Artists: Steinar Haga Kristensen and Kristian Ø. Dahl
Exhibition title: Entourage du prophète malade
Curated by: Benoît Lamy de La Chapelle
Venue: Tonus, Paris, France
Date: October 25 – November 15, 2015
Photography: images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Tonus, Paris
The exhibition « Entourage du Prophète malade » Les œuvres de Kristian Ø. Dahl contemplent les œuvres de Steinar Haga Kristensen, takes as its backdrop the recent monumental fresco Steinar Haga Kristensen has painted on the wall of the Oslo City hall’s artist studio, during his residency. Entitled Consensus Image (2013-2015) the fresco served as both, stage set and main subject in the opera The Loneliness of the Index Finger (Part II) (2014) written by the artist and performed by professional singers and musicians. It was fnally agreed that the fresco would not be erased from the wall but covered by another that will keep the fresco hidden for years to come, to probably be discovered one day as a trace of our disappeared civilization.
According to Steinar Haga Kristensen’s global artistic approach, part of the fresco is reinvested in 1:1. A replica based on a snapshot from the construction of the covering wall envelops Tonus art-space for a new scene to be activated. Within this backdrop replica working as a stage curtain and a theater set for a new action to come, the Syk Profet (a painting repeated once a year since 1999), and other recurring artworks are reactivated to be gazed at by the manikin like artworks of Kristian Ø. Dahl. That gestalts spectatorship and aesthetic experiences. This display thus discusses the question of the relevance of the notion of Kantian aesthetics today, from a hyper communicating media reality driven by the aesthetic impulses of trillions of eyes gazing. This scene is also completed by a live performance that doubles and animates the artworks for a transient moment.
