Bjarne Melgaard / Koo Jeong A
Acute Art at Julia Stoschek Collection
12 Oct - 15 Dec 2019
BJARNE MELGAARD / KOO JEONG A
Acute Art at Julia Stoschek Collection
12 October 2019 – 15 December 2019
ARTIST TALK
An artist talk with Daniel Birnbaum, Julia Stoschek und Bjarne Melgaard will take place on October 11, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. at JSC Berlin.
JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION and Acute Art are delighted to present a new VR work by Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard alongside augmented reality artwork by Koo Jeong A, as part of their long-term collaboration.
Bjarne Melgaard’s new virtual reality artwork, My Trip (2019) takes the viewer on a journey to the farthest reaches of the dark web. Melgaard compares the experience to taking Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a naturally occurring drug, which is produced by a gland in the brain. DMT is considered the strongest hallucinogenic chemical substance and is found in almost every living organism on earth.
Melgaard’s work is influenced by authors Stig Sæterbakken, David Benatar and Paul Ehrlich; The Sofa: A Moral Tale, a 1742 libertine novel by Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon; and, Black Metal band, Darkthrone. Featuring characters that have recurred in the artist’s practice for over 25 years, including Lightbulb Man and Octo, in addition to new mutants and personalities created in collaboration with Acute Art,My Tripis a strikingly stimulating visualization of the illusions of a DMT experience.
Beginning with the idea of suicide as an existential question, new psychedelia, and the loss of the self within a DMT trip, this work asks questions regarding life and how we choose to live it whilst introducing Melgaard’s perspective on Anti-Natalism and over-population. The artist is raising the contradictory view that if we are to continue to exist, humans will have to cease to procreate, as a result of the carbon impact of producing new human life.
My Trip also explores the abyss of the technological underground, the endless information consumed every day and the feeling of apathy and dullness that this technology consequently produces.
Coinciding with this premiere, the project density (2019) by Korean artist Koo Jeong Awill materialise both at JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION and locations in the city of Berlin as part of an ongoing series presented internationally by Acute Art. Koo Jeong A’s AR work was previously shown at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia and at the Beyeler Foundation during Art Basel in Basel, 2019.
BJARNE MELGAARD
Bjarne Melgaard is a Norwegian artist (born 1967 in Sydney, Australia), who lives and works in Oslo. Melgaard started out in the mid 1990ʼs with a neo expressionistic, frantic style of painting, sculpture and installation. Social, political and ideological issues are at the core of Bjarne Melgaard’s oeuvre. Dealing with the dark side of humanity, it often discusses, investigates and pushes the boundaries of societal acceptance. Melgaard has had more than forty-five solo exhibitions in leading galleries around the world. His work has been seen in numerous group shows and at international art fairs; he is a frequent curator and collaborator, has written more than a dozen novels, and produced seven films.
In 2011, Melgaard represented Norway at La Biennale di Venezia, 54th International Art Exhibition, Venice. He has twice participated in the Biennale de Lyon. In 2011, Melgaard was given a mid-career retrospective at the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo. In 2014, Melgaard participated in The Whitney Biennial and in January 2015 Melgaard was the focus of the first of six important exhibitions at the Munch Museum in Oslo. MELGAARD + MUNCH The end of it allhas already happened placed Edvard Munch’s oeuvre in direct dialogue with works by Melgaard.
KOO JEONG A
Koo Jeong A (born 1967 in Seoul, South Korea) lives and works everywhere. Since the early 1990s, Koo Jeong A has made works that are seemingly casual and commonplace, yet at the same time remarkably precise, deliberate, and considered. Her reflections on the senses and the body incorporate objects, still and moving images, audio elements, and aromas. Many of her works are conceived within site-specific environments that question the limits of fact and fiction, the imaginary and actuality of our world. Koo considers the connection of energies between a place and people, relying on chance to drive her encounters. Jeong A was named ‘2016 Artist of the Year’ by the Korean Cultural Centre UK. Recent solo exhibitions and commissions of her work include: ajeongkoo, Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2017); Enigma of Beginnings, Yuz Project Room at Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2016); Koo Jeong A x Wheelscape: Evertro, Everton Park, Liverpool (2015) and Oussser, Fondazione La Raia, Novi Ligure (2014).
This year, the artist’s AR works have been exhibited by Acute Art as part of Electric at Frieze New York, in the My Art Guides Venice Meeting Point to coincide with the Venice Biennale, and will be presented in the garden of the Fondation Beyeler during Art Basel 2019.
ACUTE ART
Directed by Daniel Birnbaum, Acute Art collaborates with the world’s most compelling contemporary artists, providing access to cutting-edge technologies that allow them to translate their creative vision into new digital mediums – including virtual, augmented and mixed realities. A curatorial laboratory and research hub, Acute Art are committed to finding new ways to take digital artwork to the public, both physically, through exhibitions, and as a curated offer on the Acute Art website and free app.
Since 2017, they have collaborated with artists including Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Anish Kapoor, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Christo & Jeanne-Claude and Antony Gormley, as well as other talented and award-winning artists. Available through their website and app, the works can also be downloaded via the App Store or Google Play, as well as Steam and HTC Viveport.
