Sunday, February 7, 2021

On Eternities Tablets - Open Art Advisory

 



PRESS RELEASE


OPENART is pleased to present:


On Eternities Tablets: 

Anne Katrine Senstad




A Virtual Solo Exhibition

Curated by Sarah Walko



November 24 - February 28, 2021



VIDEO Link: Curatorial walk through with Sarah Walko HERE







You cannot legislate music to lockstep nor can you legislate the spirit of the music to stop at political boundaries …Or poetry, or art, or anything that is of value or matters in this world, and the next worlds


Joy Harjo   



Joy Harjo, the current poet laureate of the United States, writes a sets of instructions for the soul in her book of poems Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings. The spirit of myth and the subconscious in everything, her imagery of immense landscapes that fuse with the vast stretches of our hidden mind and the politics of being human through her own experience as an indigenous woman in the US. They float across lands and time in a way that parallels the visual works presented in this exhibition by Norwegian artist Anne Katrine Senstad. The exhibition brings together three bodies of work based on light, space and perception, and investigate interior and exterior horizons. The title is from a Norwegian poet and writer, Hans Børli whose poems Senstad recently found revisiting and drawing on that also traverse eternity, nature and the human condition during crisis.  

Elements III Blue is Senstad’s immersive light installation built of horizontal and vertical blue lights. A space both enclosed and open where the horizon in the distance is absent. Blue in nature makes us think of the sea and the sky. The experiential installation explores how light redefines a space, affects us from the physiological to the philosophical, how we define our “blue,” and define ourselves in vast placeless space. Senstad explains “I wanted to create a matrix of horizontal and vertical expressions of blue light, evoking fractal topologies. In space, distance is the present—the horizon extending far beyond our frame of reference as blue columns of light ascend to the empyrean. I wanted to interpret the idea of blue as a physical environment out of my own curiosity about the emotional, physiological, and scientific phenomena that constitute our concept of color and as we experience it. But also, one lifelong pursuit and desire in my work is to capture the impossible beauty and sensorial properties of color in the abstract.” 



Elements III Blue Video clip - to see the full 10 minute exhibition video piece with sound by C.C. Hennix, please visit the  Open Art Advisory Vimeo page HERE


Borealis Sculptures are Senstad’s color sculptures carrying notions of ephemerality that pervades all of her work but embedded now in a utilitarian plexiglass object of mass production. The shadows cast shades of blues, greens and whites onto the wall, dissolving planes and creating a sense that each piece is hovering just slightly from the surface. The compositions, form and color are minimalist but as you rotate around them new layers of transparent geometric colors create new forms and new colors. In their color, these sculptures reference the northern hemisphere, atmosphere, layers of ice in glaciers, mountains. “As a northern spherical phenomena the Aurora Borealis operates in electrically charged color compositions recorded in our retinal memory, evoking that of a stratospheric elusivity,” Senstad writes. “In these works, I can examine the relationship between ephemerality and spectral luminous shades within concrete planes. By harnessing it onto the physical surface, I objectify and materialize that which cannot be held and reorganize light and color into the folds of the physical. It plays with the transformation of the ephemeral into an entity and a phoneme shaping of time.” 











Borealis no 010, 2020












Borealis No 020, 2020












Borealis No 030, 2020











Cosmosis Collages no 4A5C Composition 01, 2019

scale: 40 x 65 inches, edition of 6

Photographic C print from color film negative











Cosmosis Collages no 4A5C Composition B1B, 2019

scale: 40 x 65 inches, edition of 6

Photographic C print from color film negative










Cosmosis Collages no 4A530 Composition G1, 2019

scale: 40 x 65 inches, edition of 6

Photographic C print from color film negative


Cosmosis Collages is the third final body of photographic works in this exhibition, developed in dialogue with the birth of Senstad's light sculpture installations Elements in 2018. The photographic works are conceptually and politically inspired by early 20th century movements such as the Suprematists and Constructivists. These aesthetics of utopian and scientific ideals that were deeply engaged in experiments in medicine, technology, philosophy, and psychology while simultaneously engaging in concepts of the cosmic universe. Practitioners sought deep spiritual alignment while experiencing the question what is it to be a being in a physical state and how can we master eternity, life, and mortality. 

