Bergen senter for elektronisk kunst

Åpning 23.01.2014 kl 19:00
Forelesninger 24 januar på 14:00-16:00 @ BEK

Åpningstider
24. 13:00-5m &
19:00-22:00
25th fra 1-17:00
26. 12 – 16:00

Denne utstillingens tittel er et ordspill med de to verbene “to deceit” og “to decipher”, (“å svike” og “å tyde”): Arbeidene i utstillingen fungerer som forslag til alternative lesninger – tolkninger som enten leker med de visuelle strukturer av gjenstander eller med det digitale på skjermflatene. Målet er å utforske visuelle strukturer som avanserer objekters og skulpturers materialitet. Den samme utforskingen finner sted i videomediets karakter av flyt, rytme og lag.

Verkene berører på ulikt vis flere tema: Christopher Hollorans visuelle språk som en nedbrytning av tanker i verket “Fully Functional Family”. I Jake Davidsons tokanals video, “Elsewhere and Present”, bremses hendelser og bevegelser ned og med en struktur som leder øyet, vekkes og engasjeres tilskueren med en minimalistisk fortellerteknikk. Bjørn Mortensens romlige installasjoner omrokkerer hierarkiet av objekter. Vi finner et poetisk spill på banalitet som fremhever den tynne linjen mellom kunst og liv i Mathijs Van Geest sine skulpturer.

Nina Barnett og Robin Nesbitt i samarbeid med danseren Ming – Hwa Yeh i verket “Experiments in Mirage-Making III” arbeider med ideer knyttet til forholdet mellom regissør og utøver, og forholdet mellom subjektets øyne i motsetning til kameralinsen: hvor kroppene opptrer med ideen om en luftspeiling. I arbeidet “Same Seine”, undersøker Nina Barnett hva det betyr å møte nye steder og bevegelser, observasjoner og tid som går, hvor fortellingen ikke holdes skjult under huden, men heller er båret frem igjennom den. Arbeidene flørter med begrepene “to decipher” og “to deciet”: målet er undersøke, ikke gjennom språk, men gjennom handling.

Mathijs van Geest (b.1985) 
Through subtle and cryptic traces in the sideline of the everyday, Mathijs van Geest looks for simple ways to question cultural understandings in which established conveniences and materials are re-arranged and re-valued. His practice oscillates between traditional and domestic sculptural techniques, creating a relationship that is both formal and deeply subjective.

 Mathijs van Geest received his BA at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam and his MA at the National Academy of Arts and Design in Bergen in 2011. He has curated and exhibited widely nationally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include I-Traces Ayent Switzerland, Side Effects EKKM Tallinn, Mondays Begin Online Ytter.no and Det Glade Bergen in Bergen. Beside his own practice Mathijs van Geest is part of the artist collaboration Katla. In collaboration with Bjørn Mortensen he runs the small publishing house: Apis Press.
http://www.mathijsvangeest.nl/

Bjorn Mortensen (b. 1977) Often composed of craft-like objects with a home-made aesthetic, which may remind the viewer of utility articles, Bjørn Mortensen’s work readily appropriates the form and dimensions of recognisable domestic objects such as decorative items and ornaments, interior design, tie-dye and flower pots. Formally the work often meditates on the formless and amorphous, crashing with strict and rigid geometric models or architectural components. The work frequently engages in a dialog with (art) history, while underneath the surface, a psychological space of dysfunctionality and repression is lurking.

For this show, Bjørn is planning to show a large landscape painting as a backdrop for an assemblage of objects.

Bjørn Mortensen has recently had Solo shows at Pasatge in Barcelona and Tagteam Studio in Bergen. Most recently he also was part of the parasite exhibition to Bergen Assembly, “Potsyd” in Bergen. Bjørn also runs several small publishing houses including “Apis Press” (w/Mathijs van Geest) and “Sherpa Press”. He also runs the project space “tollbodallmenningen 39” out of his studio, sporadically showing collaborative projects or group exhibitions.
http://www.bjornmortensen.com/

Jake Davidson (b.1986) is an artist based in Brooklyn, NY. He makes objects, interventions, and moving images that encourage indirect, subjective, and minor moments of political realization. He holds a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts and an MFA from Bard College. In 2013 he travelled through Palestine to shoot Elsewhere and Present, a 2 channel video installation that focuses on an intimate relationship alongside Palestine’s telecommunication industry.
http://www.jakedavidson.com/

Christopher Holloran (b.1987) is UK born artist living and working in Amsterdam, NL. His applied mediums range from projection based installations to films and animations but each with a firm basis in exploring hyperreality and derealisation. His new work Fully Functional Family shown at Knipsu combines interviews, sound / video recordings, original rap songs and animations of a one week chance meeting in Berlin between four individuals – the work becomes a recapitulation of a seemingly insignificant week, and how the deception of recollecting memories is all we have to re-live a bygone moment in time.
http://www.holzor.com/
http://vimeo.com/holzor

Robyn Nesbitt (b.1984) and Nina Barnett (b.1983) have been working collaboratively for eight years, mostly at a distance (Barnett currently lives in Chicago, Robyn in Johannesburg) and periodically in close proximity on residencies. Over time, they have begun to describe the collaboration as a “third person”, separate from their individual lives and practices. Their sense of the others presence, when together or apart, makes space for a distinct way of thinking and making. There particular personalities (one subjective and sensitive, the other cerebral and pragmatic) form a necessary duality in the process, and in the work that results. In Experiments in Mirage-Making III (2013) the artists collaborated with Ming-Hwa Yeh, a Taiwanese choreographer and dancer, who placed and directed their bodies within a constructed studio setting. These sequences reflect a silent but palpable connection between the artists and the choreographer – based on an understanding through movement rather than language. The gestures are slow and methodical, and there is an awareness of the third person watching intently behind the camera.
http://www.robynnesbitt.com/
http://coexistent.net/

Nina Barnett (b.1983) is a South African artist currently based in Chicago. She uses drawing, moving image and installation to examine particular landscapes in relation to time and vertical scale. Her work seeks connections between geology, narrative history and the physicality of surfaces, and playfully questions the relationship between theoretical and experienced qualities of site. Same Seine (2009) is about the Parisian river as a sightseer’s construct – this landmark as seen from the vantage point of a map, from one of the city’s 35 bridges or from the deck of a tour boat. In the video, boats filmed from a Paris bridge float in and out of the split screen frame, creating patterns and mesmerizing shapes from their moving forms.
http://ninabarnett.org/

Utstillingen er kuratert av Apichaya Wanthiang for BEK. Den er støttet av BEK, KNIPSU og Bergen Kommune.