State of Mind

Annica Karlsson Rixon & Anna Viola Hallberg, State of Mind, 2006–2008 Installation view, Talkin’ Loud, Sayin’ Something – four aspects of artistic research, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, 2008. © Annica Karlsson Rixon/Anna Viola Hallberg

Annica Karlsson Rixon/Anna Viola Hallberg

Annica Karlsson Rixon and Anna Viola Hallberg participate in the exhibition with a presentation of their research within the framework of Karlsson Rixon’s postgraduate studies at the Department of Photography at Gothenburg University.

The presentation is in the form of a public lecture, which is documented and will be available at the exhibition, together with films, images and other documentation included in the project. The lecture describes how the artists’ methodology and process relates to the work of art and the results of their research, the photo, audio and video installation State of Mind.

State of Mind deals primarily with lesbian and bisexual women’s living conditions in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and is the second part of a trilogy that started with Resonance and will end with Code of Silence. The research project focuses on issues of family and love, their relationship to the power structures surrounding gender, ethnicity, sexuality and class, and the construction of a sense of belonging, security or alienation. In their exploration of how ethical notions and legislation influence expectations on life for HBTQ people in Saint Petersburg, the artists have mainly used personal conversations and portraits.

In the conversations, different approaches and thoughts on the role of love and sexuality in relation to politics and recognition are discussed, and it emerges that the dominating western European and American notion of the necessity of “coming out” is far from unproblematic, nor can it be applied to individuals whom Annica Karlsson Rixon and Anna Viola Hallberg have been working with. State of Mind can thus be said to introduce an intercultural approach to the potential and dilemmas of identity politics. In connection with the presentation of the work, the artists have often complemented the installation with a workshop dealing with the issues that it visualises.

Annica Karlsson Rixon

Born 1962 in Gothenburg
Lives and works on Brännö and in Stockholm

Education

2009–2010 University of California Berkley [US]
2004 Högskolan för Fotografi, Göteborgs universitet/School of Photography, Göteborg University, Göteborg/Gothenburg
1995–1997 California Institute of the Arts, Valencia [US]
1985–1988 Norden Fotoskola, Stockholm

Anna Viola Hallberg

Born 1967 in Mariestad
Lives and works on Brännö and in Stockholm

Education

2008 Göteborgs universitet/Göteborg University, Göteborg/Gothenburg
2003 Stockholms universitet/Stockholm University, Stockholm
1992 Stockholms Filmskola

Selected solo exhibitions

2010 State of Mind, Ygallery for Contemporary Art, Minsk [BY]
2009 State of Mind, Municipal Gallery, Kharkiv [UA]
2008 State of Mind and Resonance, ROSPHOTO, Russian National Centre of Photography, S:t/St Petersburg [RU]

Selected group exhibitions

2009 State of Mind, Gogolfest 09/Art Arsenal, Kiev [UA]
2008 Talkin’ Loud, Sayin’ Something – Four Perspectives of Artistic Research, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Göteborg/Gothenburg
2008 Documentation: Make Out!, Studio 44, Stockholm

Selected bibliography

A Karlsson Rixon & A V Hallberg, ”Museet som Kontext”, Museale forstyrrelser – et forsøksprosjekt i regi av Norsk kulturråd, 2009.
A Karlsson Rixon & A V Hallberg, State of Mind; samt Mika Hannula, Interview, “Talkin’ Loud, Sayin’ Something – Four Perspectives of Artistic Research,” Art Monitor – A Journal on Artistic Research, nr 4/2008, utställningskatalog (s. 59–85)
Today Tomorrow Forever – Annica Karlsson Rixon, verk i urval 1990–2006 (utst.kat./exh. cat.), Göteborgs konsthall, 2006.

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