The title, Cosmosis refers to the idea of experiencing oneness with the universe as a result of these investigations and experiments. Senstad was influenced by these philosophers who sought to conquer "eternity" and become immortal. Senstad explains: "It's been of a great interest to me to examine what drives human activities towards the desire for eternal life as part of my work on ethics and perception, which I find is much of the psychological central underpinnings of the very existence of society. The illusion of vanity can serve as fuel for a forward driving search for new scientific discoveries, creative inventions and technological developments when it is benevolent, yet when it exists as a negative force, it swings the pendulum to a series of unsupportive manifestations such as loss of moral compass, immense greed, and various forms of societal madness such as cultism. One can say that an understanding of internal freedom and oneness with the universe, as in the psychological and emotional state of cosmosis, in various religious and esoteric philosophies, is a form of true attainment of happiness or satisfaction, and is represented as a state of infinite euphoria, a purity of spirit and ecstatic rapture. In eastern thought, we see that the release from all human suffering, and configurations for the path towards ultimate liberation, is the very idea of wealth itself."

We are living in a time of global pandemic, severe climate change crises deeply affecting our blue oceans and worldwide uncertainty of our future. A question that roams from literal to philosophical in all of Senstad’s work is simply where is there and where will there be solid ground to stand on? It is not a question that demands an answer. Like Rainer Maria Rilke’s advice on uncertainty “Do not now strive to uncover answers: they cannot be given to you because you have not been able to live them. And what matters is to live everything. Live the questions for now. Perhaps then you will gradually, without noticing it, live your way into the answer, one distant day in the future.” 

It is this journey through the universe that Senstad’s work takes us on to ultimately end up delivering us back to ourselves, facing our own horizons, within this massive universe in which we are connected to it all. It is a reminder to not carry the questions, but to live them into infinity.











Cosmosis Collages no 4A577 Composition 12, 2019

scale: 40 x 65 inches, edition of 6

Photographic C print from color film negative




 Cosmosis Collages 427.4A7 video sequence, 2020


















Cosmosis Collage 427.4A7 – Composition no 204, 2018

Size: 32 x 44 inches. 

Edition of 6

Photographic C print from color film negative



















Cosmosis Collage 6A42.2 – Composition no 1C2, 2018
Size: 32 x 44 inches.
Edition of 6
Photographic C Print from collaged color film negatives




Cosmosis Collage 1010 – Composition no 1B, 2018

Size:50 x 60 inches. 

Edition of 6




Left: Cosmosis Collage 4A531220 – Composition no 20, 2018

Size: 40 x 65 inches. 

Edition of 6


Right: Cosmosis Collage 4A52.1B.220 – Composition no 7B, 2018

40 x 65 inches. 

Edition of 6



 
For inquires & press information:
info@openartadvisory.com

For sales inquires:
Christine Lee
christine@openartadvisory.com
+917.224.0680
www.openartadvisory.com

Images courtesy of the artist.

 

 

 


 

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

CENTERPOINT NOW - Are We There Yet?

CENTERPOINT NOW - Are We There Yet?

A new issue of Centerpoint, marking the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, now available in hard copy, limited edition, and online. 

(Click here to flip through the book digitally)

CENTERPOINT NOW is a World Council for Peoples of the UN publication (WCPUN) that highlights issues on the agenda of the international community, with a view to showcasing the extraordinary diversity of ways in which the UN’s values and objectives can be promoted and implemented.

Editor-in-Chief and Executive Director of WCPUN: Shamina de Gonzaga. Senior Editor: Nina Colosi.

