Office for Contemporary Art Norway

About the Book Launch
The Office for Contemporary Art Norway would like to invite you to the book launch of Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia?, an anthology edited by Marta Kuzma and Pablo Lafuente that reflects upon the juncture of the political and the erotic in the 1960s and 70s, in special relation to the image of Scandinavia as a sexually and politically utopic territory during those decades, and as continuation of the research and exhibition project Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia?, which opened at OCA in 2008.

Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia? includes historical writings by Susan Sontag, Herbert Marcuse, Wilhelm Reich and early feminists Katti Anker Møller and Elise Ottesen-Jensen; new texts by Håvard Friis Nilsen on the sexual politics of Norway in the 1930s through the relationship between Wilhelm Reich and Leon Trotsky and by Knut Ove Arntzen on the legacy of Scandinavian Situationism; and visual contributions and archival material from artists and collectives such as Thomas Bayrle, Marie-Louise Ekman, Öyvind Fahlström, Marianne Heske, Erkki Kurenniemi, Poul Gernes, Gruppe 66, Gunvor Grundel Nelson, Claes Oldenburg, Stan Brakhage, Lee Lozano, Paul Sharits and Barbara T. Smith. Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia? also includes visual material from key publications from the time such as Evergreen Review, Screw, Suck, Puss, Haetsjj, Aamurusko and Gatevisa.

Whatever Happened to Sex in Scandinavia? is designed by NODE Berlin Oslo, and published by the Office for Contemporary Art Norway and Koenig Books, London, with generous support from Fritt Ord. It will be distributed in bookstores internationally.

For more information on the book, please contact Tonja Boos.

About the Screening and Performance
The launch event at OCA will include a projection of Dog Star Man: Prelude, a 27-minute 16mm film made by experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage in 1961. The film reflects Brakhage’s attempt to seize the very act of perception and to, according to the filmmaker, be touched ‘in the very flesh of our eyes’. With a radical structure and rhythm, the film presents an erratic stream of images that range from the telescopic (the sun and moon) to the microscopic, and with a landscape that becomes twisted and distorted through the perspective of an anamorphic lens. Also on display will be Jonas Mekas’s film tribute A Visit to Stan Brakhage (1966). The original soundtrack of the 1964 contestational interview of Brakhage with New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael will also be played together with the remake of the interview realised by Norwegian director Birgitte Sigmundstad in 2011.

During the projection of Dog Star Man: Prelude, musician Lasse Marhaug will perform a sound accompaniment for the film, drawing from the album Brakhage, an homage to Brakhage by Andreas Meland and Lasse Marhaug that was released in 2006. The album has been described as ‘cultivated sound-art noise, with blowing whistles and a vibrant presence’. Lasse Marhaug (b.1974) has since the early 1990s been one of the most active artists in the Norwegian noise scene. As a performer and composer, he has contributed to well over 200 releases, as well as engaging in extensive touring and live performances throughout Europe, Asia and America. In addition to his solo work, Marhaug performs regularly within the projects Jazkamer, Nash Kontroll, DEL and Testicle Hazard. Past projects and bands include Origami Replika and Lasse Marhaug Band.

About the performance by Center Of The Universe
Center Of The Universe will perform from 22:00 to 22:30, combining heavy bass, odd meters and various exotic elements with a lo-fi approach. Inspired by folk music and rhythmic excesses Center Of The Universe made their first recordings in 2000. The band –Jørgen Skjulstads– has been active in Norwegian underground music scene since 1998.

About the Selection by Torpedo
Torpedo Bookshop and Torpedo Press will present a wide range of books around the subject of Situationism, utopian and radical activism, performance art and artists’ texts from the countercultural movement. Among the presented titles will be the newly published anthology Norsk Avantgarde, edited by Per Bäckström & Bodil Børset, Semiotexte's recent publication dedicated to the Parisian urbanist and sociologist group Utopie (1967–1978), a Norwegian translation of Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle, Argobooks and a new publication on 'lecture performance'.

About the Drinks
Pablo Castro will prepare special drinks on demand and for cash. Beer and wine will be available for free and have been sponsored by Brewery International AS.

For any further questions about the evening and the festivities please contact Maria Moseng, OCA’s Press Officer.


This presentation is made possible by generous support from Fritt Ord.