RETHINK KAKOTOPIA

RETHINK KAKOTOPIA

Curator Elisabeth Delin Hansen

Artists: Lise Autogena & Joshua Portway, Bill Burns, Haubitz + Zoche, Tue Greenfort, Tea Mäkipää, Cornelia Parker, Superflex and Fiona Tan.

Tensta Konsthall is proud to be a host for this important exhibition curated by Elisabeth Delin Hansen, Director of the Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center in Copenhagen, that is part of RETHINK – Contemporary Art & Climate Change an exhibition with noted Nordic and international contemporary artists, each in their way relating to the cross field of art, culture and climate change.

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Kakotopia was the term used by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham to describe a negative state of society, an anti-utopia characterized by chaos and disintegration. At the beginning of the 21st century, mankind, due to climate changes, finds itself in a state in which a change of the conditions for life on our planet seems to become ever clearer. The exact consequences are uncertain and highly debated; but many things seem to indicate that they may be extensive. RETHINK KAKOTOPIA takes this very kakotopia as its point of departure: a situation in which faith in technological solutions wrestles with apocalyptic visions, drawing on deeply rooted fantasies of disaster.

The invited artists were asked to formulate reflections on the recognition of questions concerning the ability of the human species to survive. Will our psyche and socio-economic systems be capable of grasping and responding to this challenge? Obviously, the artists cannot offer actual solutions to these problems – but they present us with images that may serve as tools for reflection, debate, awareness – and action.

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ARTISTS and WORKS on display:

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Lise Autogena & Joshua Portway
Most Blue Skies 2009 (2009)

Together, Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway develop large-scale multi-media projects often based on collecting and re-processing live global data.

In the work Most Blue Skies, 2009 the artists attempt to answer the child’s question : “what is the bluest sky in the world?” using the most advanced scientific and technological resources available. Real-time satellite and atmospheric sensor data is processed by custom-built software, simulating the passage of light through the atmosphere and calculating the colour of the sky at millions of places on earth. Minute by minute, as the earth rotates and weather systems change, the location of the most blue sky is displayed and a square of beautiful blue light shows the most accurate possible reproduction of what it would be like to look up at that sky.

Most Blue Skies plays with the tension between the simplicity and romance of the image of the blue sky and the complex technology surrounding it. There is irony and humour in this painstakingly laborious pursuit of innocence, but also a sincere acceptance of the mutual dependence between fragile optimism and hard science.

about: Lise Autogena (b. 1964) & Joshua Portway (b. 1967)

Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway have been working together since 1991. In their ambitious multimedia collaborations, they explore our relations to the networks, economies and technologies that surround us, and how our human experience is changed by the incorporation into these systems.

Using advanced technologies, such as the visualisation of live global data streams, their complex multilayered installations explore a sense of global presence, time and human interdependence.
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Bill Burns
Safety Gear for Small Animals (1994)

With subtle humour, Bill Burns explores the wonders of nature and human life in his objects, photographs, multiples, artist’s books and installations.

Safety Gear for Small Animals is an extensive project staged in the form of a complex enterprise, specifically the world’s largest manufacturer of safety equipment for small animals. The artist is the CEO and the enterprise includes a research and development department, production units, a surgical appliance program, a publishing house and a travelling museum. At RETHINK Kakotopia, a selection of safety gear is put on display, e.g. safety vests, helmets and protective goggles; all shaped like the human-sized equipment familiar from our everyday lives, but scaled down to suit small birds, mice, frogs etc.

The startling contrast between the familiar equipment and the sizes in which it appears here evokes an immediate sense of the animals’ fragility and vulnerability, but also of man’s own vulnerability. The disparity foregrounds the absurdity of the various protective measures we devise in order to safeguard ourselves against the changes in nature.

about Bill Burns (b.1957)

Bill Burns lives and works in Vancouver and London. His work is primarily based on sculpture, interactive material, photography, multiples and processing everyday material – with which he investigates the puzzling aspects of nature and human life with a touch of irony.

