↳ Exhibitions

Ann Cathrin November Høibo at DREI

July 27, 2019

Artist: Ann Cathrin November Høibo

Exhibition title: The Truest Sentence

Venue: DREI, Cologne, Germany

Date: July 6 – August 24, 2019

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and DREI, Cologne

Individual suns forming a constellation, have very little to do with each other. Separated by enormous distances they have neither a gravitational relation nor any semblance apart from being basically isolated and stranded in the galax y . The lines we draw between them are merely dashed, imaginary, loose connections forming a very far-fetched merger based on an optical translation. At the same time, constellations are most arbitrary and fragile. If you change the perspective at about the speed of light, they disintegrate very quickly . Yet, the stars’ inert isolation is a condition for them to appear as images and as eternal bodies from down here in the first place. And this fragility and coincidence is their beauty . Ursa Major is thus not a two-dimensional illusion but a true, perfect metaphor for the relative attachment, position and size of the suns.

In network analysis, the effect of loose relationships among humans is discussed under the proverbial term “The Strength of Weak Ties”. The sociologist Mark Granovetter in his essay of 1 9 7 3 describes relationships beyond strong bonds of family or friendship. Loose, “weak ties,” the thesis argues, act as social bridges. The inter-contex t ex change of resources and information they enable is not only profitable, but is also more likely to trigger life changing events. The essay is one of the most cited sociological tex ts ever and source for self-help books and marketing guides. It originated at a time when people wondered if perhaps all people are connected by only a few degrees, when looseness was considered not just as a deficit of relationships, but as constitutive for heterogeneous societies as coalitions of strangers.

Delicate tulle, raw coconut fibres anchored by quartz stones, wool, wood, jelly shoes, dried flowers dropped into plastic. The individual elements in the ex hibition show a loose connection of organic and inorganic matter, levity and weightiness, imported goods and manual labour. The weavings and objects share an appeal of pointed materiality yet appear as a gathering of strangers — loose strands detached from origins, bodies or touch, stranded in an inert constellation. The installation shows weaving as a spatial practice of creating open and loose bonds, shaping metaphors for ways of connectedness

(Tex t und Übersetzung ins Englische / Tex t and translation into English: Baptist Ohrtmann

’The Truest Sentence’ is Ann Cathrin November Høibo’s second solo ex hibition at the gallery and the third edition of a series of summer ex hibitions, conceived for the view from outside and with a major part on view through July and August beyond the gallery’s opening hours and holidays.

Ann Cathrin November Høibo (*1 9 7 9 , Norwegian) lives and works in Kristiansand, Norway . She studied at the National Academy of Art and Handcraft, Department of Tex tile (BA), Department Art Academy (MA), Oslo, and at Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany (post-graduate). Recent solo ex hibition took part at Sørlandets Kuntmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway (2 0 1 9 ), Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo; Carl Freedman Gallery, London (both 2 0 1 7 ); STANDARD (OSLO), Oslo (2 0 1 6 ) a.o., and contributions at Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway (2 0 1 8 ); Norwegian Sculpture Biennial at Vigeland Museum; Kunstnerforbundet, both Oslo; Turner Contemporary, Margate, United Kingdom; Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours, France (all 2 0 1 7 ) and Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (2 0 1 6 ) a.o.

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, exhibition view, DREI, Cologne

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Definitely Maybe, 2019, Coconut threads, tulle, stones (white quartz), acrylic bar, 240 × 180 × 25 cm (94 1/2 × 70 7/8 × 9 7/8 inches)

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, exhibition view, DREI, Cologne

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Definitely Maybe, 2019, Coconut threads, tulle, stones (white quartz), acrylic bar, 240 × 180 × 25 cm (94 1/2 × 70 7/8 × 9 7/8 inches)

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, exhibition view, DREI, Cologne

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Circumcircle D, 2019, Dried flowers, vinyl, luggage strap, vintage Ikea-hook, 108 × 57 × 30 cm (42 1/2 × 22 1/2 × 11 3/4 inches)

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, exhibition view, DREI, Cologne

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Definitely Maybe, 2019, Coconut threads, tulle, stones, acrylic bar, 240 × 180 × 25 cm (94 1/2 × 70 7/8 × 9 7/8 inches)

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, exhibition view, DREI, Cologne

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, Brass and silver, plastic bag, sugar, 17 × 16 × 9 cm (6 3/4 × 6 1/4 × 3 1/2 inches)

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, exhibition view, DREI, Cologne

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, Handwoven wool, cotton, nylon, birch, 190 × 114 × 10 cm (74 3/4 × 44 7/8 × 3 7/8 inches)

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, Wool carpet, 3 pairs of jelly sandals in different sizes, candy, 218 × 60 × 9 cm (85 7/8 × 23 5/8 × 3 1/2 inches)

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, exhibition view, DREI, Cologne

Ann Cathrin November Høibo, The Truest Sentence, 2019, Acrylic and dextrin on cotton canvas; lime wood shadow frame, Canvas: 140 × 110 cm (55 1/8 × 43 1/4 inches)