LONDON CALLING…
By Caroline Bøge
In the past month, I have been in London three times for various art related events. At the end of September, I was invited as guest speaker for a private equity conference. The focus of my talk was the dynamics of the contemporary art market and collection building, and it was interesting to enlighten that particular group about the non-commercial values of art! I recommended them to go visit two exhibitions; Torbjørn Rødland at the Serpentine and Superflex at Tate. Admittedly, I am highly biased when it comes to both Rødland and Superflex having worked with them for many years during my time at Nils Stærk, but I truly believe these exhibitions are worth visiting – and even traveling for – and traveling for both exhibitions I did. First for Rødland’s opening at the Serpentine on September 28th, and the week after for Superflex at Tate’s Turbine Hall and Frieze Art Fair.
Torbjørn Rødland
The Touch That Made You
Serpentine Sackler Gallery
September 29th – November 19th 2017
Rødland’s exhibition at Serpentine’s Sackler Gallery is the artist’s first solo show in the UK. It was a genuine pleasure to view works from the past two decades unfold within this important institution, of which the world-renowned curator Hans Ulrich Obrist is the artistic director. Since the mid-90s, Rødland has created staged, photographic images that encompass genres such as portraits, landscapes, and still lives. His oeuvre also includes film works, of which the work ‘132 BPM’ from 2005 is presented at the exhibition. In his captivating arrangements, Rødland fuses what appears to be oppositions such as strangeness and normalcy, evil and innocence, violence and pleasure, ugliness and beauty, seriousness and humor, etc. in a way that make you want to keep observing. In front of a work by Rødland, one is simultaneously struck by discomfort and pleasure as well as a sense of wonder.
At the lunch following the opening of Rødland’s show, as well as Wade Guyton’s exhibition that opened the same day at the Serpentine Gallery, Obrist ended his enthusiastic welcome speech by citing Rødland for his thoughts on the exhibition title. Rødland had said: ‘we’re all to some degree a result of how we are seen, held and touched’. With that sentence in mind, it was highly interesting to revisit the show after lunch as it somehow added a sentimental perspective to his work that I had not considered up until then.
The exhibition features a beautiful catalogue with texts by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Bob Nickas a.o., and on the cover is my all-time favorite Rødland work ‘Arms’.
Superflex
One Two Three Swing!
Tate Modern
Hyundai Commission
October 3rd 2017 – April 2nd 2018
Since the 90s, Rasmus Nielsen, Jakob Fenger, and Bjørnstjerne Christiansen have engaged in projects that involve art, design, commerce and economic structures. The group has a socially engaged practice and often work with collaborative partners that enable their works, or ‘tools’ as they like to call them, to reach outside the white cube and into society at large. Superflex’s projects are always very thought through and to the point, and following a long period of secrecy, I was very excited to finally see what the boys had been up to!
As I was not able to be present at the opening day of the prestigious Hyundai Commission, I hurried into a cab and drove to the South Bank in the middle of Frieze frenzy last Friday. When I arrived at the Turbine Hall, I had already seen numerous images from the installation through social media, and read a couple reviews, but as I entered the monumental hall, I realized that this project is one you have to experience bodily. Hundreds of people were lying on the gigantic striped and multicolored carpet (colors are mimicking the hues of the Sterling Pound) looking up at the enormous, silver pendulum swinging slowly back and forth whilst mirroring its surroundings and onlookers: psychedelic, hypnotic and poetic at once and a place for reflection – in both senses of the word. In the second part of the hall, a giant metal maze with an orange line at its core holds a forest of three-seater swings. Not one seat was available for me that day, but it did not matter. It was thrilling and touching to see so many people swing in unison. Moving together as one in a joint effort proving that collective power beats that of the individual.
In many ways, ‘One Two Three Swing’ is a culmination of many of the projects Superflex have worked on throughout the years; the theme of bringing people together by play is paramount in the commissioned work Superkilen; a public park in Copenhagen, the color choices of the carpet is conceptually linked to the ‘Euphoria Now’ paintings that draw on color schemes from various currencies, and the hypnotic pendulum can be seen as a reference to their film work ‘The Financial Crisis (Session I-IV)’ that was aired on Channel 4 in October 2009. Divided into four sessions, the film addressed the financial crisis from a therapeutic perspective and suggested the crisis as a mass psychosis by the attempt of conceptually curing it with hypnosis sessions to the masses. And of course, the whole concept of collective power and collaboration is at the core of their practice that seeks to move out of the box and into the world.
In a smaller room to the side of the hall, Superflex has set up a ‘Bank of Opportunity’. Here visitors are given a voice, as they are encouraged to write down proposals for placements of the swings outside the institution. Already the installation is transcending the exhibition hall by moving outside the building, and the ambition is to take the project even further.
As one visitor had written on a piece of paper: “Qalandia Checkpoint, Palestine/Israel: To reconnect a divided people to have play more than conflict”. Who knows, perhaps one day?
About Caroline Bøge
Caroline Bøge is a Danish art historian and the owner of 2112 Art Advisory that consults private and corporate collections. Caroline has an extensive knowledge and experience in the art world and market due to her work with private clients, companies, galleries, museums, and institutions worldwide.
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