33 dagar/33 Days

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Ingrid Book and Carina Hedén, “33 dagar från ett krikonsnår” (“33 Days from a Damson thicket”), 2014

”33 Days” – an exhibition by Ingrid Book and Carina Hedén
20.11 2014—15.2 2015
KONSTHALL C , Cigarrvägen 14, 123 57 Farsta, Sweden
http://www.konsthallc.se

33 dagar/33 Days is an exhibition by Ingrid Book and Carina Hedén, and an investigation into the life of insects existing in a habitat of Damson trees (Prunus Insititia). The first Scandinavian findings of Damson, the “poor man’s plums”, are from the Viking age. The thicket measures 26 x 13 meters and is situated a few hundred meters from Grimeton Radio Station, on the west coast of Sweden. It’s a large-scale radio station for long wave transmissions and wireless telegraphy with the US from the 1920s. The Grimeton Radio Station of Halland is included in UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

The Damson thicket is surrounded by an agricultural landscape with monoculture. It’s a fragment of an old cultural landscape and represents an endangered biological heritage. The insects have been filmed in high resolution (4K), with a camera that “sees” more than the human eye and that reveals a “new” visual reality. Vegetation observed from the inside with the ultrafast reactions of the insects versus standstill and slow-moving time.

A diary of the unexpected behaviour of insects and their encounters (with man and his machines as an alien element) – during a rapidly proceeding summer.

Another work, “DRIFT, what about Callisto?”, questions the usage of pesticides in today’s industrial agriculture.

Works in the exhibition:
Video: “33 dagar från ett krikonsnår” (“33 Days from a Damson thicket”), 115 min, 2014
Video: “DRIFT, what about Callisto?”, 28 min, 2014
Posters: ”Superweeds”

Ingrid Book and Carina Hedén are two artists based in Oslo. In their work – photography, video and installations – they actualize ethical and social questions in the intersections of architecture and urban and regional landscapes. Exhibitions of their work include Midlertidige utopier/Temporary Utopias for the Norwegian Democracy Investigation (Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo 2003), News from the Field about urban agriculture (Bienale de São Paulo 2004), Militære landskap/Military Landscapes (Festspillutstillingen in Bergen, 2008). They participated in the Moderna Show 2010 with the series of photos Bexells Stenar, ett undangömt monument (Bexell’s Stones, a hidden monument).

The exhibition 33 dagar/33 Days also marks the end of our two-year long exhibition/investigation Sustainability – What Do We Actually mean?*, initiated by the Konsthall C work group in January 2013.

In connection with the opening of the exhibition, Thomas Bøhn, researcher/professor in gene ecology at the University of Tromsø, gave a lecture.

About Thomas Bøhn: “My research interests are focused on the effects of modern biotechnology, and in particularly of genetically modified orgamisms (GMO), on experimental model systems and on real food-webs. At my institution GenØk I’m particularly interested in risk assessment and effect studies of modern biotechnological products. One focus has been on the food quality and ecotoxicology of GM-plants (for example Bt-corn or Roundup Ready soy) in a feeding model with water fleas (Daphnia magna), also in combination with chemical stress factors (herbicides and other chemical pollutants). In the field, I work with the consequences of modern biotechnology on biological diversity and food-webs, both in terrestrial and aquatic systems. I also have a great interest in evolution, biodiversity, ecological interactions and invasion biology.”

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

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