Eirik Lyster - Bubbles From the Heart

A great piece by Eirik Lyster in Tou Vindu, this difficult but really impressive exhibition space at Tou Scene.

Solaris - Temple of Culture or of Shopping?

Main entrance

Interiour

Back side - concert hall entrance - Sakala tower

Sakala cultural center was demolished quite suddenly and under strange circumstances. After the approval of destruction was given, people gathered to protest, and the approval was withdrawn or postponed. As soon as the protesters had left the area Sakala was demolished after all. Sakala was built by the architect Raine Karp, who also made Linnahall, the National Library, the main post office and more. The extensive use of Estonian limestone make these buildings unique and important to the national history of architecture.

In opposal to the protests, the owners stated that the old Sakala was in such a bad shape that it was no use restoring it, and instead they would build the new Solaris centre - a temple of culture with only the best facilities.

The Solaris centre was opened in November, some weeks postponed as the roof fell down in some of the rooms. So is Solaris offering a better cultural venue than Sakala?

Entering Solaris through the main entrance you enter a regular shopping mall. There is just enough space for two persons to pass each other on the galleries going along the shops on three levels. There is a large birch (with green leaves in December!) filling the opening from the 0th to the 3th level, and the ground level's open space was soon filled with stands selling accessories and stuff.

There are cultural venues in there somewhere too, you only have to search for it. The Cinamon cinema is entered by a narrow staircase or by an elevator strictly only for use by disabled persons. The Artis art movie cinema is entered by an emergency-exit-like staircase hidden by the back door of the center. And the Concert hall has its own entrance from the back side. On the ground level is an area used for an exhibition.

The Solaris is pushing the limits between the public and the commercial space, offering the customers to play games in the game shop, pingpong in the clothes's shop, a lounge in the bookstore, and a view terrace at the top.

The facade of Solaris is a typical 00s shopping mall - large windows to display the goods, and the rest of the facade covered by colorful logos of the shops. The backside is more interesting, offering a mingling space, light openings for the underground levels and a wide staircase leading down to the concert hall. The old Sakala tower incorporated in the building is the only sign left of what once was here.

The Lido eating area is a famous Latvian brand, here are long desks of different food, all built in an incredible cheesy Disney-like structure of famous buildings.

As you enter the Cinamon cinema area, this is a typical cinema, offering comfortable chairs and quality screening facitilies. The Artis lounge has interesting sofas with themes from Estonian movies, and with a great view to the back side of the building. The Artis is probably meant to take over from the fantastic but old Sõprus cinema.

I get a really strong feeling that Solaris is mainly built as a shopping mall, with some cultural areas added just to get the approval of tearing down the old Sakala cultural centre. You almost have to know in advance that there are some cultural venues hidden in there. It is an interesting but slightly frightening example of commercializing culture, how to make culture as profitable as possible.

Streetart in Tallinn

Edgar the Giant

The logo of the USA wrestling champion Andre the Giant
combined with the word OBEY is a classic in street art worldwide.
Here is a local variety, Andre is transformed into Edgar Savisaar, the mayor of Tallinn.

Alien paste-up
I find varieties of this alien on several spots in Tallinn.
I get so happy every time I find a new one.

No bird song between 23 and 09 on workdays!

Burn out the rich
Stencil on Viru shopping mall and hotel

Probably a commissioned streetartwork on ad spaces
But great artwork, combining stencil and freestyle,
using the Tallinn skyline and mayor Edgar Savisaar as motive.

American Beauty - Valeri Vinogradov

American Beauty
Valeri Vinogradov
Kunstihoone Galerii
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I entered this exhibition not knowing what to think. The American flag, Mickey Mouse, Obama, Arizona landscape. And the title "American Beauty". Was this really a heartfully tribute to USA? But then I saw the cigarette buts, the empty coke cans and the skull in front of the landscapes. And finally the key to it all - the piece "Glowing Democracy" an Uncle Sam lamp, that is temporarily out of order and not shining its light.

EKA Know How - Isn't it so simple?

