20 Nov 2008

Autonomous Acts by Henrik Plenge Jakobsen

HENRIK PLENGE JAKOBSEN

„NEBELKAMMER' (CLOUD CHAMBER) 2008

13. November, 19-21Uhr  until 13. December 2008

Glockengasse 22, 1020 Vienna
(Ecke Novaragasse, U2 Taborstr.)

Curated by MICHAEL HALL
with support by KÖR (Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Wien)

For ‚Autonomous Acts' 2, Plenge Jakobsen was invited to rethink or remake an earlier work entitled „Smoke', from 1998. 'Smoke' was an apartment window facing the River Weser in Bremen which at 12:00h, 16:00h and 20.00h started to smoke and burn. The piece was intended to develop a dialogue with the passer-by, to momentarily break their standard routine will walking to work or running errands. To ask the spectator (passer-by) is this real, is the house on fire? Is this representation? If so, what does it mean?

The new work for public space in Vienna is entitled 'Cloud Chamber', Plenge Jakobsen will 'set a blaze' an empty storefront in the second district, located next to a new U2 subway line. The documentation of the project will be posted on YouTube.

Plenge Jakobsen's early art practice was expressed in a series of distinct assaults on the public space. In the 90's working as 'Burn Out', Plenge Jakobsen and his collaborator Jes Brinch, executed a number of public interventions and tableaux, subjecting sections of routine daily life to disastrous mediation… for example in 'Smashed Parking' they placed a number of wrecked cars and a toppled city-bus on the most important square in the centre of Copenhagen's tourist district. The intervention resembled the aftermath of a riot, unfortunately the piece was removed after only a few days because the spectators continued to destroy the autos, representing an underlying anger within this perfect model of a Danish Welfare State.

Plenge Jakobsen's project is social-critical in the sense he examines and discusses political, economical, cultural and social structures forming the foundation of modern life. Like the Situationists, he is interested in finding a meaningful art form capable of defining a place in the public space, while directly making use of everyday institutions. His project does not seek to cannibalize reality but to incorporate reality into the work itself. His work is radical because it insists on the works real presence rather than interrogating the foundation of reality. Art and reality are not separate spheres that can be temporarily forced together'. 1

1. (text excerpt: Marianne Torp, 'All that is solid..., Henrik Plenge Jakobsen 'J'accuse', Pork Sald Press / Revolver)

www.henrikplengejakobsen.net

Autonomous Acts is a 4-part exhibition in public space.

Autonomous Acts 3
JOHN MILLER / mit RICHARD HOECK
22. November bis 13. December 2008