Unni Gjertsen
Mai Zetterling – Off the Beaten Track
Followed by A Screening of
The Girls, (1968) dir. Mai Zetterling
Wednesday, 3 December / 19:00
Nedre gate 7
As part of a longer term research and artist project, Norwegian
artist Unni Gjertsen will
approach Mai Zetterling's legacy as a Swedish
filmmaker who identified the patriarchal order within film long
before the introduction of gender studies. Emphasizing Zetterling's
position with respect to advocating structural changes in society
and to female sexuality and its depiction within film, Gjertsen
unveils some of the reasons behind Sweden's problematic
relationship with the filmmaker. In doing so, Gjertsen reflects
upon the negative reception of Zetterling's work in an effort to
reveal more about the ideologies at work throughout Sweden during
the 1960s. Following Unni Gjertsen's presentation, Mai
Zetterling's The Girls (1968) will be
screened.
About the Film
Directed by Mai Zetterling, The Girls (1968,
100 min, black and white, sound) is a key work in the history of
feminist cinema. Contextualized by Aristophanes's comedy
Lysistrata, The Girls investigates the
complexities of the women's movement. In Le Monde,
Simone de Beauvoir wrote, 'All the images have multiple dimensions,
the theatrical scenes reflect real life... Ironic and comic, this
film moves us by the beauty of its landscapes, its poetry and above
all its subtle tenderness'.
About the Speaker
Unni Gjertsen (b.1966) is a visual artist based in Oslo who
works with subjects relating to history and memory. She studied at
Trondheim Academy of Fine Arts and University of Oslo. In
Gjertsen's silk-screen series Creative
History (2003-04) tabloid statements are presented in a
seductive form, telling the story of success of ten women as
intellectuals and artists. By mixing facts, lies and possible
truths, the artist addresses a relationship between truth and
wanting to believe. She employs a similar strategy in The
Mai Zetterling-Project (2005), which focused on the
historiography on the Swedish filmmaker. Unni Gjertsen's most
recent solo exhibitions have taken place at Baltic Sea Cultural
Centre, Gdansk (2007) and Konsthall C Stockholm (2005). Recent
group shows include exhibitions at Kasteel van Gaasbeek,
Gaasbeek/Belgium, Henie-Onstad Art Centre, Norway and Rauma
Biennale, Finland, MuHKA, Antwerp, IASPIS, Stockholm and Göteborgs
Konsthall.
Office for Contemporary Art Norway
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway is a private foundation
and was founded by The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church
Affairs and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in fall 2001.
The main aim of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway is to
develop collaborations in contemporary art between Norway and the
international art scene. The Office for Contemporary Art Norway
aims to become a key contributor to the discourses of contemporary
art.
Related
Wilhelm Reich's Cloud Buster
Håvard Nilsen: The Troll Circle and
Dr. Bjørn Blumenthal: On Wilhelm Reich
Followed by A Screening of
Sigmund Freud's Dora: A Case of Mistaken Identity, (1979)
dir. McCall, Pajaczkowaska, Tyndall and Weinstock
Wednesday, 26 November / 19:00
Nedre gate 7
Freud's controversial pupil, Wilhelm
Reich, lived in Norway from 1934 to 1939, a period when he
wrote The Sexual Revolution and launched
psychoanalysis as an experimental laboratory science, as well as
coined the concept of the 'orgone', or sexual energy. Norwegian
historian and social scientist Håvard
Nilsen revisits the first public debate related to
the experiments around sexual energy conducted in Norway, in order
to argue that the political aspects were far more important than
the scientific issues at stake in the debate.
Dr. Bjørn Blumenthal, an Oslo based
psychologist and a former student of Ola Raknes will make an
additional presentation, analyzing the clinical importance of
Wilhelm Reich's work and its significance to psycho-organic health
in today's society.
Following both presentations, Sigmund Freud's Dora: A
Case of Mistaken Identity, (1979) dir. Anthony McCall, Claire
Pajaczkowaska, Andrew Tyndall and Jane Weinstock, will be
screened.
About the film
Directed by Anthony
McCall, Claire
Pajaczkowaska, Andrew
Tyndall and Jane
Weinstock, Sigmund Freud's Dora: A Case of
Mistaken Identity (1979, 16 mm, colour, sound, 35 min.)
interrogates woman's status as the object of desire through a
complex set of relationships between sound, text and image, and
combining historical information from Dora's birth to the
publication of her case study by Freud with a series of dialogues
between analyst and patient.
