- photos Ingvar Ragnarsson
"Darkness carried in (again)”
Arnfinnur Amazeen
Kling & Bang is pleased to present "Darkness carried in (again)", Arnfinnur Amazeen’s first solo show at the gallery. For the exhibition he will make new installation, covering the gallery with print pattern and adding another layer on top with, photo prints and text work.
Arnfinnur Amazeen moved to Copenhagen after finishing his BA studies at the Icelandic Academy of Arts and his MFA at the Glasgow School of Art from where he graduated in 2006. Amazeen describes his work as a kind of a distortion of found materials. It has been said about that type of art that the artist operates as a visual DJ, sampling material from all directions and then mixing it together as he sees fit for each occasion. The lack of context is in that case no less important than the possible contextual relationship created in the mix, as was
established through the deconstructionist theory of the 1960s. The idea of a specific content was replaced by the emphasis on multiple interpretations. Amazeen often plays in this spirit with the juxtaposition of photos, graphics and texts. He usually gathers the raw materials from very different sources, deluding and mangling their original meaning in the work process. However, his end result never seems to turn into chaos. On the contrary the precision and minimal approach with which Amazeen selects and reassembles his subject matters is evident. This constrained choice often gives the work the appearance of being loaded with preferred meaning and even propaganda, but playfulness and humour are never far off. He is also interested in the concept and creation of identity where he and his role as an artist are not excluded. An example of this is a recent print where he in a colourful and lively manner writes, "Every society gets the artists it deserves".
Alongside drawing he uses photography and the installation form together with an emphasis on text.
- photos Ingvar Ragnarsson
"The Garden Project”
Anna Hrund Másdóttir and Sigríður Torfadóttir Tulinius
Kling & Bang is proud to present "The Garden Project" by Anna Hrund Másdóttir and Sigríður Torfadóttir Tulinius. They will use the roof-top of Kling & Bang, one of the many deserted spaces of Reykjavik, and replace it witha place to grow food. In the summer of 2009 they created a garden in the empty and run-down lot next to Kling&Bang, resulting in a small public garden filled with colorful flowers and green grass. This summer they plan to explore easy and inexpensive ways to cultivate a vegetable garden in an urban area, expanding the garden from the front lawn of Kaffistofa, to the roof-top of Kling & Bang.
"The garden is made as a response to the area and architecture; together with friends, volunteers and hopefullyneighbours we will acquire knowledge of the creation and cultivation of a vegetable garden in a city. With the garden project we want to raise awareness of issues such as sustainable development and local food sources, public spaces and green areas in cities; but also explore themes on a larger scale such as our planet, climate, government, source of food and relationship with our neighbours. Everyone is welcome to visit our garden; to enjoy it as a visual and emotional sanctuary or for its political potential."
The Kling & Bang gallery was founded by a rag tag group of artists at the beginning of 2003. Coming from a variety of different backgrounds, the group’s common goal was to challenge the context and content of creative thinking. And throughout the seven years of Kling & Bang’s existence this enthusiasm has been responsible for countless projects, exhibitions and collaborations. Of course there will be variability in terms of quality, there always is, and while too much focus may rest on the “how” and only later on the “what” this “modus operandi” has stood Kling & Bang in good stead and brought them international attention. Since 2003 they have presented work by carefully-chosen, emerging and established artists, both Icelandic and international. They have participated in a show at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, at the Berliner Liste in Berlin and at Frieze Project-Frieze Art Fair in London and collaborated with such distinguished international figures as Christoph Schlingensief, Paul McCarthy, Jason Rhoades, John Bock, David Askevold, Gelitin, as well as working with a number of influential Icelandic artists. For two years, they ran the 5,000-square-meter KlinK & BanK studio space, where some 137 artists, designers, filmmakers and musicians worked on a day-to-day basis, producing wide variety of projects, presenting on average three events per week. As the artist-run element of the organization is vital to the group’s identity, all eight of Kling & Bang’s members are artists themselves—indeed, when applicable, the gallery volunteers to participate in the creation of artworks with the artists they invite and exhibit. Kling & Bang puts up close to a dozen exhibitions every year and they are down-and-dirty, they’re hands-on and above all “can-do”.
Artists: Erling T.V. Klingenberg, Sirra Sigrun Sigurdardottir, Hekla Dogg Jonsdottir, Ulfur Gronvold, Daniel Bjornsson, Bjarni ´Massi´ Sigurbjornsson, Kristjan Bjorn Thordarson & Nina Magnusdottir.
Kling & Bang
Hverfisgata 42, 101 Reykjavík
this.is/klingogbang