Estonian Academy of Arts, Faculty of Design (EKA)
5. Tallinn Applied Art Triennal
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Found this great exhibition in EKA.
The students were displaying their work and also describing how it is done.
Very interesting and impressive.

a beautiful lamp made of papers with cut-out profiles

A guide bag with Tallinn motives sprayed on with stencil technique

Kaisa Laas - Reused Fox
Quite controversial - the ashes of a dead fox is used in the mixture for making ceramics of a cup

Bag of knitted plastic bags

Pirjo Kongo - See on imelihtne?
A detailed description of how to make a beautiful tea pot with twig-and-leaf motive

Exhibitions on KUMU

KUMU - Estonian Art Museum

Popkunst forever!
Estonian Pop Art at the Turn of the 1960s and 1970s

Jüri Arrak - In Memory of Valgre (1970)

Pop art from 2009 by Kiwa

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HARRO!
A classic of Finnish pop art

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I love Malmö!
Nordic contemporary art from the collection of the Malmö Art Museum

Lars Arrhenius - The Man Without One Way (1999)

Exhibitions in Tallinn

Mara - "Teisipäeviti"

Allan Murdmaa - the architect of the Maarjamäe memorial park

Urve Sunny-Dzidzaria - TEELised

Women creating changes
Artists of different cultural backgrounds from Israel
Masha Zushman - Home

Rollimäng/Role Play - Tiiu Kirsipuu
The figure is a well-known children's storyteller

Choe and Sleipner

David Choe just made this piece in London - an eight-legged horse, like the fast horse of Norse god Odin. Must have been inspired from his stay in Stavanger at Nuart, maybe even from my stories.

Picture from David Choe's blog: http://davechoe.blogspot.com/2009/12/let-me-get-down-just-one-last-time.html

Blu in Lima

Blu just finished this fantastic piece in Lima, Peru. He has been working on this for quite some time now.

Picture from Blu's blog: http://blublu.org/sito/blog/?p=382

Best of PÖFF 2009

My six favourite movies on this year's Black Nights Film Festival:

- Castaway on the Moon
- Low Lights
- Mary and Max
- Two Horses of Genghis Khan
- Between Two Worlds
- Animal Town

PÖFF day 9

Machan
Uberto Pasolini
Italy, Sri Lanka, Germany 2008

A crazy story about men from the slum in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They are all dreaming of getting rid of their debts and poverty by emigrating to Germany, but gets a no on their visa application. They find an invitation for a handball tournament, and enter without even knowing what handball is. After arriving in Germany they all disappear. This is actually based on a true story, which makes it even greater. A feelgood movie, well filmed and well put together.

PÖFF day 8

Animal Town
Kyu-hwan Jeon
South-Korea 2009

A really touching movie about two men that seems to live totally different lives totally unconnnected to each other, except living boring lives. The slowness of the majority of the movie, the lack of dialoge, the coarse filmed documentary-like scenes, and the climax that turns all around, makes this a unique film experience.

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Mammoth
Lukas Moodysson
Sweden, Denmark, Germany 2009

About globalisation, the choices we make whether it is career or family, what lives we choose for ourselves are some of the topics in this movie. A quite straight-forward and touching story about a family with a doctor, an it-company founder, their daughter and their Philippine maid. Dramatic events make them reconsider the choices they made.

PÖFF day 7

a day without seeing any movies

PÖFF day 6

House of Fools
Eva Isaksen
Norway 2008

A quite typical Norwegian movie about life on a mental institution. All the inhabitants have strange and funny mental illnesses, and they are all nice when it comes down to it. The sosialdemocratic values are in the background all the time, all are equal, you are a valuable person whatever problems you may have, even the employers at the institution have their problems. A nice story but too cuddly, or "koselig" in Norwegian, for my taste. Did I mention the happy ending?

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Adriana
Margarida Gil
Portugal 2004

A strange story about the search for a man. All lovemaking is forbidden in an island in the Azores. As the population decreases the governor discovers that the only way out is to send his daughter to the mainland to get pregnant. She meet strange people but never get pregnant. The mainland story is almost Aldomovar-like. A strange and exotic story that evolves in a different way than usual. After the movie I got the feeling that "what was that?", but the the film was still a great experience.

