EXHIBITION "THE (UN)FAMILIAR"

Robert Alda (Poland), Gillian Carson (Scotland), Karen Kipphoff (Canada/Germany) and Rita Marhaug (Norway) come from a variety of backgrounds and work in a variety of media. All live and work in Bergen,Norway and have exhibited together on a regular basis since 2009. They are all members of PAB (Performance Art Bergen). 

Negotiating familiar and unfamiliar obstacles of everyday life often requires the individual to examine, dismantle, rebuild and at times reinvent the familiar, to regain familiarity. Observation of the self in familiar surroundings is subject to examination, and attempts at making sense of the world in a wider perspective manifest in artistic practice. While the resulting two and three dimensional artistic works, speak of individual experience in personal language, they can be seen to contain a more general expression of wonder and bewilderment, shock and awe in this age of estranged, hot and cold, dirty and clean living.

Alda will exhibit drawings. “Drawing is a moment of maximum freedom and relaxation. While working with different media (photography, video, multimedia, objects, installation, performance etc). Alda constructs projects according to an apriori concept. Drawing however is always a journey for Alda; it simply starts and leads to wherever it wants Alda to be.

Carson will exhibit sculpture and photographs. The Practice of Everyday Life – Michel de Certeau - has encouraged and refined interest in how people react, think and solve everyday challenges, and has led to a preference for objects that raise socio-political questions and works that explore social/political issues and question authority.

Kipphoff will exhibit all the front pages of the daily paper Bergens Tidene 2011 plus risographies of sweets (size A3+). These works will be presented as a combined wall installation with a collage of the original packaging of consumed sweets. In a third work Kipphoff will show an installation of four human figures: one black, one yellow, one transparent and one brown, carved or cast of respectively wood, epoxy, polyurethane and hard foam. These figures are placed in a scenography reminiscent of a somewhat derelict campsite made of painted cardboard.

Marhaug has continued her work with a large “skin-like “fabric first tried out in Berlin September -13. In January and February-14, she stayed in New York and developed the language around the fabric some steps further. The scale of the beige fabric is now about 200 m2. Another material introduced during the winter has been fur. Marhaug has earlier worked with soft sculptures made from leather, originally from old furniture. For Kaunas she has produced 3 soft fur sculptures. Still spending energy and joy in drawing parallel to her wide art praxis, another related series of work will be life-drawings from objects and props used in her performance situations.

 Exhibition works: 06 08 2015–06 09 2015