Lars Laumann: Kompendium
27.11.15 – 14.02.16
The exhibition Lars Laumann: Compendium with the Norwegian artist Lars Laumann shows selected video works from 2006 to the present day. Laumann is one of Norway's most recognized artists internationally, but most of his works have rarely been shown in Norway. Kunstnernes Hus is proud to host the artist's mid-career retrospective after he has been shown at prestigious institutions such as MoMA and the New Museum in New York, as well as Kunsthalle Basel and Tate Modern. Through filming, editing and combining found material and experienced narratives, Laumann creates a form of virtuoso film collages with an extensive gallery of people. The collaboration with artists, filmmakers and musicians leaves a decisive mark on the result. The artist draws his inspiration from the fringes of popular culture and explores people and phenomena that exist on the outskirts of society. With a global view of both popular cultural icons and contemporary political conditions, he illuminates the more complex forces in our culture.
About the exhibition
The exhibition includes works such as Morrissey Foretelling the Death of Diana (2006), a montage of existing film clips that develops into a conspiratorial and labyrinthine tale of two popular culture icons. The exhibition also includes Laumann's much-discussed work The Berlin Wall, which was created for the fifth Berlin Biennale in 2008. The work, which takes a closer look at issues related to animism and object-related sexuality, has been given a new spatial articulation at Kunstnernes Hus, which includes both film and objects . The video work Prima, Sekunda, Afrika! was made in collaboration with the artist Kjersti G. Andvig in connection with the Constitution Jubilee in 2014. The film, which is based on Norwegian and African coastal culture with a focus on the export of Norwegian dried fish, constitutes an odyssey through the very different environments in Norway and West Africa that arise around this industry. The collaboration with Benjamin A. Huseby, You Can't Pretend to be Somebody Else, You Already Are (2009-2011), based on the singer Nico's autobiography, is also shown in the exhibition Kompedium.
Several of Laumann's earlier works deal with themes such as obsession, sexuality and marginalized existence. His latest film, Season of Migration to the North (2015), follows the same tracks and at the same time connects to highly topical issues surrounding migration, refugee policy and LGBTQ+ rights. In the work, Eddie Ismael tells his story after arriving in Norway as a refugee from Sudan. As a parallel story, the diary notes of Ruth Maier, who came as an Austrian refugee to Norway during the Second World War, are retold. The film thus acquires a dimension that connects the present to history and the international to the local.
Cecilia Lopez, a composer from Argentina based in New York, has together with Laumann created the music for the artist's latest film. Lopez performs her work RED at 9PM on the opening night, in the Auditorium.
The exhibition is curated by Ida Kierulf and Mats Stjernstedt.
