Underskog

Opening at 19:00
Podium, Hausmannsgate 34, Oslo

Saturday & Sunday 15.00 – 20.00

It starts with a story, you become witness of small confessions by unknown or pixilated protagonists
under psychological duress.

Narve Hovdenakk´s work seems to be responsible for bringing forward the ugly truth. No doubt, this
is a difficult task because the emotional landscapes he depicts are not pretty. Watching his disturbing
and unsettling videos- part portraits, part confessions- it is hard to understand the artist’s
connection, his personal involvement with the ”confessors”, which leaves a gap in your understanding
and produces a further sense of unease.
At the same time, he makes the most of the viewer’s presumed familiarity with the portrayal of crime,
violence, and law enforcement on entertainment television, in order to address a range of disquieting
aspects of human nature. This eminently recognizable mode of address allows him to explore a wide
range of challenging, topical subjects.

Hovdenakk´s videos have the quality of a traumatic memory revealed. But it is not only the
psychological terrain mapped that is interesting, nor the disclosure of what was previously considered
private and in the closet. It is the way he gives the viewer a sense of his own political, ethical, moral,
existential dilemmas; the way he is testing our own limits by rigorously addressing our weaknesses,
preconceptions and innermost fears. In this case, the artist seems less interested in moral orthodoxies
than in personal trials of one’s living.

At the heart of his practice though, one finds a distinctive attitude towards exposing the premises of
social antagonism and readiness to incorporate conflict into his work by stirring up controversy. The
narratives he employs broach taboos and weaves into thick plaint violence, psychical as much as
emotional, male sexuality, repression and transgression that borders on perversion and criminal
offense. This work revolves around boundaries, parameters and social codes. It tackles the issue of
accepted behavior in the society; the eternal battle of good versus evil that has been turned upside
down; the collision of the social and the emotional, the personal and the public.

At the end of the day, the most pressing question is how to live your life. And this is difficult to
answer, because like the ´Exotica´ club owner said in the movie: ”the customers are feeling
uncomfortable”.

Text: Xenia Kalpaktsoglou. Co-director of Athens Biennale

Supported by Art Council Norway.