Andréhn-Schiptjenko

Annika Larsson

28 Aug - 21 Sep 2008

© Annika Larsson
Exhibition view
ANNIKA LARSSON

Aug 28 - Sept 21, 2008

Andréhn-Schiptjenko has the pleasure of presenting a new video installation by Annika Larsson - her third solo exhibition at the gallery. The exhibition opens Thursday August 28, at 5 – 8 pm.

Annika Larsson is one of Sweden’s most significant artists, working mainly with video. Her work has been presented in solo shows at museums and galleries including LE MAGASIN, Grenoble, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Sala Montcada - Fundacion la Caixa, Barcelona, ICA, London, Färgfabriken, Stockholm, Massimo De Carlo in Milan and Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York. Her work has also been included in numerous group shows and art biennials such as the 8th Istanbul Biennial, the 6th Shanghai Biennial and the 49th Venice Biennial. Her work was recently shown in Sweden at Dunkers Kulturhus in Helsingborg in 2006 (solo) and she is currently represented at the exhibition SEE HISTORY at Kunsthalle zu Kiel. Annika Larsson was born in 1972 and lives and works in Berlin.

In her exhibition at Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Annika Larsson presents a new film, entitled DOLLS. The central theme, as in all Larsson works, is the exploration of our relationship to rules, control and the gaze.

In DOLLS, three scenes take place on a constructed playground, a space shaped like a cube, containing a white rectangular play surface with coloured markings and geometrical forms. In each scene we follow a protagonist as he is selected to be a "Doll”. Dressed up either in ski boots, ice skates or climber crampons, the "Doll" navigates around obstacles while performing daily household tasks, like serving coffee. Inspired by the idea of the automata, from ancient mechanized puppets like the Karakuri doll to today’s advanced household robots, the film explores the relation between the one being controlled and the one in control; here in a constructed universe, where actions and objects have lost their original function. In a play with time, abstraction and suspense, a dry and uncanny humour unfolds. The music, which plays a central role, is a live recorded, analogue, electronic soundtrack especially composed and performed by New York musician Sean McBride.
 

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