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La Tigra, Chaco
Federico Godfrid, Juan Sasiain
Argentina 2008

A long, slow and boring story about the slow and boring life in a small village in Argentina. No salsa blood here. Even in the story about a love triangle drama it goes slowly and without drama.

PÖFF day 5

Two Horses of Genghis Khan
Buambasuren Davaa
Germany 2009

It is one of these magnificient movies from a very exotic culture. Fantastic landscapes, impressions from the Mongolian countryside and nomadic life. But as most of these movies are set in old times or timeless time, this movie is contemporary, it is a documentary. It shows the search for the cultural heritage, that was lost during the Chinese cultural revolution and now is only sparsely found in the countryside. A singer from the Chinese ruled Inner Mongolia travel to Outer Mongolia (the independent nation Mongolia) to search for versions of a song she only know parts of. Through hardship and disappointments she finally meets an old woman that after some time manages to remember the song. It is a really beautiful experience to enjoy this movie.

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Buratino
Rasmus Merivoo
Estonia, Russia 2009

Well, how can I have an opinion of this movie? I do not know the story that this movie was a parody on, and therefore I did not understand the humour. I envied the others that almost laughed their heads off.

Buratino is a Russian children's story, very loosely based on the story about Pinocchio. This movie is a parody loosely based on the Buratino story. The movie is made by Estonians, with mostly Russian actors, filmed in Russia, and the presented version was in Russian. It was impressive to see the quality of the movie. But as I do not have the cultural background to appreciate the story, I could unfortunately not enjoy it as much as the others.

PÖFF day 4

The Hunt
Andis Miziss
Latvia 2009

A collection of loosely knit stories without a beginning or end, all more or less connected to the local bar/hotel/trainstation/gas station. Hunters go out for the annual memorial hunt. Local home brewers deliver their goods. The train filled with pregnant lonely women passes by. Forest marathon runners seek refuge there. The local police pops in both on duty and on their free time. It is a nice mood movie without any clear story or plot.

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Low Lights
Ignas Miskinis
Lithuania 2009

What a movie! a mix of "Night on Earth", "Thelma and Louise", with a Lithuanian touch. It starts like a classical road move; the bored insurance clerk from a boring marriage meets an old aquiantance, and they go on driving without purpouse. But they are not driving across the country (which would take only about three hours), they drive around in the city, on streets that are blocked by traffic at daytime, but empty at night. Night is the time when everybody changes their personality. The long scenes driving pulls us, the spectators, into the mood (especially as the film was screened late at night). A fantastic movie experience from Lithuania.

PÖFF day 3

Between Two Worlds
Vimukthi Jayasundara
Sri Lanka 2009

What a movie experience! We were warned in advance that this is not a move but a serie of paintings. Like the protagonist that suddenly appears in this world we are spectators in a world of fear, where the civil war is always present, whether in gun firing sounds, burning trees, people getting killed or soldiers popping up from anywhere. The men are hiding from the enemies, if they emerge, they will most probably get killed. The women and children are left. The feeling that nowhere is safe gets under our skin and we just want to hide. An incredible way of portraying the fear and horrors of civil war almost without showing any violence.

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Vortex
Gytis Luksas
Lithuania 2009

A 140 minute black&white epic about life in Lithuania during Soviet occupation and Khrutschov time. The lifestory of a man that lets the women in his life decide his destiny; first his mother, then the truckdriveress Klava and ultimately her friend Masha. If this movie had been made in 1965 it would have been a classic today. But it is actually made in 2009. It is a story about life in hostels filled with drinkers and thieves, waiting in vain to get their own flat, about countryside people moving to the towns to find job, about the different nationalities mixed throughout the Soviet union speaking a mixture of languages. An instant classic

PÖFF day 2

Mary and Max
Adam Elliot
Australia 2009
16:00 Cinamon Saku Saal

This is a must-see. A truly wonderful, funny and touching animated movie about two lonely souls, a girl with a poo-coloured birthmark and no friends, and a 44-year old man with Asperger's syndrome, that coincidentially become pen-pals. The characters, the story, the environments and the details are so unique and fantastic.