Acute Art at Julia Stoschek Collection
12 October 2019 – 15 December 2019
ARTIST TALK
An artist talk with Daniel Birnbaum, Julia Stoschek und Bjarne Melgaard will take place on October 11, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. at JSC Berlin.
JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION and Acute Art are delighted to present a new VR work by Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard alongside augmented reality artwork by Koo Jeong A, as part of their long-term collaboration.
Bjarne Melgaard’s new virtual reality artwork, My Trip (2019) takes the viewer on a journey to the farthest reaches of the dark web. Melgaard compares the experience to taking Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a naturally occurring drug, which is produced by a gland in the brain. DMT is considered the strongest hallucinogenic chemical substance and is found in almost every living organism on earth.
Melgaard’s work is influenced by authors Stig Sæterbakken, David Benatar and Paul Ehrlich; The Sofa: A Moral Tale, a 1742 libertine novel by Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon; and, Black Metal band, Darkthrone. Featuring characters that have recurred in the artist’s practice for over 25 years, including Lightbulb Man and Octo, in addition to new mutants and personalities created in collaboration with Acute Art,My Tripis a strikingly stimulating visualization of the illusions of a DMT experience.
Beginning with the idea of suicide as an existential question, new psychedelia, and the loss of the self within a DMT trip, this work asks questions regarding life and how we choose to live it whilst introducing Melgaard’s perspective on Anti-Natalism and over-population. The artist is raising the contradictory view that if we are to continue to exist, humans will have to cease to procreate, as a result of the carbon impact of producing new human life.
My Trip also explores the abyss of the technological underground, the endless information consumed every day and the feeling of apathy and dullness that this technology consequently produces.
Coinciding with this premiere, the project density (2019) by Korean artist Koo Jeong Awill materialise both at JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION and locations in the city of Berlin as part of an ongoing series presented internationally by Acute Art. Koo Jeong A’s AR work was previously shown at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia and at the Beyeler Foundation during Art Basel in Basel, 2019.
BJARNE MELGAARD
Bjarne Melgaard is a Norwegian artist (born 1967 in Sydney, Australia), who lives and works in Oslo. Melgaard started out in the mid 1990ʼs with a neo expressionistic, frantic style of painting, sculpture and installation. Social, political and ideological issues are at the core of Bjarne Melgaard’s oeuvre. Dealing with the dark side of humanity, it often discusses, investigates and pushes the boundaries of societal acceptance. Melgaard has had more than forty-five solo exhibitions in leading galleries around the world. His work has been seen in numerous group shows and at international art fairs; he is a frequent curator and collaborator, has written more than a dozen novels, and produced seven films.
In 2011, Melgaard represented Norway at La Biennale di Venezia, 54th International Art Exhibition, Venice. He has twice participated in the Biennale de Lyon. In 2011, Melgaard was given a mid-career retrospective at the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo. In 2014, Melgaard participated in The Whitney Biennial and in January 2015 Melgaard was the focus of the first of six important exhibitions at the Munch Museum in Oslo. MELGAARD + MUNCH The end of it allhas already happened placed Edvard Munch’s oeuvre in direct dialogue with works by Melgaard.
KOO JEONG A
Koo Jeong A (born 1967 in Seoul, South Korea) lives and works everywhere. Since the early 1990s, Koo Jeong A has made works that are seemingly casual and commonplace, yet at the same time remarkably precise, deliberate, and considered. Her reflections on the senses and the body incorporate objects, still and moving images, audio elements, and aromas. Many of her works are conceived within site-specific environments that question the limits of fact and fiction, the imaginary and actuality of our world. Koo considers the connection of energies between a place and people, relying on chance to drive her encounters. Jeong A was named ‘2016 Artist of the Year’ by the Korean Cultural Centre UK. Recent solo exhibitions and commissions of her work include: ajeongkoo, Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2017); Enigma of Beginnings, Yuz Project Room at Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2016); Koo Jeong A x Wheelscape: Evertro, Everton Park, Liverpool (2015) and Oussser, Fondazione La Raia, Novi Ligure (2014).
This year, the artist’s AR works have been exhibited by Acute Art as part of Electric at Frieze New York, in the My Art Guides Venice Meeting Point to coincide with the Venice Biennale, and will be presented in the garden of the Fondation Beyeler during Art Basel 2019.
ACUTE ART
Directed by Daniel Birnbaum, Acute Art collaborates with the world’s most compelling contemporary artists, providing access to cutting-edge technologies that allow them to translate their creative vision into new digital mediums – including virtual, augmented and mixed realities. A curatorial laboratory and research hub, Acute Art are committed to finding new ways to take digital artwork to the public, both physically, through exhibitions, and as a curated offer on the Acute Art website and free app.
Since 2017, they have collaborated with artists including Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Anish Kapoor, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Christo & Jeanne-Claude and Antony Gormley, as well as other talented and award-winning artists. Available through their website and app, the works can also be downloaded via the App Store or Google Play, as well as Steam and HTC Viveport.