Haptosonics

Haptosonics
Anna Biró, Zane Berzina, Jackson Tan, Luke Fischbeck, Tincuta Heinzel
Kinokino, Sandnes
20.2.-12.4.14
Interactive textiles

The description of this exhibition and the artworks are thrilling: "Can textiles feel? Can touching textiles make music?", "The visitors are invited to touch the artwork to create music", "Walking on the carpet will initiate the voices of immigrants", "The artwork focuses on art noise, and reacts like a hedgehog". The descriptions pointed to the technology and the interaction with the visitor, not the aestethics of the artworks. Being a sci-fi fan, this is something to my taste. New technology, interactivity, creating music, the edge of science.

But unfortunately the descriptions are far more interesting and tempting than the actual experience. It may be that they did not work fully when I was there, maybe I was doing something wrong, or maybe I failed to see the scale of importance. To me it seemed that most of the artworks were based on simple physics: Static electricity ignites either the start of a sound tape or the light of a led-light. Stepping on switches hidden under a carpet initiate voices from a recording.The textile itself seemed to be of little importance, it might as well be paper or wood, as long as they would have electricity-conducting metal on them.

This is probably one of the problems of new, unstable and technical challenging art. Sometimes it simply does not work. Or sometimes it is simply disappointingly simple. Maybe the contrast between the descriptions and the artwork was what created the disappointment. Maybe the artworks would have stronger effect without the descriptions. Or maybe the descriptions would had worked better without the artworks.


Anna Biró: Web

The visitors are invited to touch the artwork to initiate sound, and it also reacts to movements around it. The sound was a human sigh, seeming to sound randomly.


Luke Fischbeck: Center of Attention

Visitors are invited to hold two or more threads at the time, even in combination with others. Unfortunately I was not able to create any sound. 


Zane Berzina: E-Static Shadows

This is a model and a video description of a project where the light bulbs light on or off as you wipe your hand over them, using static electricity as an ignitor.


Tincuta Heinzel: Hedgehog Fabric

The spikes of the carped erect if you make a noise, then they relax again.

Kristoff Nasilowski: Second Life

Second Life
Kristoff Nasilowski
Sandnes kunstforening
20.2.-23.3.14
Digital collages inspired by the beauty of other worlds and the grief of this one.

The images of fairytales, game graphics and dream landscapes are combined with famous faces in emotion. What is especially touching is the sorrow expressed by our king after the terrorist attacks the 22.7. Some times it is desireable to flee into another world, at least for a moment, to get a break from this world. But sooner or later you always have to return to the reality. Then it is at least comforting that you are not the only one to sometimes feel down. Even the king can feel deep sorrow.

The pictures are distorted by reflections in the glass. You may see that as a disturbance or an addition to the depths of the image.

Liv Tandrevold Eriksen: Hun er under teppet og krøller papir

Hun er under teppet og krøller papir 
Liv Tandrevold Eriksen
Galleri Gann, Sandnes
20.3.-9.4.14
Drawings

The exhibition has this wonderful title "She is under the carpet and crumbling paper". And both the carpet and the crumbled paper is there. The success of the exhibition is in the combination of different pictures into diptychs and triptychs. Then the colorful painting and the crumbled paper with drawings on it get a new meaning and visual effect. Hiding under a carpet may be to avoid dangers or worries, but in this case she seems to have created a positive and creative cave under the carpet, just like in the games of kids.


Liv Tandrevold Eriksen: Untitled


Liv Tandrevold Eriksen: Untitled


Liv Tandrevold Eriksen: Untitled

Yngve Henriksen: Navnløse nedtegnelser

Navnløse nedtegnelser
Yngve Henriksen
Galleri Gann, Sandnes
20.3.-13.4.14
Abstract paintings

The abstract paintings by Yngve Henriksen seem to hide something. I want to peel off the layers to explore what is underneath, even if I know what will appear is another layer I will have to peel off, and so on. The beautiful shapes and colors make decorative paintings.