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I Draw, Therefore I Am
Kim Finn, John Hakalax
Finland 2009
17:45 Kinomaja
world premiere

With the consent of the subject of the movie, Ilon Wikland, access to her wonderful pictures from Astrid Lindgren's books, and her interesting life, a success is almost guaranteed. Still, this movie does not succeed at all. Instead of diving into the incredible world of her art, it lingers just on the surface of her life story and uses muzac and cheesy digital effects on the drawings and old pictures. I was expecting to see a movie about Wikland's drawings - after all the title of the movie is "i draw, therefore i am" - but it is not, it only very briefly touches the topic of the drawings. It is a partly interesting story about an Estonian escaped to Sweden, but unfortunately not so much more.

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God, Smell and Her
Karin Arnold
Sweden, Denmark 2009
21:00 vonKrahl

This is the first time I have ever left in the middle of a movie during seven years at Pöff. If it only had been provoking or challenging. The movie was nothing to me, it gave me absolutely nothing. It started promising: a female artist is not talking about art, but making fun of the curator, that frustratedly and stressedly tries to pretend that he is translating while making up some talk about the art. But then it goes all bad. A disoriented middleaged women is filmed at a lot of different spots, some Indian gurus talk about their religious views, all coarsely cut together into a mess. Reading the telephone book or watching paint dry is more interesting than this.

PÖFF day 1

Castaway on the moon
Lee Hey-jun
South Korea 2009

A fantastic movie about a man that after a suicide attempt ends up at a deserted island in the middle of the river in the middle of the city, unable to get back on shore. An urban Robinson Crusoe story. And a girl that has not left her room for three years, only eating corn and dry noodles, living on internet, photographing the moon. A totally absurd, touching and funny movie.

Nuart controversy

There has been some controversy around the Nuart streetart festival in Stavanger and whether the festival inspires to more tagging in town. What started as angry (and rather unfounded) accusations from a local union of commercial interests, broadcasted by local media, turned into a frenzy of praises of both Nuart and street art in general, all comments on the news were positive!

All about it on the Nuart blog.

I am also joining in the choir of praises by this comment (in Norwegian). Feel free to comment:

KUNST, GRAFFITI, TAGGING OG SÅNN

Slik jeg forstår det dreier denne debatten seg ikke først og fremst om street art, men om graffiti og tags. Motstanderne av street art kan umulig ha sett David Choes vakre kvinneskikkelse på en husvegg på Våland eller hans figurer inspirert av eventyr og barnefortellinger, Logan Hicks gatestemning på Arkaden, Swoons sterke kvinneskikkelser i flere mørke bakgater i sentrum, eller Chris Stains mennesker på skyggesiden av livet, for å nevne noe. Disse motstanderne kan heller ikke ha forståelse for hvor stor verdi en vakker by og utsmykningen av denne har å si for livskvaliteten for oss som bor her.

Det er imponerende hva Nuart har fått til ved å få så store og spennende kunstnere hit, ikke bare for å holde en utstilling, men også for å spre kunsten til folk som aldri har satt sine ben i et kunstgalleri. Jeg kan umulig forstå at kritikken retter seg direkte mot Nuarts virksomhet, men den er snarere mot hva man frykter Nuart kan bringe med seg. Man tror at kunstverkene rundt i byen kan føre til mer graffiti og tagging. I debatten trekkes stadig ett kunstverk fram. Det er det eneste verket fra Nuart hvor skrift, graffiti, er framtredende. Bilder er altså ok, skrift er stygt.

Graffiti har vært her siden mennesker oppdaget behovet for å kommunisere med hverandre. Den er visualiseringen av behovet for å si ”Jeg er her” eller ”Jeg var her”. Vi finner det i runesteinene: ”Fryg reiste denne steinen”, i vardene på fjelltopper: ”Jeg var her først”, i muslimsk kalligrafi ”Gud er her”, og i dagens reklame: ”Produktet er her, løp og kjøp”.