On a general level, Bill Burns has an analytic and reflective eye for society, which is often expressed by using unaffected assistants or recipients of the artwork, like for instance animals or children. By presenting us with an innocent take on society, Burns puts its mechanisms in perspective, ultimately making us reflect on our way of life.

Bill Burns’ first project was exhibited at 303 Gallery in New York in 1994, yet his real breakthrough was the work “Safety Gear for Small Animals” on display for the first time in New York in 1994. Since then, the artwork was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Havana, Buenos Aires, Loa Angeles and Seoul. In addition, Bill Burns has published quite a few books, for instance When Pain Strikes from 1999 and most recently Bird Radio from 2007
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Haubitz + Zoche
The Lighthouse Project (2009/2010) and Water Knows No Walls (2009)

Haubitz + Zoche work with photography, video, and mixed media and have realized a range of large-scale projects in the form of modifications of the public space. Their installations frequently involve some kind of element of surprise that startles unwitting spectators. In recent years, floods caused by global warming have been a central theme for Haubitz + Zoche. Indeed, that issue also serves as the basis for their project for RETHINK Kakotopia. The starting point of the project was calculations of the consequences that would arise for Copenhagen if all the inland ice of Greenland were to melt, prompting water levels to rise by seven metres. Most of the neighbourhoods created by filling in extra soil, such as Christianshavn, will disappear back into the sea, and the building now housing Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre, formerly the Saint Nikolaj Church, will once again be located on the beach just like in medieval times. The artists have extended this line of thinking to incorporate Stockholm and have pinpointed the City Hall as a building that in the event of rising sea levels would become a lighthouse. On display at Tensta Konsthall are documentation of the installation in Copenhagen and materials related to the official applications attempting to place the tower of the City hall on a sea map.

about Sabine Haubitz (b.1959) & Stefanie Zoche (b.1965)

Sabine Haubitz and Stefanie Zoche come from different artistic, educational backgrounds and in 1998, they formed the artistic collaboration “Haubitz + Zoche” based in Munich. Sabine Haubitz studied painting and photography in Berlin and Munchen, and has won several awards for her photographic work, for instance the Kodak Prize for Young Photographers. Stefanie Zoche is a sculptor in France and Great Britain, and she has taught at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. Their joint artist project subjects the public space to modifications and transformations, for instance by adding foreign elements to an already existing architectonic structure. Their work with photos, video, and mixed materials often contains a surprise element, making the spectator look with fresh eyes at the world. In recent years, Haubitz + Zoche have dealt with the topic of flooding as a consequence of global warming.
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Tue Greenfort
There isn’t a Frog, a Foul, a Fish…’ (2009)

Much of Tue Greenfort’s work addresses global issues and themes of sustainability. Many of the simple aesthetic expressions point towards complex issues. His art encompasses the poetically playful as well as the sharply critical in his studies of how the man-made and nature interact.

With the work 'There isn’t a Frog, a Foul, a Fish...', Tue Greenfort establishes a critical dialogue between the legendary book Limits to Growth from 1973 and the Danish government’s environmental plan Green Growth 2009.

Greenfort explains his project as follows: 'Based on my own experiences in Denmark during the period between the publication of Limits to Growth and the current government’s environmental plan from 2009, I’ve created an installation that consists of elements from my existing artistic vocabulary and brings in new, specific elements that link directly to the overall exhibition context of the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen.”

about Tue Greenfort (b.1973)

Tue Greenfort lives and works in Berlin and Copenhagen. His work reflects a fascination of global questions and ecological connections. With deceptively simple aesthetics, his work points out the complex, global problematic with a focus on questions about man’s relations with nature and consumption of vital raw material. His art encompasses both the poetical playfulness and severe criticism when investigating how the man-made and nature interact. Yet, Greenfort’s approach is never moralizing, but humorous and with a great deal of aesthetics.

Tue Greenfort was educated at the Funen Art Academy in 2000 and the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildenden Künste in Frankfurt am Main in 2003. His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Europe and USA.
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Tea Mäkipää
LINK (2009)
Video RT: 20:00 min.

