Solo exhibition at Kunsthall Grenland, opening April 5th, 2019. The project also includes a residency and production period in Porsgrunn this fall of 2018, in collaboration with Porsgrunds Porselænsfabrik. The solo exhibition is entitled ‘Exotic Dreams and Poetic Misunderstandings -The Silk Roads’, which will be the first part of a new body of work.
About the project:
It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the twentieth century, the Silk Roads as a link shows —how the fate of the West and the East have always been inextricably linked to each other. In the late nineteenth century, this sprawling web of connections was given a name by an eminent German geologist, Ferdinand von Richthofen that has stuck ever since: Seidenstraßen'-the Silk Roads.
Those pathways serve as the world´s central nervous system, connecting peoples and places together, but lying beneath the skin, invisible to the naked eye. Just as the anatomy explains how the body functions, understanding those collections allow us to understand how the world works. And yet, it has been forgotten by mainstream history.
And today the Silk Roads are rising again—unobserved and overlooked by many. With the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative-in other words, a New Silk Road, a region and series of connections re-emerging in front of our eyes. It is with curiosity that one follow China´s rise as the new economic, innovative and knowledge-producing superpower. The influence of China on international conditions increases in scale and complexity worldwide. The West, however, finds it difficult to imagine such a scenario. We see the Silk Roads everywhere, in the Middle East, in Russia.
It´s the most important single development going on in the world today, and it´s not necessarily a good thing, and it´s not necessarily a bad thing. This means, in order to understand and participate in the future, we must take part and position our self and contribute to the new environment. For better,and for worse.
In Norway, the geo-political sensitive area Kirkenes has already felt the impact from the New Silk Roads. I’m invited to participate with my projects in the Barents Spektakel Festival 2019. During the festival, Kirkenes will transform into the “World’s Northernmost Chinatown”. The backdrop for the concept is the multifaceted increase of Chinese investments in the city, the locals’ interest to collaborate with the Chinese and geopolitical power fight of the Arctic and so forth.
I’m contributing to the festival with works in from the series ‘Exotic Dreams and Poetic Misunderstandings’, consisting of porcelain sculptures in an interactive installation. The project started in 2016 and since then, new concept and artworks have been continuously developed and expanded through exhibitions and social events. The project also aims to reach out to groups or segments in our society that are not necessarily familiar with the visual art.
Reconsidering history is helping us understand the present and anticipate the future. With my projects, I want to contribute another perspective to our society and discover new views on related topics, which goes beyond the horizons of our own cultural epistemology. Though my project, I hope to prompt new questions to be asked about the past and future, and for stereotypes of different cultures to be challenged and scrutinized.