Helena Persson (SE)
Textkonst
5.8. – 23.8.2009
Galleria Huuto Uudenmaankatu
TextKonst V 2009 proudly presents three-dimensional works from the borders of text and images, by Helena Persson, a Swedish, Malmö-based artist.
In this comprehensive exhibition, communication as well as its articulated and unarticulated messages are being discussed.
Communication theory deals with concepts such as sender and receiver. The former sends to the latter a message that can be analyzed. But what happens if the analysis is based on the prerequisites the sender and the receiver have for developing their actions? What will happen if the analysis focuses on the identities of the sender and the receiver? And what if communication runs into the rocks, and both the sender and the receiver are left alone?
In addition to discussing all this, the works raise questions about participation and the urge to participate.
Today there are several places, such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, where different forms of identities can be defined. As a way of forming an identity, this is not unlike defining oneself in relation to literature or a selection of literary works and the press.
”Små feta stammares bibliotek” (“The Library of the Fat Little Stutterers”) is a work in which the writer is the sender, and the reader is the receiver. At some points, the message is clearly distinguishable, but what the work really tries to capture is the hidden message.
In ”Fingerklot” (“Finger Sphere”), an active receiver is looking for information and drawing conclusions from internet journals. A simple combination of Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V enables anyone to quickly turn other people’s work into their own. The respect for original texts soon becomes a self-launched miscellany originating from personal needs. Is this a sign of a need to control others, or perhaps sensationalism?
The work ”Twitterprinter” (“Twitter Printer”), a mutated printer with tiny needles, also refers to the internet. Metaphorically but uncontrollably, the printer drains its contents.
A work with piled sculptures of heads, ”Läsarna” (“The Readers”), leads us towards a form of receiving that strives for understanding in a slow, laborious, and deep manner. The heads are captured in their private dialogue with a message that functions as a kind of a Matrix system. Do they represent a receiver who is not a part of the sender/receiver model, and thus cannot be seen as a part of a dialogue based on these prerequisites? Is the material world about to escape? Have these piled heads been beheaded; or have the deaths been personal decisions? Are art and literature really running away; or is it all about a deeper reality?
Additional information:
Helena Persson
tel. +46 736218435
Helena.Persson.MB(at)pub.malmo.se
This event has been organized by Marina Ciglar, Kimmo Kumela, Virve Lukka, Pasi Mälkiä, and Tapio Tuominen.
TextKonst is an ongoing project started in 2005 by Galleria Huuto (Marina Ciglar), among others. It presents, encourages, and enhances cooperation between artists and poets who work on the borders between text and image, and literature and art, in both Finland and Sweden.