About the speakers
Håvard Nilsen (b.1969) is a historian and social scientist
educated at the Universities of Oslo, Strasbourg and Cambridge. He
is affiliated with a project group writing the History of the
University of Oslo for the bicentenary in 2011. Nilsen has
published articles in Norwegian and international journals, as well
as in several books. He is the director of the think tank Res
Publica.
Dr. Bjørn Blumenthal is a psychologist specialized in clinical
psychology. He graduated at University of Oslo in 1956 and trained
under Elsa Lindenberg, Odd Havrevold and Ola Raknes. Blumenthal is
the leader of the Norwegian Institute of Vegetotherapy and
co-founder of the Scandinavian Institute of Psychotherapy in
Gothenburg, former staff member of the European School of Function
and Corporal Psychotherapy training in Naples, Italy, and one of
the founders and former vice-president of the European Association
for Body Psychotherapy (EABP).
Office for Contemporary Art Norway
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway is a private foundation
and was founded by The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church
Affairs and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in autumn
2001. The main aim of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway is to
develop collaborations in contemporary art between Norway and the
international art scene. The Office for Contemporary Art Norway
aims to become a key contributor to the discourses of contemporary
art.
Related
Stan Brakhage, stills from Coupling, 1999 Courtesy of the Estate of Stan Brakhage and fredcamper.com
Nicky Hamlyn
introduces a Compilation of Short Films by
Stan Brakhage
WEDNESDAY, 19 NOVEMBER / 19:00
NEDRE GATE 7
Filmmaker and writer Nicky
Hamlyn will give an introduction to American
filmmaker Stan Brakhage (b.1933) and his
project, including documentation of Brakhage's family life in all
its aspects.
Before his death in March 2003, Brakhage had completed more than
350 films, ranging from the psycho-dramatic works of the early
1950s to autobiographical lyrics, mythological epics, 'documents',
and metaphorical film 'poems' – variously employing his uniquely
developed hand-held camera and rapid editing techniques, multiple
superimpositions, collages, photographic abstractions and elaborate
hand-painting applied directly to the surface of the film. A deeply
personal filmmaker, Brakhage's great project was to explore the
nature of light and all forms of vision – while encompassing a vast
range of subject matter. He frequently referred to his works as
'visual music' or 'moving visual thinking'. The majority of his
films are silent. Brakhage taught at the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago and as Distinguished Professor of Film Studies
at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The recipient of three
Honorary Degrees and numerous prestigious awards, he lectured
extensively on filmmaking and the Arts, and is the author of eleven
books – including his seminal 1963 workMetaphors On
Vision, and his more recent series of essays Telling
Time.
Nicky Hamlyn studied fine art at Reading University. His films
have been shown at venues and screenings around the world. His
book Film Art Phenomena (2003), a survey of
experimental film and video, was published by the British Film
Institute in London. He is a senior lecture in Video Arts
Production and Visual Theory at the University for Creative Arts,
Maidstone and visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art in
London. He wrote an essay on Stan Brakhage's Roman
Numeral series in David James (ed.), Stan
Brakhage: An American Filmmaker, Temple University Press,
2004.
OFFICE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART NORWAY
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway is a private foundation
and was founded by The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church
Affairs and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in fall 2001.
The main aim of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway is to
develop collaborations in contemporary art between Norway and the
international art scene. The Office for Contemporary Art Norway
aims to become a key contributor to the discourses of contemporary
art.
Related
Courtesy Platform China Residency
RESIDENCY FOR NORWEGIAN ARTISTS AND CURATORS:
PLATFORM CHINA RESIDENCY
APPLICATION DEADLINE:
10 DECEMBER 2008
Due to an editing oversight in OCA's November Newsletter, the
deadline for applications to the Platform China Residency was
announced as 15 February 2009. Please notice the actual deadline
is 10 December 2008.
Platform China Residency
In collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, China,
OCA offers a studio residency for an artist or curator at
the Platform China Beijing
Residency Programme, for two months either in spring
(April/May) or fall (September/October) 2009. The artist/curator
must be a Norwegian citizen, or live and work in Norway. Travel
costs and housing are offered in addition to the grant. The Office
for Contemporary Art Norway covers up to NOK 10000,– for travel
expenses in addition to a monthly stipend of NOK 8000, – for living
expenses. The residency programme is covered by 03–funding – Funds
for the Exchange with Countries in the South. This is a support
program funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for enhancing
collaboration in the contemporary art field with professional
artists in countries in the South.
Information required:
Application
form [pdf] in five copies
CV in five copies
Statement/project description
Application deadline:
All applications must be at the Office for Contemporary Art
by 10 December 2008
Please send the application by post to:
Office for Contemporary Art Norway
Re: Platform China Residency
Nedre gate 7
0551 Oslo
Norway
Following the grant, the grant-holder is expected to write a
brief report to the Office for Contemporary Art Norway about his or
her stay.
