SAMMEN/TOGETHER
20 July–23 September 2012
Trondheim Kunstmuseum
TKM Bispegata
Bispegata 7b
7018 Trondheim, Norway
SAMMEN/TOGETHER is an international exhibition examining aspects of human communality in an age of cultural divide and conflict. SAMMEN wants to be propaganda for the good, standing in the shadow of evil. It intends to be a call for other human fellowships than those based on nation or ethnicity. Contributing artists are Sergey Bratkov (RUS), COMPANY (FIN/KOR), AK Dolven (NOR/UK), Nina Fischer & Maroan El-Sani (GER), Leif Holmstrand (SWE), Preben Holst (NOR/DEN), Sanna Kannisto (FIN), Nikolai Bendix Skyum Larsen (DEN/UK), Henrietta Lehtonen (FIN), Ernesto Neto (BRA), Rivane Neuenschwander (BRA), Adrian Paci (ALB/ITA), and YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES (KOR/US). The exhibition is curated by the director of Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Pontus Kyander.
The exhibition SAMMEN/TOGETHER approaches human communality on a variety of levels. Society and most human existence is based on some sort of communality, the more sophisticated the society, the more invisible and intrinsic does this communality seem to become. Our lives are woven into one texture, which we sometimes hardly notice and therefore take for granted. Until—for instance—disaster strikes. Suddenly we are moved back to the fundamentals of our lives. The sheer facts of being alive, of sharing pain, loss, uncertainty, despair, hope. For a moment we are forced together under one huge shared experience. We did not ask for it, we did not expect it. It came uninvited.
The exhibition SAMMEN/TOGETHER deals with basic human conditions like life and death from very general and fundamental aspects. By approaching these issues, the exhibition wants to address our need to build hope, to construct images and symbols that can be used as tools to come to grips with our most painful experiences. It is sometimes said that people die for a cause, and that they die for the living. But it is more certain that those alive are forced to live for the dead.
The exhibition SAMMEN/TOGETHER is also intended as a manifestation against nationalism, ethnocentrism, and religious dogmatism in an age that sees one brutal act after the other being committed in the names of nation, ethnicity, and religion. It gives above all voice for an open and inclusive society. This approach is not an indication of how any of the individual works should or even could be understood—at least none of the works can be reduced and simplified in this way. It is rather an indication of the perspective from which it has been initiated, which deliberately wants to stand out as a manifestation for the good in humanity and society, in a time when propaganda for destruction, dehumanization, and exclusion of groups and individuals has become commonplace even in regular newspapers.
The intention of the exhibition is to look forward, to invigorate hope, to trigger a critical discussion on issues particularly of nation and nationality. It speaks for human values and shared humanity. It will be a dignified exhibition, but it also wants to challenge and influence. It is propaganda for the good.
Program
The exhibition opens on 20 July at 7pm.
On Saturday 21 July at 1pm, Trondheim Kunstmuseum holds a public talk with artists and others involved in the exhibition. More information about the participants will be announced.
In relation to the exhibition SAMMEN/TOGETHER the museum invites for the workshop Common Ground with artist duo Nina Fischer & Maroan El-Sani. The workshop will deal with the concept ‘common ground,’ which here refers to mutual understanding, knowledge, beliefs, and assumptions. It will create experimental situations and investigate the boundaries of our common human experiences, focusing on issues such as ‘the uncanny,’ community, tolerance, and identity, and develop a visual language in different media (film, photography, performance, intervention, graphics, etc.). The workshop is a collaboration between Trondheim Kunstmuseum and Trondheim Academy of Fine Art. Open for all.
The exhibition SAMMEN/TOGETHER is supported by FRAME, IASPIS, Norwegian Art Council, and Nordic Culture Fond. Trondheim Kunstmuseum is a part of MIST – the Museums in Sør-Trøndelag.