Tea Mäkipää’s works take their point of departure in the structures that shape our lives and which we often take for granted in our everyday lives. In her art, she puts a twist on reality, allowing the dysfunctional to appear with greater clarity and prompting us to pause and rethink the seemingly obvious.

For the exhibition RETHINK KAKOTOPIA, Tea Mäkipää created a new work, LINK. In the video we meet LINK: half human, half ape. LINK lives a quiet life with his mother on a small island in a remote area of Finland. One day, however, their harmonious existence is disrupted by a journalist from the mainland...

We have taken for granted the claim that humanity marks the pinnacle of evolution. Since the end of the 20th century, however, the consequences of the man-made ecological disaster have slowly dawned on us. The artist presents a controversial take on things, suggesting that instead of aiming to have future technologies solve the climate issue, we ought to reconsider human evolution and – who knows? – perhaps go back to a new beginning.

about Tea Mäkipää (b.1973)

Tea Mäkipää lives and works in Finland, creating installations, film and photographs that critically investigate the durability of the Western way of life. The central topics are consumerism, environmental issues, the widening gulf between the rich and poor – plus the disadvantages of globalization. In her work, she examines the survival strategies and social conduct of private individuals as well as man’s coexistence with other species.

Tea Mäkipää’s work contains the central viewpoint of man being humanity’s own worst enemy and according to her, as a consequence of our actions here on Earth, it is up to us to finding a solution to our continued existence on this planet. Thus, her artwork is based on the structures that shape our lives, structures that we take for granted in our everyday life. She gives these aspects of reality a twist to enhance the dysfunctional aspects of everyday life, enabling us to reconsider our way of life.

She holds a BA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, and has studied art and architecture at the Royal University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm. In 2003, she got her MA from the Royal College of Art in London. Her work is a part of the permanent exhibition of Helsinki Art Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki. In addition, she has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Europe, USA and Asia.
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Cornelia Parker
Chomskian Abstract (2007)
Video RT: 42:00 min.

Cornelia Parker, who was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize in 1997, has, from the 1990s onwards, worked with site-specific works and installations focusing on transformations and relations.

Chomskian Abstract is a video interview with the highly influential US linguist and critical political analyst Noam Chomsky. In the video Chomsky speaks about the inertia of economic and political systems as one of the main reasons why we see no decisions being taken that reflect the knowledge and worries of individual people.
Chomsky refers to this state of affairs as 'Apocalypse soon', and the only road out is a deciphering of the manipulations that govern consumerism and political choices.

about Cornelia Parker (b.1956)

The British artist, Cornelia Parker, has been sculpting and creating installations since the mid-nineties and in 1997, she was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize. She is particularly known for artwork such as 'Cold Dark Matter: An exploded View' from 1991 where she got the British army to blow up a garden shed.

For a number of years, Cornelia Parker has been drawn to catastrophes and accidents and used her artistic praxis to make visible the things that are beyond our control. By making the fleeting, the highly explosive and the coincidental visible, she creates extraordinary transformations in her artwork that - through visual and verbal hints – unlock the door to cultural metaphors and personal associations. In recent years, Cornelia Parker has begun dealing with globalization, consumerism and mass media.
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Superflex
Hypnosis Group Sessions / The Cockroach (2009)

Since 1993 the artist group Superflex have carried out a wide range of diverse projects that take their beginnings and ends outside the realm of the art institution. Many of them address issues relating to democracy, power and visibility. Examples include Guarana Power: a project involving the manufacture and marketing of a multi-national beverage brand, but based on fair trade with Brazilian farmers for raw materials; or a range of projects which have set up radio or TV studies for groups that do not usually have media access.

