Maria Heimer Åkerlund
01 Mar - 06 Apr 2008
MARIA HEIMER ÅKERLUND
1 March – 6 April 2008
Maria Heimer Åkerlund first exhibited her mobile sculpture “Fucking Airplanes” at Galleri Mejan in Stockholm in 2002. Seldom has a student exhibition received so much attention. It is no exaggeration to say that the work occupies a prominent place in Swedish contemporary art.
The sculpture comprises two scale models of the fighter aircraft Harrier that, with the help of inbuilt contact microphones and freestanding loudspeakers, copulate noisily. My immediate interpretation is that war breeds war, and that it can be pleasurable to practise the art of war. However, the work can be approached from another angle. A fighter aircraft is one of the technically most advanced machines created by man. Heimer Åkerlund “disarms” the deadly creation by “humanising” the war machine.
1 March – 6 April 2008
Maria Heimer Åkerlund first exhibited her mobile sculpture “Fucking Airplanes” at Galleri Mejan in Stockholm in 2002. Seldom has a student exhibition received so much attention. It is no exaggeration to say that the work occupies a prominent place in Swedish contemporary art.
The sculpture comprises two scale models of the fighter aircraft Harrier that, with the help of inbuilt contact microphones and freestanding loudspeakers, copulate noisily. My immediate interpretation is that war breeds war, and that it can be pleasurable to practise the art of war. However, the work can be approached from another angle. A fighter aircraft is one of the technically most advanced machines created by man. Heimer Åkerlund “disarms” the deadly creation by “humanising” the war machine.