 |
[24. april 2003]
Interview
Jan Danebod
The Situation Right Now!
An interview with Jan Danebod
One of the few people on the Danish art scene
who does more than just talk about art in the public space is
super active Jan Danebod. kopenhagen went to hear some
more about Jans project at Klub Revolver in Ideal Bar, in Vesterbro,
Copenhagen. Interview and photo: Torben Zenth. Edited and
translated by Kristine Ploug Pedersen.
Jan Danebod
Klub Revolver
Ideal Bar
Enghavevej 40, DK-1674 CPH V
phone 33 25 70 11
email booking@vega.dk
Thurs 19.00-04.00, Fri-Sat 19.00-05.00
 
 
Jan Danebod: Klub Revolver
What have you made at Klub Revolver (Ideal Bar)?
What's most visible is the windows that I wrote texts on -
the same way I've done out in town (Jan Danebods project [:Freaksgallery:]
posts texts on empty shop windows in Copenhagen, ed.) My own idea
about the text is that it's a very critical text about the situation
right now combined with the fact that it has to work in a club
environment - the whole absurdity of the fact that there's a war
going on in Iraq and at the same time nothing is going on here.
That it actually is our own country that's going to war. I try
to twist it with different formulations - it all runs on as one
long sentence, but it's also split up so that you can read bits
of it, and relate to it at will. I'm not trying to diss people
who go clubbing or anything like that. I'm just adding my thoughts
on the situation. The project is a distinct criticism of our government,
and I find it terrible that we are a warring nation - that's what
this is based upon.
And I've also made some flags that are hanging inside the bar,
for instance some flags where I've superimposed the Christiania
flag onto the Danish flag. That's the way the situation is right
now, and I can't help but link it to the political situation at
the moment. It's got a lot to do with the new government and also
has some links to the old government - how they all wanted to
close down Christiania with some completely ridiculous excuse.
This is a way to treat the subject without saying it directly.
I had some other flags hanging upstairs in Little Vega at the
opening - a huge Danish flag with the text "Hjemmelavet lortedansk"
("Homemade shitdanish", ed.) written across it, and
a kind of European Christiania flag where the EEC stars had been
exchanged with dots. (The Christiania flag has three yellow dots
on a red background, ed.)
 
Jan Danebod: Klub Revolver
You made all this specifically for Klub Revolver?
Yes, I did. I probably would have made the same things anyway,
but they are made for Ideal Bar. It's a difficult place to work.
Your work turns out to be decoration at a party. I don't think
this is the arranger’s intention, but it's difficult to make
an exhibition in this space. I chose to do something that was
in tune with the contemporaneous and also with the audience in
this space. And anyway - I was invited here because of the things
I've done out in town. That’s the reason there's so much
focus on my work at the moment - and I wanted to try to keep the
spirit of those works. The text is on both sides of the windows,
so you can read them from inside but also when you're walking
past outside, so you don't have to pay to get inside and see the
exhibition. My work is in the same forum as always, the difference
is that I've been allowed to use the windows here…
 
Jan Danebod: Klub Revolver
Does the concept of Klub Revolver with a combination of bar/club/concert
and visual art work?
Yes and no. I don't go clubbing much myself, and some of the
things I've seen don't work very well. Sometimes the art seems
a bit out of place. To say it with the words of another artist,
Huskmitnavn (Danish artists that displays art posters in public
spaces, ed.), he exhibits everywhere, he wants to show his stuff
everywhere, because there's an audience everywhere, and you target
different people according to where the work is shown. I like
that thought. I often find it problematic to exhibit in a gallery.
An institution houses a culture and an expression in itself, you'll
always have an expectation when you enter the space. It's the
same with a gallery, a store or a café, so there's a certain
order of how good a certain place is for exhibitions. It's pretty
strange having to relate to, which is why I find it so much more
interesting being out in the town.
Thanks for the chat and my compliments on your exhibition.
Jan Danebod: Klub
Revolver
|
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)