Foreword

Kunstnernes Hus has great pleasure in presenting an exhibition featuring a wide range of works from the artists Mauricio Dias and Walter Riedweg's diverse and abundant production. A few of their works have previously been shown in Norway: one of the videos was included in the exhibition Populism at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Oslo and an earlier version of Juksa from 2006 was shown at the Lofoten International Art Festival (LIAF) and the Mørke Nu festival in Bodø. But never before has such a alrge selection of their works been shown at one venue here in Norway.

The exhibition is curated by our new artistic director Maaretta Jaukkuri and this is her first project at Kunstnernes Hus.

Mauricio Dias and Walter Riedweg from Brazil and Switzerland respectively, have worked together since 1993. They currently live in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In her essay, Maaretta Jaukkuri writes that Dias and Riedweg's art adresses issues related to integration and how we live together, to the media and to our relationship to public spaces. The two artists are well known for their social commitment and for their focus on marginalised and unseen groups such as street children in Brazil, male prostitutes in Spain and convicts in a North American prison. Their works always have a political sting in their tale but are never the less poetic and visually appealing and span a large variety of times and places.

One of the projects on exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus, Juksa, from 2006 is a video work filmed on a small island off the coast of Norway near Bodø. In this work, the artists reveal the Norwegian landscapein all its grandeur and a coastal community undergoing rapid change. As in many of their other works, Dias and Riedweg allow us to share the fates of individual people and see them in the context of social upheavals on a larger scale. The work has been specially adapted for the exhibition space at Kunstnernes Hus.

Another work featured at the exhibition stems from a different culture entirely: the video work Funk Staden was originally created for Documenta 12 in Kassel in 2007 and was filmed in a poor district of Rio de janeiro (Favela). The people in the film are engaged in a mesmerising ritual, a kind of reconstruction of the South American Indians' cannibalistic sacrificial cult as described by a 16th century German explorer named Hans Staden.

The geographical, cultural and historical distance between the coastal culture in Northern Norway and the favelas in Rio and a German explorer says a great deal about the wide scope and generosity of Dias and Riedweg's art. Their installations can make phenomena that at first appear distant and hidden seem both near and related. It is therefore very fitting that the first exhibition of our new programme profile should feature works by Dias and Riedweg.

For Kunstnernes Hus is in a period of change and aims to be an poen and inclusive institution that can contribute to the public debate, arrange interesting exhibitions and create a fruitful atmosphere for both the public, our staff and the participating artists alike. We intend to present exhibitions that provide the public with new experiences and the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and gain new insight into the art idioms of today and from the recent past. In this context, the exhibition Same Time Elsewhere by Dias and Riedweg is a good opportunity for the public to see top quality art at close hand and we look forward to presenting further exhibitions and events as part of the new and dynamicprofile at Kunstnernes Hus.

I would like to thank Maaretta Jaukkuri and the rest of the staff at Kunstnernes Hus who have worked hard and determinately to bring about this exhibition. I should also like to thank our main sponsor SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken) for their invaluable support. In 2008, we signed a collaborative agreement with SEB that will give us more scope and heighten the quality of our activities. Last but bnot least, I extend thanks to the artists Mauricio Dias and Walter Riedweg for the goodwill and enthusiasm they have shown for this project throughout our collaboration with them.

Geir Harald Samuelsen
Chariman of the Board
Kunstnernes Hus