Marjetica Potrč: On Coexistence / Aimée Zito Lema: A Series of Gestures

Opening: April 6, 6–9pm
6:30pm: Welcome by Ida Marie Bransfjell, leader of Tråante 2017, and Helena Holmberg, director Kunsthall Trondheim, followed by short introductions to the exhibitions by the artists Marjetica Potrč and Aimée Zito Lema

Marjetica Potrč: On Coexistence
The exhibition On Coexistence builds on the research and projects Marjetica Potrč has carried out, in Acre, Amazonas, and in other places, always with a focus on community, sustainability and building new knowledge on traditional grounds. Today, Marjetica Potrč´s views on local knowledge are shared with a growing number of people. Climate changes are an everyday experience and discussions about humanity’s relationships and responsibilities toward nature are gaining momentum. It seems we have to find ways to identify with that which conditions our existence on this planet, to see the human in a broader context—not as a sovereign but as a small part entangled in and depending on a complex weave. The sharp border between the human, the animal, the nature, seems to be transgressed. Marjetica Potrč´s oeuvre offers many entrances to this discussion. On Coexistence points to the importance of indigenous knowledge. To coexist with nature is for the indigenous peoples nothing new—it´s the foundation of their cultures. Marjetica Potrč large wall drawings can be read as narratives or thought maps—visual conclusions of her research.

An international seminar ­­”Indigenous knowledge—the practice of sustainable existence” will be held on May 5–6. The seminar will gather scientists, artists, and writers: Frank Ekeberg, Douglas Nakashima, Gene Ray, Marie Roué, Judith D Schwartz, Douglas Sheil, Ande Somby and Marjetica Potrč. More info will follow.

This year, the Sami (the indigenous people of Norway) celebrate the centennial anniversary of the first Sami conference. Sami participants from all of Sapmi—the Sami territory that stretches through Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia—gathered for the first time in Trondheim in 1917. This celebration, Tråante, will inform the activities at Kunsthall Trondheim throughout the year.

Marjetica Potrč is based in Ljubljana. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the Americas, including in such major exhibitions as the Venice Bienniale (1993, 2003, 2009), the São Paulo Biennial (1996, 2006) and at major institutions such as Guggenheim Museum in New York (2001). Potrč is Professor of Social Design at Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg.

Thanks to Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm.

Aimée Zito Lema: A Series of Gestures
Zito Lema´s works deals with the body´s relation to power structures within a bio-political frame work. As with spoken language, gestures—the language of the body—express power structures, but can also formulate alternatives to these. In these works, the body is recognized as a political tool that is both governed and resists this governance through a series of gestures. Either as part of a political movement in demonstrations or as a motor for care and organization beyond representational politics.

Rond De Jambe takes the Stopera building in Amsterdam as a starting point. The construction met strong opposition from neighbours and the left-wing movement. The work juxtaposes the “political body” and the “dancing body,” by using archival images from the protests, and by working together with dancers, it translates the movements into dance. Several Forms of Friendship is a continuation of a work series where casts are made of the different joints that enable movement of the human body. In a series of workshops the public will be invited to make casts while discussing questions of relationships as a societal structure. The casts will be shown in the exhibition as a continually growing documentation of the workshops.   

Zito Lema’s new work A series of Gestures, loans its title to the exhibition. The work consists of prints from the local newspaper—enlarged details from images of gestures, taken in connection with house fires in Trondheim.

Aimée Zito Lema is based in Amsterdam. She recently exhibited at 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016), Kunstmuseum Bonn (2016) and Centre Pompidou Paris (2016).