7/2/2013
Kurt Johannessen
NoOsphere, New York
Eat. As artistic form, Johannessen's performances contain clear minimalist elements, for there is a repetition of forms, actions, and geometrical and symmetrical structures.
Audun Eckhoff, Director of The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, writes: “As symbolic action, performance art – already in its expressive form – carries clear associations with rites and cultic practices. For many performance artists, the shaman stands as a cultural prototype: he is the initiated figure who performs cultic acts, the chosen medium between a god and its followers. Marina Abramovic’s many physically challenging actions can easily be associated with this tradition, in which the artistic performance appropriates features from propitiatory sacrifices. Joseph Beuys’ performances have also been characterized as rites, but on a transformed plane permeated with symbols. (…)
As artistic form, Kurt Johannessen’s performances contain clear minimalist elements, for there is a repetition of forms, actions, and geometrical and symmetrical structures. As historical form, Minimalism appeared in American art in the early 1960s, as a reaction against expressive art, the sort that claimed for itself intense or uniquely meaningful content. Yet Minimalism proved to be a useful tool for subsequent generations, not only as a means for reducing meaning and symbolic content, but also as a carrier of meaning and a tool for constructing new meaning. Through subdued and repetitive forms, minimalist strategies could help to establish a new credibility, on account of their reduced presumptuousness.”
EAT
ETE, the Norwegian leg of the EAT project, took place July 7, 2012, during Rosendal Food & Art Festival: 29 people ate original drawings of various wild animals. Each participant chose an image hand-drawn by Kurt Johannessen. The drawings were served on a cracker made into a meal accompanied by cheese, omelet, herbs, salad and spices, etc. Some images from the book documenting this event are available here. For EAT, Johannessen will hang similar, original drawings of wild animals in grid format throughout the gallery. Patrons who purchase these works will consume them on site while the artist photographs them in the act of eating. A printout of this digital image, which will also be emailed to the buyer, replaces the disappeared drawing on the wall, and so the exhibition will slowly change form over the course of three weeks.
THE ARTIST
Born 1960 in Norway, Johannessen has worked with performance, artist’s books, video and installations since the early eighties. His work is minimalist and poetic, at times with a touch of humour. He is his own publisher and has produced more than 60 books, many of them translated into English. The books vary from just one sentence to short stories or just pictures. He has created 200 different performances and has presented his work extensively in Europe, as well as in some countries in Asia and America. In 2007, he had a major, partly retrospective exhibition at the Bergen Art Museum featuring installation, video and performances. See www.zeth.no for more info.
Kurt Johannessen will be on-site Feb 8-10 to personally serve his creations to the public throughout the first weekend of the show.
Opening Reception: Friday, Feb 8, 6-8pm