bonn, Germany. Women at the Olympic Games is an interdisciplinary exhibition project that displays the development and discussion of the topic of women's attendance at Olympic Games, and how women have managed to win recognition over decades in the world of sports. According to Anne-Britt Rage, Heavenly Unrest is an 'artistic documentary that discusses the national symbol of Norway (ski jumping) in the perspective of women's liberation'. Additionally to the video, Anne-Britt Rage will exhibit wall drawings of ski jumps. Women at the Olympic Games runs from 17 August to 9 November, 2008.
Anne Szefer Karlsen is invited by Abdellah Karroum, Artistic Director of L'appartement 22, in Rabat, Morocco, for a residency at L'appartement 22. The residency is to develop into an artist project that will take shape in several formats: an exhibition, texts, web casts and interviews. The project intend to carry out a discussion on what independent and institutional collaboration is and can be. The project is entitled Collaborative Structures Based in a Chance Meeting and the residency takes place between 16 and 23 September 2008, in Morocco. The project is supported by 03–funding*.
Mette Tronvoll, Isortoq Unartoq #21, 1999
Courtesy of the artist
Mette Tronvoll is invited by curator Apinan Poshyananda to exhibit within Traces of Siamese Smile: Art + Faith + Politics + Love, taking place at the new Bangkok Art and Culture Center from 20 September to 23 November, 2008. The exhibition brings together works of contemporary art by more than 100 Thai and international artists, exploring the interconnected narratives of art, faith, politics and love, through the metaphor of the 'Siamese Smile'. For the Traces of Siamese Smile: Art + Faith + Politics + Love, Mette Tronvoll will produce a new video work. The project is supported by 03–funding*.
Matias Faldbakken is invited by Ruba Katrib, Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, USA, to exhibit within The Possibility of an Island, at MOCA from 4 December, 2008 to 15 March, 2009. According to the curator, the exhibition takes as a starting point the recent novel The Possibility of an Island, by Michael Houellebecq to pose existential questions in the face of a never arriving future. For The Possibility of an Island, MOCA will commission new works from Matias Faldbakken. The exhibition takes place at Goldman Warehouse in Miami and among other participating artists are, Claire Fontaine, Peter Coffin and Cao Fei.
Jesper Alvær and Erik Snedsbøl are exhibiting within Re-Reading the Future. Organized by the National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic, the exhibition takes place at the Veletržní Palace from 3 June to 11 September, 2008. Re-Reading the Future results from the cooperation of 18 curators from different countries, each developing an exhibition project. Erik Snedsbøl is exhibiting a series of photographs mounted on a black painted wall. Jesper Alvær in collaboration with Isabela Grosseova is exhibiting a publication project specially prepared for the exhibition and entitled Representing the Nation; Compensation Portraits (2008), available online (PDF).
Mattias Josefsson has been offered a residency at Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), in Kitakyushu, Japan. During his stay at CCA, Mattias Josefsson will give continuation to his research project relating to homeless males in Japan, in relation to traditional values and patriarchy. The residency last for 7 months, as of September, 2008
After a decision from the German Parliament, on 27 May, 2008, the national Memorial to the Homosexuals Persecuted under the National Socialist Regime was inaugurated, at Tiergarten Park, Berlin, Germany. Designed by artist duo Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, the memorial intends 'to honour the victims of persecution and murder, to keep alive the memory of this injustice, and to create a lasting symbol of opposition to enmity, intolerance and the exclusion of gay men and lesbians.' (Resolution of the German Bundestag from 12 December, 2003). In 2006, an international competition was organized and Elmgreen & Dragset's proposal was selected for realization. Elmgreen & Dragset have related the aesthetics of the monument to the Holocaust memorial, designed by Peter Eisenmann and located directly opposite to it, on the other side of the street. The monument is composed of one single concrete cubic slab, using the same material, color and proportions as Eisenmann uses on the 2711 slabs found in the Holocaust Memorial, but enlarging it slightly in its overall size to take on the character of a pavilion. Through a small, square window, the visitor is able to watch an endless film loop of two men embracing in a kiss. The movie, shot by film photographer Robby Müller and directed by Thomas Vinterberg, was filmed where the memorial stands. The memorial seeks, in various ways, to exchange the monumental with the intimate, aiming to confront the public on a personal level rather than constitute a general spectacle. Every second year, for a period of ten years, the film clip will be exchanged with other artists' filmic interpretations of a homosexual intimate encounter.
13 June, 2008
*03–funding: The purpose of the 03-funds as allocated by the MFA to OCA is to further develop cooperation and professional networking between OCA and the constituency of artists, independent cultural producers, and organizations that are located in designated countries or associated with 03-countries. This includes but is not limited to "professional research visits by cultural producers, artists, and curators", "short-term residencies for cultural producers and artists", "the development of seminars, conferences, art projects, workshops, etc. that focus on the further development of professional exchange and networking between and among countries", "project development and "pilot projects" on an international scale."