To order the book: Centerpointnow@wcpun.org


Senstad's short film UTOPIE/UTOPIA with acclaimed actor Bill Sage and audio management by JG Thirlwell, is presented in the groundbreaking WCPUN book Centerpoint Now - Are We There Yet? published on the occasion of the UN's 75th anniversary and seeks to raise awareness to critical issues of sustainability, gender equality, global warming and human rights in context of politics, ethics, science and technology through the language of educational, creative and cultural productions.


"Art is the universal communicator of complex ideas" 

Astronaut Nicole Scott. 

 

























Music for Plutocracy - S12 Gallery

 

MUSIC FOR PLUTOCRACY 
S12 Gallery, Bergen, Norway

With a sound environment by JG Thirlwell

January 16 - March 28, 2021

Music for Plutocracy presents Senstad's 5th spatial neon sculpture, color and sound environment with sound composed by JG Thirlwell. This time in the city of Bergen, Norway contextualizing contemporary critical issues during our historic times; social and civil rights, capitalism and inequality, ethics and value systems in the contemporary political, technological and spiritual realms. Music for Plutocracy is part of Senstad's long term research project entitled Capitalism in the Public Realm, that started with Gold Guides Me, a monumental text work commissioned by the Bruges Art and Architecture Triennale in Belgium, 2015, How We Live Together, Yi Gallery, NY, 2020 and 4 short films created during the pandemic in 2020-21 collaboration with acclaimed actor Bill Sage and audio management by JG Thirlwell screened in context with Senstad's solo exhibition How We Live Together and as part of the exhibition Arts New Natures on Streamingmuseum.org. A presentation of Senstad's short film UTOPIE/UTOPIA is also included in the book CENTERPOINT NOW - Are We There Yet? published by WCPUN (World Council for Peoples of the United Nations) on the occasion of the UN's 75th Anniversary.




Now you can see, my son, how ludicrous and brief are all the goods in Fortune’s ken,

which humankind contend for: you see from this how all the gold there is beneath the moon, or that there ever was, could not relieve one of these weary souls.

 

Inferno, Canto VII, 4th Circle: Plutus

Dante  Alighieri, (1263 – 1321)

 

 

 

Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy. 

 

Aristophanes, Plutus (388 B.C.)



With generous support from Fond for Lys og Bilde/Norsk Kulturråd , BKV/NBK and Foundation Center for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant













































Artist Talk - Music for Plutocracy at S12 Gallery

 












Music for Plutocracy Review - BT

 https://www.bt.no/kultur/i/dlL5Jq/straalande-lyskjelder?fbclid=IwAR3UbpYbcIm7pN-9Z8EjzU7EgMFAhh43RRtt_JQq8lN7DCFmgeBQTmemNTs



















«Music for Plutocracy»

• Kunstutstilling

• Kunstnar: Anne Katrine Senstad og med musikk/lydbilete av JG Thrilwell.

• Stad: S12 Galleri og Verksted, Bontelabo 2

• Utstillingsperiode: 16.01.2021-28.03.2021





















Strålande lyskjekler av Renate Rivedal


S12 Galleri gjer det igjen – inviterer inn ein spanande og klok kunstnar som leikar seg i utstillingsrommet, mitt einaste problemet er at eg vil ha meir! Det kjennest ut som eg har smugkikka inn, og no lengtar eg etter meir lys, meir farge, meir neon. For neonlysa til kunstnar Anne Katrin Senstad er langt ifrå bråkete reklameskilt, det kjennest meir ut som om ein går inn i eit helande rom.


Det er noko digg og urbant, leikent og fargerikt over neonlys. Bergens Tidenes reklameskilt vakande over Torgallmenningen, Else Kåss sin gedigne McDonalds «M» hoverande over senga, Kanye West sin «Flashing Lights», amerikanske diners, glowsticks, rave og Euphoria.


Det smakar av ny tid og framtidsutsikter, men òg nostalgi, masseproduksjon og overforbruk. Det er både tiltrekkande og fråstøytande. Som ein vel-manikyrert, neonrosa peikefinger som lokkar deg til seg, før du blir blenda av digre bokstavar som skrik: KJØP! KJØP!


