Frontpage   Malene Vest Hansen: Nordic Horizontalism: Politicized Positions on Everyday Life EVERYDAY LIFE IS ONCE MORE HIGH ON THE ARTISTIC AGENDA. As in the 1960s and 1970s, many artists are concerned with the "real" world, looking beyond the "pure", aesthetic sphere of art. Their art, typically conceptually based, is characterized by the use of "non-artistic" materials and media. They work with installations, industrially-produced materials and especially with documentary media such as photography and video, often in a deliberately amateurish way. In short, their work is intended to communicate and create debate rather than encourage individual and private, aesthetic contemplation. There is talk of a recurring politicization of art. The art in question is not in opposition to the established art system, however. Conceptualism has become profoundly and internationally institutionalized in what art historian Rosalind Krauss has named the "age of the Post-Medium Condition".i The politicization is not about radical criticism of the art institution but rather about artistic articulation of cultural shifts in the conception of identity, place and social spheres, including that of the art world. The art institution is viewed as a place for discourse and a platform for criticism and self-criticism. Often art institutions even invite artists to formulate critical positions. Conceptualism ­ in its diverse manifestations ­ is in focus on the international art scene. Artists travel like never before and have access to art produced elsewhere in the world through traveling exhibitions, the media, and to a great extent through personal contacts made via the Internet, international biennials and visits abroad ­ often visits of extended duration and, in the case of Nordic artists, usually state-subsidized. The art world of today somewhat resembles the "global village" proclaimed by McLuhan in the 1960s. But quite paradoxically ­ or perhaps as a consequence of this ­ the proximity to and direct contact with international currents is accompanied by an emphasis on local identity. The interest in regional characteristics and multi-cultural differences has led to a sharper focus on art scenes outside the formerly dominant areas. The Nordic countries, for example, have attracted great international attention. The Nordic art scene presents and examines itself in exhibitions, books and periodicals, such as the recently published collection of contemporary Nordic artists' writings, entitled We are All Normal (and we want our freedom). ii These artistic manifestations raise questions such as: What characterizes Nordic art? How does the Nordic welfare model make itself felt? What critical positions can the practice of art offer in the discussion of changing societies? Is there a specifically Nordic form of artistic expression? Do artworks reflect place and ethnicity? An exhibition such as CLOCKWISE: New Contemporary Nordic Art in no way answers these questions. But this small selection of works by artists living in the Nordic region offers insights into the cultural shifts that are taking place in our part of the world. "The political is personal." This version of a feminist political slogan of the 1970s ­ "the personal is political" ­ could serve as a heading for one of the strategies presented in CLOCKWISE. Simone Aaberg Kærn has distinguished herself as an artist who became a trained pilot and in her art represents women pilots ­ a profession usually thought of as typically male, even in the Nordic region which prides itself on gender equality. In the documentary video Taraneh Aims for the Stars we meet a woman from "real life": Taraneh (Akram Monfared Arya) from Stockholm who is running in the national election as a representative for the socialdemocratic party. Her path has been long and winding, starting in Iran where ­ as a mother of five ­ she became the first-ever woman pilot in Iran. In Sweden she initially worked nearer the ground: she managed a pizzeria and worked as a check-out girl in a supermarket. Now she is aiming high again, this time within the political sphere. The brief summary of her life shows us a unique individual who, due to drastic political change, has had to make radical choices concerning her personal life. At the same time it touches on general aspects of choice in contemporary identity formation. In a post-traditional society where passed-down models for living are no longer accepted as a matter of course, the single individual must "create" his or her own identity, confronted with an ever-growing number of (daily) choices on all levels, from that of profession, partner and sexuality to styles of dressing and eating. And for some, even the more radical, enforced choice of country and culture. The processes of globalization change the conditions of life and have a profound influence on the individual's perception of self. Conversely, global strategies are affected by the "self-realization" and daily choices of individuals ­ whether they are aware of this or not. These everyday identity processes have been termed "life style politics" by the British sociologist Anthony Giddens. Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen's video likewise examines the local/global shifts in the everyday life of women. This Danish artist returned to her place of birth, the Philippines, where she photographed her grandmother. In her video, the two women ­ the photographed and the photographing ­ are seen in contrast: two generations of the same family but from different parts of the world, with different attitudes to religious rituals and tradition. Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen's video contrasts scenes of personal family history with an "ethnographic" point of view. Colonel's works openly comment on identity problems related to cultural differences and definitions ­ in the art world as well as in the public sphere. He examines visibility as well as inner and outer identity through his unusual handling of garments. In the series Imperméables, garde robe retrospectif, this approach provides the basis for exploring artworks (canvas, frame etc.) and artistic identity ­ while in his videos he adopts an "ethnographic strategy", using the documentary genre ironically, as a cultural identity trickster. The art scene is also treated ironically in Gallery Champions League. With deliberate amateurism, Amel Ibrahimovic intervenes in photographs of famous soccer teams. The faces of the sports stars have been replaced by known faces from the art world, so that these small, "humble" pictures offer a critical perspective on the game-playing of the art world ­ commercialization, competition, career-chasing, contacts, fame, stardom ­ perhaps even the delivering of entertainment. Photography is often the preferred medium because of its mythological status as a "direct reference to the real world". As is well-known, however, photographs are never neutral recordings of reality. Some use the documentary genre for its seductive, realistic effects but also examine themes and problems of the genre itself ­ as do the artists mentioned above. Others, for example Torbjørn Rødland from Norway and Jouko Lehtola from Finland, have a less problem-oriented relationship with photography as a medium. Lehtola's portraits depict excessively tatooed Finns and map out local subcultures in a classical social-documentary style. Rødland's series of photographs lean more towards the "artistic" portrait and are formally framed. But Rødland, too, has found "exotic" motifs within a local subculture. Norwegian death-metal musicians ­ who claim to posses the dark, macho powers of Norse mythology ­ are lined up and portrayed against the Norwegian landscape. So, although these images may not challenge photography as a genre, they do challenge conventional notions of Nordic nature/culture. Heavy symbolism is also found in installations by Marco Evaristti and Khaled D. Ramadan, containing references to South-American drug trafficking and to literal signs of American global dominance. And lastly, a work which seems to stand apart from the other variations on "social realism" and ethnographic strategies, Melek Mazici's poetic installation Reflections. In its dark, watery surface we see a reflection ­ perhaps of ourselves. With CLOCKWISE ­ New Contemporary Nordic Art, the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art ­ in keeping with the present tendency of art institutions generally ­ has asked a number of artists to present projects that reflect different ways of relating to the Nordic region as a cultural field ­ positions in art that may encourage further reflection and discussion, and thus in a small way contribute to what the Argentinian philosopher Ernesto Laclau has described as the major task facing us today, if democracy is to be preserved, "To transform the forms of identification and construction of subjectivity that exist in our civilization." iii Malene Vest Hansen, Ph.D., Art Critic and Ass. Research Professor in Contemporary Art, Copenhagen University i Rosalind Krauss, A Voyage on the North Sea: Art in the Age of the Post-Medium Condition, 2000 ii Katya Sander and Simon Sheikh (ed.), We are All Normal (and we want our freedom): A collection of contemporary Nordic artists¹ writings, Black Dog Publishing, London 2001. iii Ernesto Laclau, "Building a New Left" in New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time, London 1990, p. 190. Stine Høholt: Clockwise - New Nordic Contemporary Art: Einleitung [DE] Clockwise - New Nordic Contemporary Art - Introduction [EN] Clockwise - Ny nordisk samtidskunst - Introduktion [DAN] Tomas Ivan Träskman: Exile on Main Street [DE] Exile on Main Street [EN] Exile on Main Street [SVE] Malene Vest Hansen: Nordic Horizontalism: Politisierte Positionen zum Alltag [DE] Nordic Horizontalism: Politicized Positions on Everyday Life [EN] Horisontalt nordisk: politiserede hverdagspositioner [DAN] A CATALOGUE has been published on Clockwise exhibition. 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