MY NAME IS THORBJØRN REUTER CH...
My name is Thorbjørn Reuter Christiansen son of FLUXUS.I was born on the 5th of December 1974 in Næstved Denmark. My Mother is Ursula Reuter Christiansen and Father Henning Christiansen. My brother is Esben Krabbe Christiansen, Bjørn Bjørnstjerne Reuter Christiansen and Addamaria Reuter Christiansen. I was living on the Island of Møn until 1988. Berlin 1988-1990. Møn 1990-1993. Copenhagen 1993-1995. Berlin 1995-2003. Malmö 2003-2004. Berlin, Møn, Copenhagen 2004-2006
I have been married with Caroline Lund since 7.8.1999.
I’m a master student of Katharina Sieverding University of Fine Arts Berlin 2006.
Working as Tutor of the Artist Talk & Free class at the University of Fine Arts Berlin 2002-2006.
PM Praxis Mobilitity Helper was founded in 2005 with Caroline Lund
1) About PM:
PM is an art-service organization and an agency for creating change that is working in a space between art, politics and industry. PM has its foundation in teaching and sharing knowledge; dialogue and participation are desired. PM uses a “research-method” where different media are compared to each other, and material is gathered in order to come up with workshops, actions, activities, operating-instructions, exhibitions, events, services and products.
PM has a result-oriented structure, that is, it produces material that can be used or transformed by its customers, the art scene or the public. PM is aiming for customers, clients, communities and individuals who are looking for solutions or change of situations or space. PM exists in Malmö, Copenhagen and Berlin and consists of the artists Thorbjørn Reuter Christiansen and Caroline Lund together with people from other surroundings and areas who in different ways are willing to participate in the local projects.
PM: “The short manifesto”:
PM places Art outside the realm of the art world
PM works on the margins of institutions
PM provides local benefits while existing on a universal level
PM is not only resistance, it’s also adaptation
PM does not criticize from the outside but creates change from within
PM isn’t just a process, it’s also a product
PM isn’t just representation, it’s also involvement and action
PM isn’t only alternative and peripheral, it’s also present and visual
PM offers a possibility to participate in real life – instead of running away from it
PM: Motivation
Opportunities for individual participation in the democratic and political process of society is steadily decreasing. The “vanishing hope” to be able to create change through political activism combined with the prevailing threat from increasing unemployment has replaced personal activism with a struggle for economic survival. With the use of participatory strategies the artist can try to regain lost motivation or transform unused potential into something new.
The increasing need for human interconnection, developed partly by the use of Internet and other virtual forms of communication, legitimates the need for an art praxis surging from the “intra-human” field. Studies about/with human activities presuppose an examination of the values, interests and ethics constructing the basis for the praxis.
All activities of PM are based upon the action model, the theoretical praxis. This deals with how instead of who-what-where, to enter a situation in a certain way and not around it. The work process is decisive for PM, the way that communication and actions occur together with companies, groups of population and institutions.
PM: How?
Praxis
Our “praxis” consists of nine consecutive work steps – a work model – that describes the mechanism of PM in different contexts. Each project PM performs has its specific content but the “praxis” remains constant in all projects whether artistic, political or commercial. The action model is a scheme, a guideline to follow and a method in which to gauge the efficiency of the activities. “Praxis“ provides the customer with an insight in the work of PM. “Praxis” can be used in many different areas and in many different ways – as a workshop model, an art agency, as a model for work assignment or for the development of an institution.
“Praxis” takes place together with people. The audience is part of the production process while communication and the actual context is central for the development. The efficiency of “praxis” depends on how the audience understands and participates in the proposal. It also depends on whether or not the ruling powers (i.e. institutions or companies) accept the idea or not. To assure that a theme is not re-interpreted or used in the wrong context PM practices the above described method and demands that the client or cooperation partner takes an active part of the process.
Process/participation
PM is not an isolated study but a process. To understand a process as an act of creativity and creation it has to change or renew an area or a situation. At the same time the change, the interference, has to be noticed by the public. The task of PM is to spread the knowledge needed to understand or be part of such interference.
The Result
PM is a result-oriented art activity. “Praxis” starts with an idea or the formulation of a problem and ends with the result. The result is either a solution or a proposal and always includes an evaluation of the process. By showing how results, models and methods that are developed by “praxis” can be used in different contexts, PM will facilitate new paths towards structural change or the fusion of the different fields.
The Function of PM
The local function of PM is to encourage people towards creativity and social involvement as well as, by means of concrete activity and participatory processes, facilitate different perspectives, actions and ways of thinking. By the means of actions and creativity the individual can control and/or structure the situations of everyday life. PM exposes and visualizes existing (mis-)conditions of society, PM develops tools for social change and takes part in the creation of an engaged public by activating its unused potential. In the commercial arena or institutional context, PM contributes a sense of reason and renewal. In the public sphere PM creates “neutral” spaces that facilitate resistance and critique.
PM: Method (the way PM works)
1. Subject: The focus is on a current subject, a social problem, a political situation, a commission, an occasion or an interesting event.
2. Localisation: The subject determines why a certain place should be examined and in what context it belongs to its environment.
3. Focus: Context, subject and localisation determine how the examination should be carried out. The requirement is that focus should occur from both a close and a distant perspective and that there should be no stance taken during the research-period; the third phase of the project.
4. Summary 1: Composition and summary of the examined subject.
5. Communication: Creative communication – about the research together with people who are involved and interested in the project.
6. Product: Development of the product based on the research material. The product could be an event, an action, a campaign, an information space, a workshop, a lecture or an intervention of the given space. The product should contain a conveyed teaching-and communication part. The character of the project should encourage participation.
7. Participation: Surroundings, local population, workshop-participants, employees, cooperators, affected and interested persons may take part in the product and react to it.
8. Summary 2: Observation, collection and composition of the new material created through the participation.
9. Result: A result has been achieved during/through the eight steps. It leads back to the subject and answers, completes or visualizes it. The result can be used in a new context.