Anne Katrine Senstad sin installasjon er derimot langt ifrå bråkete reklameskilt, det kjennest meir ut som ein går inn i ein stilrein arkitektonisk komposisjon. At ein kjenner noko godt strømme ut av verket og inn i sinnet.

Det er som å bevege seg inn i eit stringent tempel eller ein sakral katedral. Installasjonen hennar består av tynne neonlysrøyr i ulike skarpe fargar som er festa til 10 blanke akrylsøyler. Langs veggane heng det blå og rosaraude lysrøyr som dannar store innramma felt. Om ein kjem tett innpå akrylsøylene speglar den blanke overflata seg i nettet av lysrøyr i rommet, og gjenskinet av travle vegar av energi blir vist.


Installasjonen har òg ein musikalsk dimensjon, der komponist JG Thirlwells lydbilete omsluttar verket. «Soundscape» eller lydlandskapet som er komponert særskilt til verket bølgar opp og ned i intensitet.

Av og til høyrest det ut som buldrande is, andre gongar som godteri som sprakar i munnen. Kunstverket er femte utgåve i ein serie som har blitt vist verda rundt frå Shenzhen i Kina, Jeddah i Saudi-Arabia, Tallinn i Estland, New York i USA, og no i Bergen ved S12 Galleri.


Materiale og den tradisjonelle bruken av neonlys vert ofte sett i samband med masseproduksjon, sal og reklame. Og i starten var det nettopp det som var formålet, lysande reklameskilt i Los Angeles som etter legenda faktisk skal ha stoppa trafikken i 1923.


Seinare trykte kunstnarar neongassen til sitt bryst, og i seinare tid er det gjerne «Light and Space Movement» som hadde sitt virke i California på 1960- og 70-talet som er mest kjende for sin leik med lys og eit minimalistisk geometrisk formspråk. Og det er i den meir moderne tradisjonen ein kan sjå Senstad sitt formspråk samstundes som ein kan trekke linjene langt tilbake i tid til meir klassiske byggverk.


Kunstnaren sjølv omtalar kunsten sin som både persepsjonskunst og kritisk samfunnskunst. Utstillinga kan altså sjåast på fleire plan. Ein kan oppleve den som ei reint estetisk oppleving, med sine reine fargerike flater og sin innbydande arkitektoniske form. Eller ein kan gå eit steg vidare og prøve å definere sanseinntrykka, tolke fargane og lyset sin påverknadskraft på mennesket. Korleis visuelle impulsar påverkar oss, og vårt daglege fysiske miljø. Kva fargar eigentleg gjer for oss, eller på den andre sida, kva fargar kan ta ifrå oss. Tittelen på verket «Music for Plutocracy» viser korleis kunstnaren leikar med ord. For «Musikk for plutokratiet» står i eit motsetningsforhold til det fysiske verket. Eit plutokrati er eit samfunn som er styrt av ein liten minoritet av dei mest velståande innbyggarane.


Men installasjonen som møter oss er det motsette, eit demokratisk verk, der vi som betraktar vert invitert inn i verket. Avstanden ein finn mellom eit klassisk oljemåleri på veggen og mennesket, er i Senstad sitt verk viska ut. Du vert ikkje lenger berre ein betraktar eller berre ein gjest på galleriet, men du går inn og blir ein del av verket. Og det er noko særskilt med kunst som ein kan tre inn i og verte ein del av. Opplevinga her vert forsterka av følelsen av å kjenne lyset som eit konkret objekt. Eg opplevde ei erkjenning av lys og farge som eg ofte ikkje er bevisst. Dei blanke søylene kunne for meg også reflektere menneskjeforma.


Som dei straumfarande partiklane som flyttar seg gjennom lysrøra, flyttar våre eigne celler seg rundt i kroppen vår, søylene vert som eit ekko av menneskje. Det einaste eg kunne ynskje å endre på ved utstillinga «Music for Plutocracy» er at eg ynskjer meg meir av den.