Byen er i dag fylt av lovlig og ulovlig graffiti. Lovlig graffiti kan hvem som helst sette opp, bare man har råd til å kjøpe reklameplass. Det stilles i dag visse krav til plasseringen av reklame på fasade og montere. Men det stilles lite eller ingen krav til estetikken på selve reklameplakaten som henges opp i sentrum. Det er først og fremst næringslivet som har råd til å kjøpe reklameplass, mens kunstnere må bli akseptert av et galleri, eller finne andre muligheter.

Den ”ulovlige” graffitien finnes i flere former, fra en enkel en-streks signatur med tusj eller spray, via mer oppblåste og forseggjorte bokstaver i en farge, til kompliserte kunstverk hvor bokstavene kan være behandlet til det ugjenkjennelige, i mange farger og med pynt og figurer. Graffitien finnes helst på tomme flater, som ubehandlede betongvegger og slitte fasader. Ofte framhever graffitien behovet for informasjon på en flate som skriker med sin tomhet. Ofte peker graffitien på behovet for å bli overmalt, for at den grå betongen får en farge eller at den nedslitte husveggen får et tiltrengt strøk med maling. Det ironiske er at graffiti som regel overmales med en trist, kjedelig gråfarge. Dessverre skjer det også at overivrige taggere tegner på en murvegg, et vindu eller en annen flate som er vanskelig å behandle. Dette er ikke akseptabelt, men motstand overfor dette bør ikke smitte over på all form for kunst i det offentlige rom.

Vi ender opp i debatten omkring hvem definerer hva som er vakkert og spennende, og hvem bestemmer hvordan det offentlige rom skal se ut. Ønsker vi reklameplakater, tomme betongvegger, kunst på veggene, skrift på veggene? Er det næringslivet, byantikvaren, politikerne, innbyggerne eller kunstnerne som skal bestemme hvordan byen ser ut? Jeg er glad for at Nuart har ført til en debatt om hvordan vi vil byen vår skal se ut.

The Spontaneous Sculpture of the Poo

Banality Dreams: The Spontaneous Sculpture of the Poo
Tou Scene 25.-26.-27.11.09

DET SPILLER INGEN ROLLE HVA DU SIER, BARE DU SIER NOE!

Det begynte med at vi så på tre unge mennesker som satt i en sofa. De så tilbake på oss. Etter en stund gikk de lei, og begynte å varme drikke i mikroen, klimpre på gitar og dagdrømme. Så meldte behovet for oppmerksomhet seg: Førstemann grep mikrofonen og fortalte om sin oppvekst da han ikke kunne snakke. Da han først begynte å snakke, sa hans mor "det spiller ingen rolle hva du sier, bare du sier noe!"

Kvinnen fulgte opp med å fortelle om seg selv og de dagligdagse, uinteressante detaljene fra dagen så langt: "Jeg stod opp, gikk på do, spiste litt, etc."

Tredjemann spilte gitar i stedet for å snakke.

Hele forestillingen dreier seg om menneskers behov for oppmerksomhet, og hvordan internett gir muligheter for dette. Youtube, facebook og twitter bugner av uvesentligheter, bagateller, uinteressantheter og handlingstomme historier. Her har massene fått et talerør, og så lenge du sier noe, spiller det ingen rolle hva du sier.

Aktørene måtte bruke stadig sterkere virkemidler for å gjøre seg selv hørt, enten ved å deklamere dikt med full innlevelse, klatre høyest eller skru opp volumet på forsterkeren. Klimaks skjer i en hysterisk morsom scene hvor de har trekantsex uten å ha sex. Alle bevegelser og lyder stemmer, men det er kun "ufarlige" kroppsdeler som er involvert. En seksualakt uten innlevelse, uten deltakelse. På samme måte som de i deres søken etter oppmerksomhet ikke ser de andres behov for det samme.

Selv om aktørene samles gjennom dette, fortsetter de å søke etter oppmerksomheten. Forskjellen er bare at de nå synger sammen, i stedet for hver for seg. Behovet er ikke stilt, men de kan bare rope enda høyere når de roper sammen.


Deler av denne forestillingen vises også i filmen "Threesome" som en del av utstillingen "Hanging Out in Time and Space" i ølhallene på Tou Scene for tiden.