At present, Superflex works with hypnosis as a recurring theme in several of their projects, and for RETHINK Kakotopia they have produced a performance that took place during the exhibition period. At Tensta Konsthall we show the posters that were used informing audiences that during the performance, participants would be able to experience the climate issue from an entirely new angle through hypnosis.

about Superflex
Rasmus Nielsen (b. 1969), Jakob Fenger (b. 1968) and Bjørnstjerne Christiansen (b. 1969)

In 1993, the artist group 'Superflex' was formed by Rasmus Nielsen, Jakob Fenger and Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, all of which were educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. The artist group has a record of various projects with a never-failing political undertone, attracting a lot of national and international attention. Superflex joins the battle for global justice with projects placing topics like development aid, economic oppression and dominating power structures in the spotlight.

In the universe of Superflex, art must function as a practical and democratic tool that not only points out global issues, but also generates actual alternatives to the reality that they are rebelling against. Art can and must change reality. They name their artistic approach 'socio-economic art' through which Superflex wants to break with the symbolic function that art traditionally employs. This mindset has tangibly manifested itself in projects, which actively intervene in social and political structures and thus, they are art and tool at the same time.
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Fiona Tan
News From The Near Future (2003)
Video RT: 9.30 min.

Fiona Tan works with film and photography; either her own or created by others. She often uses archival materials, juxtaposing and processing them to create works that investigate history and our place in the flow and process of time.

News from the Near Future is a video work pieced together from archival materials from the Amsterdam historical museum. The video is a kind of symphony of recordings of water: the beach, a calm sea, a stormy sea, flooded cities, and gushing waterfalls. The video begins and ends with the image of a man standing, somewhat awkwardly, on a rock in the water.

The fact that the archival materials used is obviously old footage from before World War II would seem to contrast with the forward-looking title. However, Fiona Tan uses this apparent contradiction to focus on how meaning is formed, as is also the case in many of her other works. The statement made by the title is what changes the video from being a collection of mildly intriguing historical footage to a frightening vision. Thus, the video points to the relativity of information and to the mechanisms determining how messages are read.

about Fiona Tan (b.1966)

Fiona Tan lives and works in Holland, dealing with her and other’s photographs and videos. She often makes use of archival material that she compiles and adapts for the artwork. A central theme in Fiona Tan’s production is how we present ourselves, and the mechanisms that decide how we interpret the presentation of others. With her intense art consisting of film and video, she examines history and our place in the time-related development.

In 2009, Fiona Tan represented Holland at the 53rd Venice Biennale with the project “Disorient”, and her work has been in solo and group exhibitions at MCA in Chicago, New York, Museum in New York, Tate Modern in London, Documenta 11, Shanghai-Biennial and Berlin Biennial. In 2004, Fiona Tan won the Infinity Award for Art for her photographs and additionally, she was nominated for the Deutches Börses photography award in 2007.

Original texts by Elisabeth Delin Hansen and Iben Mosbæk Hofstede (adapted by Tensta Konsthall)

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RETHINK – Contemporary Art & Climate Change is organized by the Alexandra Institute ‐ a research‐based limited company that bridges the gap between the IT corporate sector, research and education. The exhibition is curated as a collaboration between the National Gallery of Denmark, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, and the Alexandra Institute, in which each is represented with their particular part of the overall exhibition in their own venue (Alexandra’s part is exhibited at Moesgård Museum in Århus): RETHINK Relations, RETHINK The Implicit, RETHINK Information and RETHINK Kakotopia – the latter being Nikolaj's contribution and the exhibition on show at Tensta Konsthall.
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RETHINK – Contemporary Art & Climate Change has been selected as the "Nordic Exhibition of the Year 2009-2010" by the Nordic Culture Fund and has received support from the Branding Denmark Fund, the City of Copenhagen and the Danish Arts Council's Committee for Visual Art. The exhibition was a part of the official cultural programme in connection with the UN Global Climate Summit, COP 15, Copenhagen, December 7 to 18 2009.

Bildgalleri: 

Tue Greenfort, 'There isn't a Frog, a Foul, a Fish...' (2009)

Tea Mäkipää, LINK (2009)

Cornelia Parker, Chomskian Abstract (2007). Photo: Anders Sune Berg

Superflex, Photo: Nikolai Howalt & Superflex