EXHIBITIONS: Can the Afghan Speak? + Trine Lise Nedreaas + Kobie Nel
Schedule
Thu Apr 18 2024 at 12:00 pm to 07:00 pm
Location
Vågsallmenningen 12, 5014 Bergen, Norway | Bergen, HO
(English below)Utstillingsperiode: 16.2.–19.5.2024. Graits inngang!
Åpningstider:
Tirsdag–Søndag 12–17
Torsdager 12–19
Som alltid, fordyper Kunsthall 3,14 seg i aktuelle globale spørsmål – denne gangen ved å presentere utstillinger som kaster lys over den kritiske situasjonen i Afghanistan, konsekvensene av krig og tvungen migrasjon for identitet, og poetiske visjoner om fremtid. Vi er stolte av å presentere Can the Afghan Speak? av syv samtidskunstnere fra Afghanistan og Morn av den norske kunstneren Trine Lise Nedreaas. Som en del av vårt pågående samarbeid med Lydgalleriet, kan du oppleve en lydinstallasjon av den sørafrikanske og bergenbaserte kunstneren Kobie Nel.
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Can the Afghan Speak?
Kuratert av Alireza Bayat
Utstillingen Can the Afghan Speak? presenterer syv kunstnere fra Afghanistan: Farila Neshat, Hangama Amiri, Elyas & Abdollah Jafari Alavi, Ali Rahimi, Sher Ali Hosseini og Mohsin Taasha. De utvalgte maleriene, skulpturene og et videoverk vekker spørsmål om de internasjonale og lokale strukturene som skaper hierarkier og underordnede posisjoner. Alle syv kunstnere, født på 80- og 90-tallet, har flyttet, flyktet eller blitt tvunget til å migrere fra Afghanistan, og bor i dag i ulike deler av verden. Samtidens presserende spørsmål flettes sammen med flere århundrer gamle tradisjonelle håndverksteknikker i utstillingen.
Det enorme mangfoldet i Afghanistan blir ofte glemt i vestlige fortellinger og mediebildet. «Afghanere», befolkning som består av mange ulike etnisiteter og nomadiske grupper, har blitt brakt til taushet av både den moderne verdens makthenrettelser og lokale militariserte patriarkalske strukturer. Det afghanske samfunnet er preget av ekstremt snevre sosiale normer og begrenset ytringsfrihet. Utstillingen søker å gi en plattform for "afghanerne" som aktivt engasjerende subjekter som deltar i en gjensidig dialog. Kan afghanerne bli hørt? Utstillingen muliggjør kunstneriske og poetiske kommunikasjonsformer som kan strekke og utfordre grensene for selve dialogen.
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Morn av Trine Lise Nedreaas
Kuratert av Malin Barth
I et kulturelt øyeblikk preget av turbulente globale hendelser, reaksjonsdrevet kommunikasjon med spekulative overskrifter og det uendelige begjæret etter noe større, virker det som at vi alle holder pusten. Men hva er det vi venter på?
Trine Lise Nedreaas utstilling Morn stiller spørsmål om både individuelle og kollektive fremtidsvisjoner – drømmer og ambisjoner, men også dystopier. Hennes håndmanipulerte fotografier kan sees på som eksperimenter med tid: et øyeblikk av historie blir krøllet, skadet, revet og såret. Historie er vanligvis forstått som en lærer som kan hjelpe oss med å håndtere nåtiden og kontrollere fremtiden – noe forferdelig i fortiden driver oss til å forhindre at lignende situasjoner skjer igjen. Men selv om det kan være mulig å oppdage lignende mekanismer mellom en hendelse i fortiden og nåtiden, kan kontekstene være veldig forskjellige. Historiske hendelser kan også brukes som argumenter for nåværende handlinger hvis virkninger vi ikke kan forutsi. Hver handling som søker å endre fremtiden bringer ikke bare løsninger på problemer, men også nye utfordringer med ukjente konsekvenser. Mennesker i dag er kanskje ikke smartere, klokere eller mer moralsk dyktige – bare annerledes.
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Make your presence known av Kobie Nel
Kuratert av Julie Lillelien Porter (Lydgalleriet)
Troen på at en kan kommunisere med de avdødes ånder, er vevd inn i ulike aspekter av moderne kunst. Likevel har slike forbindelser ofte blitt møtt med fordømmelse fra offentligheten, til tross for at spiritualismen har satt sitt preg på kvinnebevegelse, kulturell politikk, media og til og med rettsmedisinsk vitenskap. I lydverket Make your presence known, utforsker den sørafrikanske og bergenbaserte kunstneren Kobie Nel fornemmelser av noen andres usynlige, men hørbare tilstedeværelse. Nels iscenesatte installasjoner er nøye utviklet og ofte basert på en utforskning av obskure fortellinger eller myter.
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English:
As always, Kunsthall 3,14 delves into current global questions – this time by presenting projects that shed light on the critical situation of Afghanistan, the consequences of war and displacement for identity, and poetic visions of the unprecedented future.
The exhibition «Can the Afghan Speak?» in the hall presents seven artists from Afghanistan: Farila Neshat, Hangama Amiri, Elyas & Abdollah Jafari Alavi, Ali Rahimi, Sher Ali Hosseini, and Mohsin Taasha. The selected paintings, sculpture and film provoke questions about the international and local forces that create hierarchies and inferior positions – “the Afghans” that cannot speak. Centuries old traditional techniques intertwine with present-day concerns in the exhibition.
