The 1st at Moderna: Maria Heimer Åkerlund

Exercis

1.3 2008 – 6.4 2008

Stockholm

Maria Heimer Åkerlund first exhibited her mobile sculpture “Fucking Airplanes” at Galleri Mejan in Stockholm in 2002. Seldom has a student exhibition received so much attention. It is no exaggeration to say that the work occupies a prominent place in Swedish contemporary art.

The sculpture comprises two scale models of the fighter aircraft Harrier that, with the help of inbuilt contact microphones and freestanding loudspeakers, copulate noisily. My immediate interpretation is that war breeds war, and that it can be pleasurable to practise the art of war. However, the work can be approached from another angle. A fighter aircraft is one of the technically most advanced machines created by man. Heimer Åkerlund “disarms” the deadly creation by “humanising” the war machine.

Curator: John Peter Nilsson

Maria Heimer Åkerlund

Born in 1969 in New Dehli. Lives and works in Stockholm.

Education

1996–2002 The Royal University College of Fine Arts, Stockholm, Sweden

Three solo exhibitions

2005 Exercis, video diptych, Teatergalleriet, Uppsala

2004 Fun in the Air, Aggregat, Norrköping

2002 Fucking Airplanes, Brändström & Stene, Stockholm

Three group exhibitions

2007 Rethinking Dissent, Göteborgs Internationella Konstbiennal

2003 Look into the future and understand why, IASPIS, Stockholm 2002 Vårsalongen, Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm

We wish to thank The Swedish Arts Grants Committee and EMS (Electroacoustic music in Sweden). Clothes: Hennes & Mauritz. Shoes: Wedins Skor & Accessoarer.

The 1st at Moderna is an exhibition programme for contemporary art. The opening is always on the first day of the month, and the exhibitions are in different venues in or outside the museum.