Hugo Wolf - songs

Songs by Hugo Wolf on Eduard Mörike's poems
Students from the Institute for music and dance
LKS Bjergsted Stavanger
24.11.09

Pastorale skildringer, romantikk, religiøse stemninger, absurd komikk, mystiske eventyr, alt dette er innholdet i diktene av Eduart Mörike, tonesatt av Hugo Wolf.

Jeg ble svært overrasket over vidden i sangtemaer på denne konserten i Stavanger konserthus. Fra samtalen mellom mann og bie om kvinnen har elsker, via Maria og Jesusbarnet, trollmannsfølget som synger fra dypet av tjernet, til historien om kunstkritikeren som starter med absurde utlegninger og ender på hodet ned en trapp. Her ble det hoppet fra tema til tema, fra utøvere til utøvere. Hver sangerinne og pianist framførte hver sine to sanger, bundet sammen av et utdrag av diktet oversatt til norsk.

Det er dristig å sette opp en slik konsert, med et så heseblesende tempo, med så ulike utøvere, og så ulike tema. Men alt ble bundet sammen på en flott måte med diktlesningen, og de store forskjellene gled inn i hverandre og skapte en helhet. Diktene fra siste halvdel av 1800tallet ble med ett historier som like gjerne kunne være fra vår tid.

Diktleseren gjorde en fremdragende innsats med å binde forestillilngen sammen. Det er også imponerende hvor fantastiske sangere det er ved instituttet. Men det som imponerte mest var klaverspillet. De kompliserte musikkstykkene levde på en måte sitt eget liv, samtidig som de kommuniserte med sangens toner, og pianistene framførte dette så fantastisk at vi bare må applaudere.

Hanging Out in Time and Space

Hanging Out in Time and Space
The Authentic Boys
Tou Scene ølhallene, 20.-28. november 2009


The Authentic Boys har fått full frihet til å bruke rommene på Tou Scene, og ølhallene er svært godt utnyttet. Byens grå betongvegger i filmen glir umerkelig over i ølhallens betongvegger, og strandscenene fyller ut endeveggen og gir varme til et ellers kaldt lokale. Forøvrig er filmene så engasjerende at jeg glemte helt hvor kaldt det egentlig var i lokalene.

Den mest rørende opplevelsen får jeg av de tre portrettene av psykisk utviklingshemmede fra Vidaråsen landsby i "Natural Fiction Circus". Det er først og fremst her at The Authentic Boys blir autentiske, og de har her virkelig menneskene på alvor. Autisten i "The Sailor" får leve ut sin drøm om å være seilbåtkaptein. Her er ikke ord nødvendig, vi ser lykken lyse ut av øynene hans. Den lille kvinnen i "The Troll" lever seg helt inn i rollen som troll, der hun sitter foran et bål i skogen og synger "Bjørnen sover". Vi ler sammen med henne mens hun roper og skremmer vekk eventuelle turgåere. Og i "The Fan" møter vi en som ikke klarer å velge om han skal heie på Italia, Norge, Danmark eller Sverige så han heier på alle. På samme måte velger han mange kjendiskvinner til sine "kjærester", og klipper ut bildene deres fra ukeblader.

"In Character" viser en historie om hvordan en grå og kjedelig by kan gjøres vakrere. Hovedpersonen rusler rundt i en fremmed, upersonlig metropol, og leter etter byens rytme. Etter å ha fått et eple av en gammel mann på torget endrer filmen karakter, han kjøper seg dansesko og begynner å danse gjennom byen. En ungdomsgjeng gjør først narr av ham, men blir så med på dansen, og fortsetter å danse etter at hovedpersonen har gått videre. Filmen fikk ekstra tyngde da jeg etterpå fikk vite at ungdommene ikke spilte, men tilfeldigvis var der da filmen ble spilt inn.

