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Annika Larsson BLUE at Andréhn-Schiptjenko

May 28 – June 27, 2015

Andréhn-Schiptjenko proudly announces Annika Larsson’s fifth exhibition at the gallery. The opening takes place on Thursday, May 28th, 5-8 p.m.

The exhibition presents the artist’s video work BLUE, 2014 together with an extensive installation which further develop the critical discourse that underpins her whole practice. Annika Larsson’s research here is focused on controversial themes in the social history of the modern and contemporary West.

In the film BLUE, 2014, the artist mainly draws inspiration from the book Blue of Noon, written by Georges Bataille in 1935, but only published in 1957. This novel, written just after the ascent to power of totalitarian governments in Europe, carries the warning signs of the advance of fascism and the imminent war: “When I read Blue of Noon for the first time in 2010,” says Larsson, “I was stunned by the numerous parallels between history and the events of modern day Europe.” Through an in-depth reflection on Bataille’s words and inspiration from the monstrous anomalies of our contemporary society, the artist began researching video footage posted online in the last few years. From doing Internet research of key words and situations from the book, the result is a journey through today’s Europe.

The artist, with a careful selection of powerful, hypnotic, and sometimes provocative images, focuses on the very foundations of modern society, which should guarantee freedom of expression and dissent, thereby raising public awareness of the risks, confines, and excesses of the democratic system. In the installation, various components, some even conflicting, come together; components inspired entirely by the work of Bataille: captivating and unpleasant images alternate constantly, outlining an intense portrait of our contemporary history.

The concepts of historical cyclicality, relativity and subjectivity of interpretation are at the core of the work on display. The viewer is therefore disoriented by a constant succession of images that accentuate the force of impact, both rational and psychological and emotional, of the entire installation.

The work BLUE was shown for the first time in 2014 in a solo-exhibition curated by Benedetta Carpi de Resmini at Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome.

Annika Larsson (b. 1972) in Stockholm and lives and works in Berlin. Her work has recently been shown in group exhibitions at Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, Maxxi Museo Nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome and MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Vigo. She received the prestigious Villa Massimo award in 2014, which included a one-year residency in Rome.

Siri Derkert at Andréhn-Schiptjenko, November 13 - December 20, 2014.