Underskog

ION Omni # 7, paper collage, 90 × 60 cm. 2005-2008.

Artist talk by Are Mokkelbost

Are Mokkelbost will present work from his art and music practice. He will be focusing on methodology and the process of developing his current approach to sound- and imagemaking. He will also present some recent public commissions. Key to Are Mokkelbost ́s work in collage, computer drawing, music, stage design and so on, are selfimposed limitations. These formal and conceptual guidelines become elemental in that they rule everything from technique to audience.

From an interview with Elisabeth Rice in Blisss Magazine:

Why do you work with these kinds of limitations?

- To get access to the world and my own talent dormant underneath preference and habit. A lot of current work merely imports subcultural artifacts into the art world. It is a kind of cultural currency speculation where they offer safaris to exotic cultures, without bringing anything back to the source. I am more interested in art as a subculture itself, with specific tools of abstraction and construction of meaning as well as subjective projection. Basically I try to find entry points into existing cultures as well as get around my old ways, and these rules help me with that.

You say that you choose an audience for each of the series? Can you tell me more about that?

- There is no language untainted by its addressee. By addressing the imaginary audiences of children, teenagers and adults instead of a generic art audience, I try to let the work be affected by its imaginary viewer. In music I enjoy the way genres are closed off systems with an internal language and culture – there is a great freedom in that. There are borders to challenge.
(…) So for myself, I need smaller audiences to work for in order to concentrate – and a limited set of preferences, tools and formats. It is a conceptual crutch, basically.

Are Mokkelbost is a member of KILLL, ARM, Single Unit and Juv. Artist website: www.b-o-r-g.org

Open Forum is a series of lectures, presentations, performances and conversations with artists, curators, theorists, authors, musicians etc. initiated and arranged by the Art Academy in Oslo. Open Forum usually takes place every Monday at 19.00 in the Academy’s auditorium at Seilduken, Fossveien 24. Additional Open Forums might occur. The lectures are mainly given in English and are ordinarily rounded off with questions and answers. The event is open for the general public. Welcome!