[March 18th. 2003]
Interview

Cristian Rud Andersen: Tim as Tom, 2001

Interview with Astrid la Cour and Lone Weigelt about the exhibition Yours Truly
Yours Truly is an exhibition that has as its centre of rotation the elusive concept of identity as a highly complex entity. The exhibition takes its point of departure in Nils Stærk Contemporary Art and has branched out into three “satellites” in the city: The firm of architects L.O.O.P, the clothing store Storm and the furniture shop Gubi. Here is a chance to meet a number of international and Danish artists. Thomas Petersen talked with the two curators about identity and art in the urban space. Interview: Thomas Petersen. Photo: Thomas Petersen and picture postcards from the exhibition.

Yours Truly
7/3 - 26/4, 2003
• Nils Stærk Contemporary Art
Njalsgade 19C, 2300 Kbh. S.
Thu-Fri. 12am–5pm, Sat. 12am–3pm and by appointment.
Ph.: 32544562.
www.nilsstaerk.dk
Daniele Buetti (CH), Ester Partegás (ES), Abetz/Drescher
(D), Fiona Tan (INDON.), Torbjørn Rødland (N), Vibeke Tandberg (N),
Christian Rud Andersen (DK) and Lise Harlev (DK)
• Gubi
Grønnegade 10, 1101 Kbh. K.
Mon-Fri 10am-5.30pm, Sat 10am-2pm
Daniel Pflumm (D) and Jeremy Dickinson (UK)
• L.O.O.P
Sølvgade 36, 1307, Kbh. K.
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm
Miriam Bäckström (S)
• Storm
Store Regnegade 1, 1110 Kbh. K.
Mon-Thu 11am-5.30pm, Fri 11am-7pm, Sat 10am-4pm.
Esko Männikkö (FIN) and Birgir Andrésson (IS)

Astrid and Lone in front of Vibeke Tandberg’s “Dad #1” and “Dad #2”, 2000

Could you start out by saying a few words about yourselves and your motivation for taking on the exhibition?
Lone: I worked here with Nils for about a year, so this is really a project that I have been allowed to do while studying Visual Culture at the university – so this has been extracurricular.
Astrid: We have talked about doing an exhibition together before. It fits well with my dissertation, which is about photography and the creation of identities in contemporary culture at the Department of Aesthetics and Modern Culture.

What was the idea behind taking up the concept of identity – why is that an interesting topic?
Astrid: I think it started with a review I dug up of an exhibition around 1990, where Mette Sandbye had been to see an exhibition and participated in a seminar in Finland that was meant to be about identity. The focus of the article was that the exhibition was more about all the things that could not be said about identity. And then we wondered – if an exhibition about identity was to be done ten years later, would we be able to say more? It is very much about this post-structuralist criticism that was driven by an extreme anti-essentialism and was supposed to show that there was no essence…

And now you are more interested in what can actually be said about identity?
Lone: One defines oneself based on certain labels that create one’s identity. There is so much talk about the individual and about having so many choices and about the possibility of creating one’s own life completely – but still there are certain labels we have to relate to. What we have tried to show is how that can be tackled from different angles: gender, nationality etc.

Esko Männikko “Organised Freedom 6”, ed. 2, 2001 (left) at Storm and Lise Harlev ”Because he looks different”, 2002 (right) at Nils Stærk

What about the title “Yours Truly” – what does that refer to?
Astrid: It is a very clichéd way of ending a letter – they are very big words, and there is not necessarily very much behind them. But apart from that, we are trying to say something about the idea “identity is completely up to you” – it may not be quite like that after all. There are still certain areas that we keep referring to. Even if you say that it doesn’t matter whether you are a man or a woman and that you can choose for yourself how to dress or behave – you are still a man, so if you dress as a woman, you will be a man dressing as a woman.

So it is a critique of the “free choice” mentality?
Astrid: Yes – saying that it is not that simple.

Daniel Buetti “Everything appears as it is”, 2002 (left) and Thorbjørn Rødland “Infernus”, 2001 (right) at Nils Stærk

What has it been like for you as curators to work from a theme, in relation to the individual works?
Astrid: It really hasn’t been a problem because we have chosen the artists based on their work as a whole and their way of working – from that, we have chosen a single piece…

Lone: …and perhaps sometimes, it has stood out a little from the concept of the exhibition in relation to the artist’s idea. But obviously, the artists have given their consent to the concept and that this is what they work with. As for Fiona Tan’s piece, it is not the piece we originally imagined – not that she does not fit in.

Astrid: …she (Fiona Tan) is a very good example of an artist whose works are almost all about how she is part of many different nationalities.

Yes, in one of the clips I saw yesterday, she is asking different people whether they think she is Chinese, and they politely disagree, arguing that her nose is too big…
Lone: A number of other factors have played a role because we have not done the exhibition for a museum but rather for a gallery that needs to make a profit. But it has been very interesting because it is not an angle that is necessarily in focus, that someone needs to make a profit.

You have had a lot of collaborators…and what about the stores, what has it been like to work with them?
Lone: Nils has worked in collaboration with Storm before and had things on show there in the past – they were interested in the project right away. And Gubi are already selling art – so they were also keen on the idea from the beginning.

Yes, and speaking of Gubi, you could say that the works blend in well in what they already have. The way I see it, two different methods are at work here – in some places, I would not be able to easily point out the works of art, and in others, it is more obvious, with the pictures hanging on the wall. Is that something that you have given thought to?

Four paintings by Jeremy Dickinson, 1994-1997 (left) and Daniel Pflumm “Untitled”, 1999 (right) at Gubi

Astrid: It is a combination of a traditional way of showing the works and a more untraditional one. We probably imagined that the pieces would communicate more with the places than the case has been, but the traditional way at Storm also works well.

Lone: We like the twist that it may raise people’s doubts a little.

And that must happen more if they are not aware that it is actually an exhibition – I went in there because I knew it was an exhibition. Have you thought about how the works may compete with other input in the city - ads etc.?
Astrid: Daniel Pflumm’s light cases, for instance, are so luscious that people who are out shopping for furniture might easily buy one and see it as a lamp. On a different note, L.O.O.P. are going to continue having exhibitions in the front room facing the street.

Miriam Bäckström “Estate of a deceased person”, 1992-96 (left) at L.O.O.P. and Birgir Andrésson “Ladies #1” and “Ladies #2”, 2002 (right) at Storm

Do you have any plans for future exhibitions yourselves?
Lone: Well (looks down at her abdomen, her pregnancy clearly showing). Right now, certain other things are pressing… But yes, we have talked about maybe doing the same type of exhibition in a different context. Not entirely the same concept, but trying to go through the whole procedure again. It is a very slow process with a very large number of collaborators – thirteen artists and thirteen different galleries. It is something that takes a very long time.