Trine Lise Nedreaas’ sculpture and hand-manipulated photography in the vault reflect both individual and collective visions of the future – dreams and ambitions, but also dystopias. In a cultural moment characterised by turbulent global events, reaction-driven communication with speculative headlines, and the never-ending lust for something bigger, we all seem to be holding our breaths. But what is it that we are waiting for?
As part of our ongoing collaboration with Lydgalleriet, a sonic work will be opened at PARABOL – a sound shower located in our entrance hall. 'Make your presence known' is a sound installation by the Berg-based artist Kobie Nel.
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Can the Afghan Speak?
16.2–19.5.2024
Farila Neshat, Hangama Amiri, Elyas & Abdollah Jafari Alavi, Ali Rahimi, Sher Ali Hosseini, and Mohsin Taasha
Can the Afghan speak? focuses on the not in-the-power-Afghans who are not recognized as subjects in local, nor global contexts. If oppressed by one side and ignored by the other side like a failed project that no one wants to be reminded of, how can they claim their subjectivity and agency?
The vast diversity of Afghanistan is often forgotten in Western narratives that fail to understand the inherently different construction of society. Afghans have been disempowered by both modern world mechanisms of power executions and local militarized patriarchy. The decades of armed conflict and the local patriarchal structures have created extremely narrow and hard-to-break social norms and physical restrictions that narrow down self-expression and the freedom of speech.
The exhibition pursues to provide a platform for “the Afghans” as subjects possessing political agency. The actively engaging subjects take part in a dialogue that must be mutual. Can the Afghans be heard? The exhibition enables forms of communication that might stretch and challenge the boundaries of the dialogue itself, escaping beyond the textual and rational Western mode of communication.
Artists in the exhibition:
Ali Rahimi (b. 1995): «A Quiet Place»
Farila Neshat (b. 1994): «Soul Houses»
Hangama Amiri (b. 1989): «DHL Large Box with Objects of Belonging»
Mohsin Taasha (b. 1991): «The Red Passport Series»
Sher Ali Hosseini (b. 1983): «Genesis of Fear», «Lasso Dynasty 1–3», «Embrace of Fear 1–2»
Elyas (b. 1982) & Abdollah Jafari Alavi (b. 1992): «I want to talk about happy things, man!»
The exhibition is curated by the Iranian freelance curator Alireza Bayat, whose work centers around intersectionality and socio-political activism.
Read more about the exhibition and the artists on our website:
https://www.kunsthall314.art/can-the-afghan-speak
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Morn
Trine Lise Nedreaas
16.2–19.5.2024
Two glass eyes lie on a soft velvet pillow, unpainted and blank. The eyes, unfocused and glazed, might have seen too much, or nothing at all. All of a sudden and never before, have humans had similar access to knowledge and possibilities to connect with the globalized world. While the overwhelming amount of emotions and information urges some to act, others shut down and withdraw.
History is commonly understood as a teacher that might help us handle the present and control the future. Something horrific in the past drives us to prevent similar situations from happening again. However, while it may be possible to detect similar mechanisms between an event in the past and the present, the contexts might be inherently different. Historical events might be used as lessons to prevent evil, but also as arguments for present actions whose effects we cannot fully predict. Each action that seeks to change the future brings not only solutions to problems, but also new challenges and threats with unknown consequences. Humans today might not be any smarter, wiser, or more morally capable – just different.
Nedreaas' hand-manipulated photographs can be seen as experimentations with layers of time: one captured in the photo, another in the physical act of curling up the printed image, and a third emerging in their crossings and entanglements. The captured moment of history becomes damaged, torn and wounded, absorbing interpretations. At the same time, the tactile process of twisting and folding the material creates surprises, and a new, unprecedented dimension appears through the broken and distorted fibres of the image. Unidentifiable waters and once familiar skies meet halfway, engulfing the horizon with the promise of something new.
Trine Lise Nedreaas (b. 1972) is a Norwegian artist working with a variety of media including video, drawing, sculpture and photography. She is best known for her intriguing and uncanny films. Nedreaas’ work conveys a sense of instability and fragility. Through intimate, playful performances and makeshift materials, her work explores our shared experience of a temporal existence in a relentless eternity.
Read more about the exhibition from our website:
https://www.kunsthall314.art/trine-lise
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Make your presence known
Kobie Nel
16.2.–19.5.2024
Make your presence known is a work by Kobie Nel, where the sensation of someone else's invisible but audible presence emerges in a sound landscape. The belief in the ability to communicate with the spirits of the deceased is woven into various aspects of modern art. Although such connections have often been met with condemnation from the public, spiritualism has left its mark on the women's movement, cultural politics, media and even forensic science. Nel's staged installations are carefully developed and often based on extensive research into obscure stories and myths.
Kobie Nel (b. 1984, Bloemfontein, South Africa) is an artist based in Bergen. She holds an MA from Bergen Academy of Art and Design (2016) and a BA in photography from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia (2011). She works with installation, sculpture and photography. Recent exhibitions include Høstutstillingen (2023), Norsk Billedhoggerforening, VOLT, Vestlandsutstillingen (2022) and Gyldenpris Kunsthall (2021). Her artist book Black Lake Monologue was published in 2017 by CODA Press, Bergen.
PARABOL is the name we use for the sound shower located in Kunsthall 3,14’s entrance hall. The sonic works presented here are curated by Lydgalleriet on invitation from Kunsthall 3,14, with the intention of reflecting the always relevant exhibition themes presented upstairs. Since 2019, PARABOL has been curated by Julie Lillelien Porter at Lydgalleriet.
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Photo is from "The Red Passport Series" by Mohsin Taasha.
Free entrance as always!