Sõnum Seinal 2013

Sõnum Seinal
Pärnu, Estonia
August 2013-
Streetart

During a week in august 2013 the art festival Sõnum Seinal (Message on the wall) was arranged in Pärnu, Estonia. The program consisted of streetart, exhibitions and other events. Almost one year later, the artworks of Aken Kunsti (Window to the art) are still there. On plywood plates covering the windows of the former Puls brewery artists were invited to paint. This adds a reward for those walking two blocks away from the pedestrian street in Pärnu.

Elmgreen & Dragseth: Biography

Biography
Elmgreen & Dragseth
21.3.-24.8.14
Astrup Fearnley museet, Oslo
Installations, sculptures, surprises

* SPOILER ALERT!*
* If you plan to visit the exhibition, which you really should, do not look at my photos, but rather make your own discoveries *

This is an exhibition I have been looking forward for quite some time, and was the main reason for a stopover in Oslo. After seeing their massive installation at the Nordic pavillions at the Venice Biennale in 2009 and the shocking minibankinstallation at an exhibition in Copenhagen, I knew this was an art duo to my taste.

The artists have explored all of the exhibition halls, and laid out surprises everywhere, even in the cloakroom and by the elevator. Most of the works are titled, but some are unnamed, left there for you to wonder if they really are art or not.

Titles are difficult to find here. In the exhibition leaflet there is an overview of all the titles, but it is difficult to understand which is which. This is better explained in the catalogue. Or here in this blogpost.

Here is the remains of a night club where the opening party was held, a homo-erotic massage studio in the basement, loads of black&white photos from the artists lives, an office that never opens, a dead art collector, a desillusioned boy, a white rat, pieces of walls from famous art galleries, a ticket booth that is always closed, museums as powerless structures, a scarecrow facing the posh Tjuvholmen area, and a golden male mermaid. During weekends there are also live additions to the artworks. A middle-aged woman is walking around the pool in her bathing suit, and a painter is constantly painting one of the walls.

This might just be one of the most impressive exhibitions this year, and in my opinion it is worth the whole trip to Oslo. For you who cannot see it, here are photos of every single artwork (as far as I know.)


Crash...Boom...Bang!


Rite of Passage


Modern Moses


Death of a Collector + The Future


It's The Small Things in Life That Really Matter, Blah, Blah, Blah


Landslide


The Mirror


Eternity


The Agony and the Ecstasy


Temptation


Zwischen anderen Ereignissen


Death of a Collector



Powerless Structures + The Named Series + Irina


[Nameless surprise]


[Nameless surprise]


The Brightness of Shady Lives / The Black and White Diary


The Brightness of Shady Lives / The Black and White Diary


[Nameless surprise] 


[Nameless surprise] 


He (Gold)


Gay Marriage


The Touch


Amigos


Civilised


Back in Five

Lars Ramberg: Liberté

Liberté
Lars Ramberg
Oslo 2014
Installations

Across from the quite naturalistic sculpture of Christian Frederik is the rather controversial installation Liberté by Lars Ramberg. Originally banned from the spot, finally accepted, just in front of Stortinget.Shaped like three functioning Parisian public toilet, colored in blue, white and red, named liberty, equality and fraternity.

Public toilets are not usually seen as something noteworthy, but when you really need one, you are thankful when you find one. Even if they are associated by something dirty and unmentionable, their purpose is exactly the opposite, to keep the city clean and to hide what we do not want to see (or smell).

Also some lines of politics aim to make the city nicer, but what it really does is to hide the problematic issues like begging, prostitution, immigrants and the disabled. Are the three virtues liberty, equality and fraternity present today, or are they just words we hide behind while we enjoy our liberty to consume and pollute as much as we like, our equality with our own people, not the others, and the fraternity with our own kind?

Christian Frederik

Christian Frederik, Norges Konge 1814
by Kristian Blystad
Stortinget, Oslo
2014
Public sculpture

All anniversaries need a sculpture. And all sculptures need to be men. Because the only ones able to change the world back in the days were men. Had women had the same chance, the world would probably look different now. One man that apparently needed a pedestal was Christian Frederik. He managed to be the king of Norway during only some few days. But he was of crucial importance for the gathering at Eidsvoll, where the Norwegian Constitution was created in 1814. Whether this was powered by an urge to see Norway as independent, or if he wanted a country to rule, is up to the historians to discuss. What we got is this statue.

The originally chosen artwork was a more abstract sculpture. But an anti-abstract junta was formed amongst the politicians, and this sculpture was considered enough naturalistic.

 

Kongolandsbyen

Kongolandsbyen
Part of the project " European Attraction Limited"
Fadlabi and Lars Cuzner
Frognerparken
15.5.-31.8.14
Installation, controversy

One hundred years ago the area of the present Vigelandspark/Frognerpark was the venue of a World Exhibition. Cultures from all over the world were presented, with the Norwegian culture assumely as the crown of it all. One of the most exotic exhibitions was Kongolandsbyen, a village of Kongolesan (in fact they were Senegalese) natives living in typical huts. They were one of the most popular parts of the exhibition, this was the first time for most people to see such exotic people. One of the questions posed by this 100-year anniversary is: Have we improved at all during one hundred years?

The installation created great controversy already before it was built. The artists were accused of being racists, or for telling us something we already know. Based on the great fuss that was created, the tiny, simple and empty huts are quite a anticlimax. Those are just empty straw huts. Fortunately a kindergarden nearby had taken the huts in use as temporary playhouses.

For me the most important impact of the installation is the historical background. What did this area look like before it was filled with sculptures by Gustav Vigeland?

Ole Fredrik Hvidsten

Ole Fredrik Hvidsten
Kunstvisitten, Oslo bussterminal / Akershus Kunstsenter
June 2014
Art exhibition in the bus station

Art for travellers: At the busy bus terminal in Oslo, you may enjoy art while waiting for the bus. Akershus kunstsenter has furnished several glass covered areas with art, this time with the artworks by Ole Fredrik Hvidsten. Look out for it the next time you are travelling here.