Marit Roland: Paper Drawings #8

Paper Drawings #8
Marit Roland
Prosjektrom Normanns, Stavanger
21.3.-4.4.14
Paper sculpture

In a wonderful spacial installation, paper sheets are rolled into tubes, fit together and transformed into a giant flower, a frozen explosion, a sprouting fountain, met by one single, red-tipped tube at the other end of the room. The shock is imminent the moment you enter the room, then you are drawn into it to just savour the beauty and amaze at the uniqueness of each tube and the beauty of the whole composition. I also cannot help focusing on the electrical socket in the center, whether intentionally a part of the installation or just an obstruction, but somehow the paper fountain seems to be sprouting out of it, or even sucking you into it. There seems to be a strange kind of gravity of not a black but a white hole, sucking new tubes into it, like that single one coming from the other end of the room. 

Kanselibyrån: Headlong- Brick Wall

Kanselibyrån: Headlong- Brick Wall
Studio17, Stavanger
20.-23.3.14
Bureaucracy art

While the current exhibition at Galleri Sult by Katerina Nordbotn focuses on the suffering when the public services do not serve the people, Kanslibyrån does the opposite: it makes fun of non-functioning bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is a way of organising the public service so that everyone will be treated fairly, justly, according to the law, and according to the general expectations. This is a system that works so well we do not notice it when it works. But we do notice those cases when it does not work as expected in some cases. These cases have turned the term Bureaucracy into something negative, a term depicting unfairness, inhumanity and fragmentation of responsibility. Something that is frustrating and exhausting, but Kanslibyrån and their associates managed to turn this into humour using irony. 


Marte Hogne Haugen: Missed Calls

A woman is constantly trying to call someone, but she is constantly rejected by herself saying "the number is not in use", "the line is busy at the moment" and so on, in that terrible, inhuman voice we all hate. On top of it is a dramatic soundtrack forcing us to believe that the caller has something very important to call about, but as her call is never accepted, the tension is never released, and the problem is never solved. The fact that the same person is both calling and "answering", makes this an eternal loop.


Kanslibyrån: Office Clock + Medal of merit + Edible rejection + Modified pen + Donations box

Kanslibyrån has on display several items for bureacratial use. A donations box as a proposal for the Swedish Tax Agency to ensure good stability in the state finances,  a modified pen as a proposal for Municipal Offices to allow for more freedom, a proposal for the Swedish Social Insurance Administration for an edible letter when sickness compensation are denied, a medal of merit as a proposal for the National Board of Health and Welfare for encouragement to social workers upholding the regulations in challenging times, and an office clock showing only the time 9 and 5 as a proposal for the Employment Agency.


Minna Henriksson: Communication

These photos have been taken in the Helsinki Immigration Police office, showing closeups of messages scratched into the benches by waiting immigrants, and interiors and message posters saying "Door!!! Watch out!!!" and "Do you want to be a police officer?"


Ulf Lundin: 5-9

In this video we become the voyeur, as the camera watches over an office building after working hours. There are still people left there, finishing a meeting, cleaning, meeting someone, minding their own business. As the camera zoom in we see stories fold out in front of us, almost making us feel we take part in the stores. How can such a boring building be so interesting?


Ruben Wätte: Societal problems

Rough MC guys wear as uncool logos as the Employment Office, the Migration Office, and the Insurance Office. And I wonder if this makes the offices tougher or the guys softer. Or maybe this is how the visitors view these office workers, like tough guys you do not want to mess with. 

Katarina Nordbotn: Uten Kontur

Katarina Nordbotn: Uten Kontur
Galleri Sult, Stavanger
6.-30.3.14
Paintings from the courtroom

For the society to function it is crucial that the official institutions are reliable, unpartial and just. That is definitely important for the judicial system. In Norway we in general believe that everyone deserve and will get a fair trial. But still there are cases where innocent people are sentenced to prison. How do they and their families look at the courtroom? In the paintings by Norbotn there seems to be a lot of anger, pain and suffering imposed by the law. Even young children seem to be suffering in her paintings. On one wall there is a large collection of portraits, showing that every person has its own story.

Hvem eier historien?