For any questions regarding the application process, please
contact Jørn Mortensen at OCA at jorn.mortensen@oca.no.
Office for Contemporary Art Norway
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway is a private foundation
and was founded by The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church
Affairs and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in fall 2001.
The main aim of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway is to
develop collaborations in contemporary art between Norway and the
international art scene. The Office for Contemporary Art Norway
aims to become a profiled contributor to the discourses of
contemporary art.
Sanja Iveković, from Triangle, 1979 Courtesy The Kontakt Art Collection of Erste Bank Group, Vienna and the artist
Sanja Iveković +
Pablo Lafuente
Feminist Politics of Representation, Media and
Activism
Wednesday, 12 November / 19:00
Nedre gate 7
In conjunction with her participation in 'Whatever Happened to
Sex in Scandinavia?', artist Sanja Iveković,
will discuss her work with Pablo Lafuente,
OCA's associate curator. Iveković, a guest at OCA's International
Studio Programme during November, will be dealing with the
differences between the political and artistic context in the East
and the West, and the notion of art practice as resistance (in the
1970s and today). The artist will also present a selection of her
works, focusing on feminist politics of representation, media and
activism.
Sanja Iveković (b. 1949) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts
in Zagreb, Croatia. Her art production has spanned a range of media
such as photography, performance, video and installations. She
belongs to the artistic generation that emerged after 1968 and was
raised in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and whose
post-object art was usually referred to with the umbrella term 'New
Art Practice'. In the Yugoslav/Croatian art scene she was the first
woman artist to adopt a clearly feminist attitude. In 1973 she
started to work with video, and her videos were selected for
numerous international video festivals (among others in The Hague,
San Sebastián, Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris and Montreal). She has
had solo exhibitions and video presentations in art institutions
such as the ICA, London; Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne; MoMA, New
York; and Taxispalais Gallery, Innsbruck. Her work has also been
shown at international exhibitions such as Documenta IX,
Documenta11 and documenta 12 in Kassel, Manifesta 2
(Luxembourg), Body and the East (Ljubljana and
New York), After the Wall (Stockholm and
Berlin), Double Life (Vienna) or How do
We Want to be Governed? (Barcelona, Miami and Rotterdam).
Iveković founded in the late 1980s the non-governmental
organization Elektra – Centre for Women's Studies, the Women's Art
Centre, based in Zagreb. She is also a member of a number of
non-governmental organizations in Croatia, including B.a.B.e
Endash; The Women's Human Rights Group. From 1999 to 2001 she
taught Contemporary Women's Art Practice at The Center for Women's
Studies in Zagreb. Iveković has received awards such as the Canada
Council Grant for Visiting artists (1979, 1982 and 1994) and the
Artslink Grant (US). She is currently working in Berlin as part of
a DAAD grant.
This project is made possible with funds from 03 (Norwegian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Office for Contemporary Art Norway
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway is a private foundation
and was founded by The Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Church
Affairs and The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in fall 2001.
The main aim of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway is to
develop collaborations in contemporary art between Norway and the
international art scene. The Office for Contemporary Art Norway
aims to become a key contributor to the discourses of contemporary
art.
Related
Barney Rosset (1967) in Obscene, an Arthouse Films release, 2007 Courtesy of Arthouse Films
Barney Rosset + Marta Kuzma
Screening: Obscene (2007),
dir. Daniel O'Connor and
Neil Ortenberg
Saturday, 8 November / 19:30
Nedre gate 7
Marta Kuzma, director of the Office for
Contemporary Art Norway in conversation with Barney
Rosset, the influential publisher of Grove Press and
the Evergreen Review.
In 1951, Barney Rosset acquired the then fledgling Grove Press,
under which he published acclaimed authors such as Samuel Beckett,
Kenzaburo Oe, Tom Stoppard, Che Guevara and Malcolm X. Rosset also
published and distributed controversial works such as Allen
Ginsberg's Howl, the Swedish film I Am
Curious (Yellow) and the provocative Evergreen
Review. He battled the US government in the highest courts to
overrule the obscenity ban on groundbreaking works of fiction such
asLady Chatterley's Lover, Tropic of
Cancer and Naked Lunch.
The talk will be followed by the first Norwegian screening
of Obscene (2007). Directed by Neil Ortenberg
& Daniel O'Connor, this documentary is a film biography of
Barney Rosset, feraturing previously unseen footage and music by
Bob Dylan, The Doors, Warren Zevon and Patti Smith.
*prior r.s.v.p. is required for this event to fleur@oca.no
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