RELEASE THE VIDEO!
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
RELEASE THE VIDEO! Narve Hovdenakk
New videos and pixel portraits
Opening 08.09.11, 19:00
It starts with a story, you become witness of small confessions by unknown or pixilated protagonists under psychological duress.
Narve Hovdenakk´s work seems to be responsible for bringing forward the ugly truth. No doubt, this is a difficult task because the emotional landscapes he depicts are not pretty. Watching his disturbing and unsettling videos- part portraits, part confessions- it is hard to understand the artist’s connection, his personal involvement with the ”confessors”, which leaves a gap in your understanding and produces a further sense of unease.
At the same time, he makes the most of the viewer’s presumed familiarity with the portrayal of crime, violence, and law enforcement on entertainment television, in order to address a range of disquieting aspects of human nature. This eminently recognizable mode of address allows him to explore a wide range of challenging, topical subjects.
Hovdenakk´s videos have the quality of a traumatic memory revealed. But it is not only the psychological terrain mapped that is interesting, nor the disclosure of what was previously considered private and in the closet. It is the way he gives the viewer a sense of his own political, ethical, moral, existential dilemmas; the way he is testing our own limits by rigorously addressing our weaknesses, preconceptions and innermost fears. In this case, the artist seems less interested in moral orthodoxies than in personal trials of one’s living.
At the heart of his practice though, one finds a distinctive attitude towards exposing the premises of social antagonism and readiness to incorporate conflict into his work by stirring up controversy. The narratives he employs broach taboos and weaves into thick plaint violence, psychical as much as emotional, male sexuality, repression and transgression that borders on perversion and criminal offense. This work revolves around boundaries, parameters and social codes. It tackles the issue of accepted behavior in the society; the eternal battle of good versus evil that has been turned upside down; the collision of the social and the emotional, the personal and the public.
At the end of the day, the most pressing question is how to live your life. And this is difficult to answer, because like the ´Exotica´ club owner said in the movie: ”the customers are feeling uncomfortable”.
Text by Xenia Kalpaktsoglou. Co-director of Athens Biennale
The exhibition is supported by Art Council Norway.