Hvem eier historien? Makt, kunst og demokrati
(Who owns the history? Power, art and democracy)
Per Christian Brown, Sidsel Christensen, Line Anda Dalmar, John Øivind Eggesbø, Jørund Aase Falkenberg, Tove Kommedal, Arne Nøst, Odd Sama
Curators Geir Haraldseth and Marie Stokkenes Johansen
Stavanger Kunstmuseum, Stavanger Museum, Stavanger Maritime Museum, Breidablikk, Stavanger
6.3.14
Art safari in the museums of Stavanger

On one evening only, the crowds of visitors joined a safari from museum to museum experiencing contemporary art. Eight local artists have been investigating the museums and their relations to power, art and democracy, in the light of the 200-year anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution. The art museum would be an obvious spot to display contemporary art, but what about the history museum, or the maritime museum, or the majestic villa Breidablikk?

* STAVANGER KUNSTMUSEUM *

John Øivind Eggesbø & Christopher Jonassen: Våre representanter
(Our representatives)

This was the by far most dominating contribution at the art museum. A giant cluster of artworks by local artists, contributed by those responding to the invitation by the initiating artist. The visitors are invited to vote on which artwork the museum shall buy for their collection. This seems like a very democratic approach. But thinking more closely about this, there are problems to it. Most of all, should the majority decide the contents of the museum's collection, what should be a representative collection of the art history? And are we sure that all local artists worth considering are present? Maybe some crucial artist or artwork is missing, and why is that?

This is in contrast to another of the current exhibitions at the art museum, about Ole Nesvik. A group of private persons collected money for a painting of a beach motive as a gift for the museum, but it refused to recieve it.


John Øivind Eggesbø: Våre representanter


Arne Nøst: Historiens kakofoni (Vi spiser hverandre, og synger sanger)

It took me a while to discover that there were actually other artworks in this hall. This wonderful installation by Arne Nøst is worth the attention. It consists of video projections onto skulls found in the museum's collections. The projections on the skulls, their halo on the wall behind it, and the sound are of an actor singing the names of Homo Sapiens and twelve other mammals in Latin.


Line Anda Dalmar: Guide

On the floor in one of the halls are  numbers and QR codes. They lead to descriptions of objects from Stavanger Museum, where the artist has invited a clairvoyant to describe her impressions of the objects. 


Sidsel Christensen: Christiane Schreiber utenfor rammen - 4 synsvinkler og 1 personlig brev

In this performance the artist climbs in her installation of iron tubes, while turning mirrors are reflecting her and the public, as the artist speaks about Christiane Schreiber, a female artist from the 1800s.

* BREIDABLIKK * 

Per Christian Brown: Historistiske intervensjoner i villaen Breidablikk

In a house museum stuffed with the objects from the former inhabitants, the artist plays hide-and-seek with us. Some of his works are well hidden, other more obvious, and some dominate totally. There is a homoerotic magazine on the toilet, a mask put on one of the busts, and some of the paintings are replaced with a photo of the nearby park. Some rooms have video screenings: A set table with Cheese Doodles is juxtapozed with coverage of the annual food festival in town. In the sleeping room a drunk woman wanders around. And one room is fully occupied by birds.


Per Christian Brown: Historistiske intervensjoner i villaen Breidablikk

* STAVANGER MUSEUM *

Odd Sama: Skriften på veggen

In the bird section of the museum, Odd Sama has added text to the original descriptions, pointing to ecological crisis, consumption, environmental issues.



Jørund Aase Falkenberg: Utenfor sirkelen

Jørund Aase Falkenberg  asks if animals should be treated as humans, thus all domestication of animals for human use should end. In a photo series stuffed birds are put to rest in a grave. And in the basement section for the weird collection, he has put glowing crystals, adding souls to the poor animals there.

* STAVANGER MARITIME MUSEUM *

Tove Kommedal: Ekho

Hans Sundt Berggraf invented the echo sonar, but never got the full credit for it. He has been neglected in the Stavanger history, even if his invention has been crucial to both the fishing boom and the oil boom in the region. To restore his memory, Kommedal has added a display case to the museum's collection, and added the story to the four-volume History of Stavanger. In doing so she has added the original drawing found from an old technical magazine, and created the machine in paper made from unimportant part of the history volume concerning industrial history. In addition we hear the sound from a sonar, also remembering us of the Greek myth of Ekho, calling for her love Narcissus in vain, all response she got was her own voice.

