amvirke

SENTRAL PERIFERI / SAMVIRKE

 

The exhibition resumes the collaboration of the artists Seifried / Ravenstein from Germany and Rognskog / Eckhoff from Norway, based on a work exchange at the fishing village of Veiholmen on the northwestern coast of Norway.

 

Common feature of the four artists’ practice within this project is the use of thrown away material from the fishing village. Seifried / Ravenstein have collected wooden planks and boards that have been lying outside and around the houses for years. Rogsnkog / Eckhoff have made use of sorted out furniture and objects from inside the houses.

 

Looking close the way of working and the processing of the material are diametrically opposed. In Seifried / Ravenstein's work "Sentral Periferi", on display as photographic documentation, the material is strictly processed, cut to a calculated, precise construction. In Rognskog / Eckhoffs works the joints seem to be structured more randomly within a spatial frame defined by walls.

 

In the sculpture of Seifried / Ravenstein the relationship between nature and culture becomes evident in the form of a rigid manmade structure build of decomposed organic material. It recalls Sol Levitt conceptual minimalism, but from the utmost distance: after the artists' temporary restructuring of the material, the sculpture has again been released to nature’s influence at the western cape of the Island.

The intention of Rognskog / Eckhoff is to put their installation into a feminist tradition with references to quilts and crafts, work that has been considered through the years to lay within the women's domains. This is enhanced by the sound of a sewing machine that runs monotonously and steadily in the gallery space.

 

By reusing everyday materials and objects, the works place themselves into a long tradition from Assemblage to Arte Povera (Poor Art) - art forms that occurred during the 50s and 60s, and which made use of worthless objects and everyday materials. This hoping to undermine the institutional art practice which tended to have a tradition of exalting art. In the current situation with major environmental problems, one can see the artists' practice of reuse as a value choice and political stance: reduced consumption in order to promote sustainable development.

Recycling and up-cycling have been practiced on Veiholmen long before those terms had the significance they have today.

 

 

 

SAMVIRKE

Heidi Rognskog and Mona Eckhoff

 

By the installation titled "Look for it at the chamber-attic in the large dresser right next to the green closet in the middle drawer under the fishhook box ... there ... ", the artists want to tell a story about houses, rooms, moving and most of all about memory. From the beginning of their collective work they used the techniques of collage and assemblage of found objects and materials. Objects someone got rid of either because they were not useful anymore or had been expired; objects, that should be deleted from memory to be replaced by the applicable standards of some new time. The installation refers to the women’s practice at the resident fishing village at midwinter when the storms were raging most violently out on the sea and the men were out fishing for months at a time.

 

In their art practice they reflect on their family roots at Veiholmen, but also draw experience from completely different sources as art education and urban life at Czechia, Bergen or Düsseldorf. Rognskog and Eckhoff are currently living in Oslo, running the Samvirke guest studio and gallery at Veiholmen periodically. They are curators of the triennial Nordic art project RASK (filth). Together with other artists they are travelling to small fishing communities in the Nordic countries to work there for a period. By lectures and exhibitions they try to explore the potential meaning of contemporary art for small and marginalized communities.

 

 

 

SENTRAL PERIFERI

Katja van Ravenstein and Volker Seifried about their project:

 

In situ

Sentral Periferi is meant as a site-specific work in more than just one way. It has been inspired from our early visits on the Internet. First we saw rarely more than a few rocks in the midst of the Atlantique Ocean, but looking closer we realized that most parts of it were covered with wooden constructions. Wood seems to be the material to make this rocky Island accessible. Besides the houses, boathouses and boats there is runways, landings and bridges to cross or reach the water, but no trees.

We decided to go for wood as material and to use only the thrown away or left aside boards and planks we would find. By assembling the wood we would also collect the different colors of the Island. We decided to go for a construction alike the practical ways of constructing things in everyday life. A rigid but irregular shaped grid, resembling a stage or rack, that would deal with the double image of crossing a piece of landscape and the formation of the surrounding landscape itself as a product of structure and chance.

Samvirke 2014

On site, equipped with digital drawings, a model and a tight time schedule we had to reconsider and change step by step some of the formal decisions taken beforehand. Mainly there had been some concessions to be made according to the spatial conditions, which in the end turned out to be very welcome. The shape the piece now has is literally due to the conditions we have found.

The Cape 2015

To finish this project we are happy to place sentral periferi at the western cape of the Island. By elongating the wooden grid downwards partly we have been able to place it in balance over the rocky ground. By the means of putting back respectfully the material we have taken, merely in a different state of composition. The further story of this piece will be up to the wind, the rain and the waves.