Lina Issa is talking about her work at Iaspis. The audience sipping mint tea listens as she begins to tell about her experiences of taking on other peoples lives. In neat and concise terms she explains that she put out an ad inviting anybody to apply if they would like to swap their lives with hers, at least for a while, and that tonight we could hear her and their stories.
In 1949 with much of the world in ruins, millions dead, and the world still in shock at its own inhumanity the German born sociologist Theodor Adorno wrote that "to write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric".
I was given a copy of a new book last week called “New Communities” a collection of essays edited by Nina Möntmann, an investigation of the art, artist groups, collectives and practices that resulted from symposia in Toronto and Stockholm. The text intrigued me as it addresses in some ways, issues that are central to our practice at Tensta Konsthall.
February is the cruelest month breeding inanity from the dead waves. Mixing bigotry and desire, stirring dull roots with winter snow. In February the culture pages of the major newspapers in Sweden suddenly succumb to ‘news’ of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Mighty Jupiter, brightest in the night sky, it’s gravitational pull turns dull matter to moons or to crashing comets. A single dominant force in the great (or smaller) chain of being, that outshines the rest and whose vast mass radiates heat. A perhaps unfair description of Sweden’s largest art institution but when the Museum puts on a show the heavens quake.
Art criticism at the end of the last century and in the first decade of this new one seems often a victim of its own posturing and terrified of criticality. The fear is rampant that unless one can expunge any straitjacket of theoretical adherence one is doomed to supporting one meta narrative or another.
Tensta Konsthall was happy to be invited to participate in the event Järvadagen at Stockholm City Hall last week. With hundreds of guests and speakers from many of the leading institutions it gave a very clear view of the project Järvalyftet.
We are very happy to celebrate the opening yesterday of the exhibition Gaza:Photo Album by Kent Klich at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg. Kent will be showing another work Children Of Ceausescu with us opening on the 20th of February.
The exhibition Gender Check at MUMOK, (The Museum of Modern Art, Vienna) is an outstanding example of great curatorial practice, tremendous international research and dedicated ambition. 200 artists, a half century of works to choose from, a huge range of material process, acres of floor space to fill and a large selection of works both grand and intimate.
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