This is not only a fascinating story, and it is interesting in why this is left out of the official history, but the sculpture itself, and the idea of making it, is just wonderful. This should be bought as a permanent installation in the museum.

*

I think it is a great idea to revitalise the museums in this way. In fact, this is the first time I visit some of these museums. In the game of finding the contemporary art, I am also lured into the museums, to enjoy the permanent exhibitions there. And I will probably return to them. In other words this is a win-win for both the museums and the local contemporary art scene.

But unfortunately the concept is stuck in a historical way of thinking: The Internet has been around for quite some time already, and should be used more in this project. The information about this project is limited on the web, and none of the documentation videos or the web based information by Line Anda Dalmar are accessible on the web.

Elena Redaelli & Mara Sola: On Nature

On Nature
Elena Redaelli & Mara Sola
Studio17, Stavanger
27.2.-2.3.14
Drawings of birds, sculptures of paper straws

After spending hours preparing the gesso (the coating) of her canvases, and hours at the museum contemplating the shapes of birds, the result is shown in the drawings by Mara Sola. She joined together with Elena Redaelli to create a nature landscape. Redaelli's sculptures are made by lots of straws made from rolled paper and glued or tied together. The result is a sculptural forest with birds. The link between the two artists is symbolized in the two abstract works by Sola, where both her canvases and the forest are present. A fragile and beautiful exhibition, just like the birds are fragile and beautiful.


Artwork by Mara Sola


Drawing by Mara Sola, installation by Elena Redaelli


Drawing by Mara Sola


Drawing by Mara Sola, installation by Elena Redaelli


Drawing by Mara Sola

Arvid Pettersen - The View of the Fugitive and Prepping For Life Cargo Style

The View of the Fugitive and Prepping For Life Cargo Style
Arvid Pettersen
Galleri Gann, Sandnes
15.2. - 13.3.14
Sculptures, installations, paintings

A treasure trove of sculptures made of found materials, and found shapes. An old radio, a bread-cutting-board, a sledge, a stool - are incorporated into new objects. Toilet items like shaving blades are cast in bronze, so is a complex of cup-and-saucer. And paintings are made onto a stool seat or other bases. Here is a game of forms, a playfulness of titles, and the joy of appreciating any kind of form and the ability to turn it into something totally different.


Exhibition view


Split Second Freeze + Icon for Memory


Domestic View + Shelter + Mobile Missile + Southern Tapestry

Bård Breivik - En samtale mellom to serielle objekter

En samtale mellom to serielle objekter
Bård Breivik
Galleri Gann, Sandnes
15.2.-13.3.14
Sculptures in various materials

Bård Breivik presents pairs of forms expressed in different materials. Some materials are obvious, some offer surprises. Some sculptures seem to be made of twigs and wooden spikes, but are actually cast in bronze. Other are in aluminium, steel or plywood.


Konstruksjon
(bamboo + bronze)


Organisk trofé
(bronze)


Partitur fra en lengre samtale
(plywood + steel)


Broken Nose
(Laquer)

Inngang 14: Artist talks

Inngang 14
Margrethe Aanestad, Karina Kazlauskaite, Kaja Andersen
Rogaland Kunstsenter, Stavanger
27.2.14
New members of the artist organisations present their work


This year Rogaland Kunstsenter arrange artist talks every last Thursday of the month in the library upstairs. The artists that joined the artist organisations the last two years will take turns presenting their work.

This evening the library was crowded with people that were offered the opportunity to learn more about Margrethe Aanestad, Karina Kazlauskaite and Kaja Andersen. We got to know why Aanestad has this fascination for triangles and squares, pictured in drawings and created in shadows from materials leaned against the wall. We were surprised by how it is possible to make beautiful jewelry from ostrich eggs, ear plugs and pig bladders in the art by Kazlauskaite. And we learned why Andersen consider spending lots of time chatting with strangers on the web may actually be art. 
 
 
Karina Kazlauskaite presenting her artwork in words, pictures and objects