Spesielt overraskende er både plassering og innhold i filmen "Threesome" i maskinrommet. Det er trolig første gang dette rommet tas i bruk som utstillingsrom. Her blir publikum henvist til et lite hjørne i rommet, og vi føler oss som kikkere der vi gjennom rør og maskiner ser en historie som mer og mer ligner på en pornofilm. Det er det imidlertid ikke. Filmen bruker pornofilmens lyd og formspråk, men innholdet er annerledes. Her beholdes klærne på, og erogene soner røres ikke. Filmen blir hysterisk morsom siden det både er og er ikke det man først trodde det var. Bak utviklingen av filmen ligger mange studier av menneskers trang til å få oppmerksomhet gjennom facebook, youtube, blogger og så videre. Dette er et tema som The Authentic Boys og Banality Dreams drar videre gjennom forestillingen "The Spontaneous Sculpture of the Poo", som vises på Tou Scene 25.-27. november.

Den andre ølhallens film "Dialoge" er en rekke filmer med stilleben og stemninger satt sammen til en drøyt 20 minutters seanse. Dette er etter mitt syn det svakeste innslaget, det blir relativt usammenhengende. Likevel er det flere godbiter her også. For eksempel et innslag som viser mange nye måter å transportere en trillebår, stilleben med rånere foran sin bil, uteliggernes bekymringsløse liv på stranden.

"Idiophone" er kanskje den enkleste og morsomste filmen. Her er det klipp fra en mengde forskjellige steder, på flyplass, i veikryss, foran viktige bygninger og ute i naturen. Men de to menn i kjeledress poserer ikke i forgrunnen som på vanlige turistbilder. I stedet gynger de med hele kroppen, snart i takt, snart i utakt. I stedet for å framheve bakgrunnen ved å posere, myker de opp med slapstick-humor og bevegelser det er umulig å ta alvorlig.

Mer informasjon om The Authentic Boys, samt klipp fra deres filmer finner du her: http://www.authentic-boys.com/

The Authentic Boys

Great movies at strange places at Tou Scene - a fantastic experience not to miss!
Open until 28.11.09 in the beer halls at Tou Scene.



http://www.touscene.com/nb/program/arrangement/1691
You find their movies here too (but the experience is even greater seeing them on location):
http://www.authentic-boys.com/

High Response

A new exhibition at Rogaland Kunstsenter: High Response by Tove Kommedal and Anna Roos
Open until 10.1.10

The new employees are presented

Streetart in Stavanger

This gigantic stencil by Pøben and Atle Østrem appeared on the tower of Tou Scene lately

Art at Folken concert venue, by Logan Hicks and unknown local paste-up'er

Chris Stain at Folken

Proposal (Nacht Und Träume) for Stavanger

An exhibition at Gallery Opdahl. Artists: Walead Beshty (UK), Karla Black (UK), Bettina Buck (D), Nicolas Chardon (F), Kristin Oppenheim (US), Hannah Rickards (UK).

A rather strange exhibition in this avant-garde gallery. I almost got provoked by not getting provoked at all. Some styropore pieces put in a corner, some loud humming, some bronze logs laying around, writing on the wall. This is like the archetype of what layman think about as contemporary art. Is is irony? Is it honest? Is this really the edge of contemporary contemporary art? But at least it made me think, didn't it?

The only pieces that left an impression were the "photographs" by Walead Beshty. Photographic paper, crushed and folded, then developed, to reveal really interesting and beautiful pattern in shades of blue.

Walead Beshty - cyanotypes

Bettina Buck - Fallen

Bettina Buck - pole

Hannah Rickards - Text
Bettina Buck - Mountain of Madness

Predawn Occultation

Exhibition at Stavanger Kunstforening by Maren Juell Kristensen, Liv Tandrevold Eriksen og Ingrid Toogood Hovland. A rather strangely composed exhibition of three different artists with totally different expressions. To me the installations of Kristensen made the strongest impressions.

Skrying by Maren Juell Kristensen
installation (crystal ball, paper, NASA soundtrack)

I skyggen av lyset (In the shade of the light) by Ingrid Toogood Hovland
Acrylic and oil on canvas

Oppdagelsen (the exploration) by Ingrid Toogood Hovland
Acrylic and oil on canvas

drawing by Liv Tandrevold Eriksen