7. desember – Esperanza Rosales

Hva var de beste utstillingene, begivenhetene og publikasjonene i 2012? I Kunstkritikks julekalender oppsummerer Kunstkritikks egne skribenter og inviterte gjester kunståret 2012. Den sjuende i rekken er skribenten Esperanza Rosales, som kommer fra New York, men nå bor og arbeider i Oslo. Hun er også leder for galleriet VI, VII, som hun startet opp på Grønland i Oslo tidligere i år. Rosales ga følgende svar:

One of the blessings/curses/lasting effects of a severe, medical UV light-related vitamin deficiency last winter was a compromised ability to recall things; in other words, extreme memory loss, so nothing from January, or the lazy recovering spring was committed to memory, and I can only attest to the period departing from when my body’s hard drive and RAM reset—but the things that made an impression, or that I do remember from late spring/summertime onwards:

Memorable Exhibitions

			The 76th Whitney Biennial. This edition of the biennial was all about Michael Clark and Nick Mauss for me, not least of all the latter’s inclusion of delicate and double-sided ink works by Eyre de Lanux with their handwritten inscriptions. (“Come back, I kneel to you, tour eiffel, Paris, Paris”, and the plaintive “Oh my darling where are you? Consuelo, Consuelo”, 1905-2002.)
			Asher Penn, Institutional Critique / Hebrew paintings 2, Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö. “It’s took me a long time to get young and now I consider myself young. And I’m proud of it.” —borrowing lines from Bob Dylan’s speech at the Hotel Americana, during the Bill of Rights, Civil Liberties Committee dinner held in 1963 qualifies this for the most memorable press release. And possibly, words to live by.
			Graff, Løw and Sandbeck, Vigeland Museum, Oslo. And just when I thought the exhibition season here was over: Ane Graff and Camilla Løw kill it at the Vigeland Museum. The fact that a lack of a written curatorial statement, on-paper justification, reasoning or impetus, for these three artists being grouped together here feels so minor, just corroborates the strength of their work, and I’d be thrilled to see a presentation by this duo again. The male shadow that Vigeland casts in a museum showcasing a lifetime of personal production is offset in a serious way by Graff’s presentation which features all the attributes of an impossible to explain battery upon fabric. Though not elucidated—the setting says it all. The struggle implied by stains, tears, torn layer upon layer of fabric overlay, elicits hauntingly relevant questions: the ‘where do we go now?’ predicated in a cool, white marble slab coated in some kind of lubricant. The new direction of Graff’s work is just one of the many, many things to get excited about in Oslo these days, as it shakes up this dusty and brutalist bastion of the west, with a presentation much less quiet than her previous works.
			Jimmie Durham, A Matter of Life and Death and Singing at MuHKA, Antwerp.
			Rosemary Trockel, Flagrant Delight and Daan van Golden: Apperception at Wiels, Brussels.
			H.H. Bennett, Lena Henke and Cars and Darren Bader, Where Is a Bicycle’s Vagina (And Other Enquires), or Around the Samovar. Both 1857, Oslo.

Best event

			FRANK, Oslo. It wasn’t until this three-person initiative by Liv Bugge, Sille Storihle and Synnøve G. Wetten became active that I actually noticed there was a severely missing female and LGBT perspective on the arts in Oslo. Since commencing they have presented a compelling line-up of films not easy to come by, in intimate, collaborative events open to discussion. For anyone worried that Oslo has been presented as a town filled with angry, oblique, disenchanted young men, FRANK enters like a trumpet call. Attend their events. http://www.befranktoo.org/ (Bildet: FRANK #5, Jessica Gysel & Girls Like Us Magazine, 1. september 2012.)

Best publications

			Jimmie Durham: A Matter of Life and Death and Singing, MuHKA, Antwerp / JRP Ringier.
			Rosemarie Trockel: Kaiserring Award Winner of the City of Goslar, Distanz Publishing.
			Fredrik Værslev: The rich man’s breakfast, the shopkeeper’s lunch, the poor man’s supper. STANDARD (Books). With texts by Nicolas Ceccaldi and Gertrud Sandqvist. (Bildet: Fredrik Værslev, Lanterne rouge, 2012. Installation view, Standard (Oslo), Waldemar Thranes gate 86C.)
			Exhibiting the New Art: “Op Losse Schroeven” and “When Attitudes Become Form” 1969. Afterall Books.