Karl Holmqvist
06 Sep - 04 Oct 2007
KARL HOLMQVIST
"THE GREY TRIANGLE"
‘Language as rhythm, rhythm as architecture and sculpture as speech.’
Rather than working in any specific medium or signature style, Karl Holmqvist adapts his artistic practice to the given invitation and the conditions on-site. For his exhibition at Hollybush Gardens, he will present a new ‘House music’ video Our House (2007, 4”30 DVD Loop) showing a rapid succession of black and white photos of ‘Plattenbaus’, a kind of non-descript postwar architecture common to Berlin with an overlay of geometric abstraction. The film has an especially composed soundtrack by Berlin based artist Jay Chung.
The title of the exhibition comes from a documentary snapshot of a couple of very determined Act-Up demonstrators in late eighties New York, reproduced on the invitation card. But it can also stand for the uniform grey scale of the exhibition, giving it a type of meta-level similar to the letters of a text printed on a page. Black and white is also part of a photographic documentary tradition, photo-copying, newspaper print and other techniques associated with archiving and the function of memory. Additional works in the exhibition are a new sculpture, a small installation and several prints.
Together the works form a statement about gentrification and outsider positions, reversing hierarchies between street and institution, upside and down, inside and out. Upcoming exhibitions for Karl Holmqvist in the autumn of 2007 include ‘Playback’ at Musйe d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris and ‘Unpredictable’ at Project Arts Centre, Dublin. Recent solo shows include ‘Nausea’ , Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin and GÅVÄNTASTANNA at Marabouparken Annex, Stockholm, both in 2006.
"THE GREY TRIANGLE"
‘Language as rhythm, rhythm as architecture and sculpture as speech.’
Rather than working in any specific medium or signature style, Karl Holmqvist adapts his artistic practice to the given invitation and the conditions on-site. For his exhibition at Hollybush Gardens, he will present a new ‘House music’ video Our House (2007, 4”30 DVD Loop) showing a rapid succession of black and white photos of ‘Plattenbaus’, a kind of non-descript postwar architecture common to Berlin with an overlay of geometric abstraction. The film has an especially composed soundtrack by Berlin based artist Jay Chung.
The title of the exhibition comes from a documentary snapshot of a couple of very determined Act-Up demonstrators in late eighties New York, reproduced on the invitation card. But it can also stand for the uniform grey scale of the exhibition, giving it a type of meta-level similar to the letters of a text printed on a page. Black and white is also part of a photographic documentary tradition, photo-copying, newspaper print and other techniques associated with archiving and the function of memory. Additional works in the exhibition are a new sculpture, a small installation and several prints.
Together the works form a statement about gentrification and outsider positions, reversing hierarchies between street and institution, upside and down, inside and out. Upcoming exhibitions for Karl Holmqvist in the autumn of 2007 include ‘Playback’ at Musйe d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris and ‘Unpredictable’ at Project Arts Centre, Dublin. Recent solo shows include ‘Nausea’ , Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Berlin and GÅVÄNTASTANNA at Marabouparken Annex, Stockholm, both in 2006.