Elisabeth Mathisen
EVERYDAY OBJECTS - WHERE DO THEY COME FROM?
22 February - 23 March
Dialogues and connections
The new work of Elisabeth Mathisen springs out from an interest in objects of everyday life, consumption, the origin of commodities as well as her own life and experiences. Mathisen, herself being within contemporary society, looks upon this from the viewpoint of a consumer but at the same time attempts to criticise her own consumption. The work for this exhibition is put together through the contents of the relationship between people and places, meetings and dialogues. Mathisen is known for combining personal opinions and political content related to place, culture and her own life as an artist. Mathisen works with drawings, video, photography and performance, often presented in installations combining different medias.
In one of her works, ”The Countries in the Wardrobe”, Mathisen, by looking through her own closet, has studied the origin of her clothes. She poses questions as: Does it matter where our clothes are manufactured? How conscious are we of the terms of production behind the clothes we buy cheap in the big stores? Does it affect her identity as a ”Norwegian” that she dresses in clothes manufactured other places than Norway?
These questions have been the starting point for the installation at TWT, consisting of her personal clothes and a travelling TV.
Dialogues and connections
The new work of Elisabeth Mathisen springs out from an interest in objects of everyday life, consumption, the origin of commodities as well as her own life and experiences. Mathisen, herself being within contemporary society, looks upon this from the viewpoint of a consumer but at the same time attempts to criticise her own consumption. The work for this exhibition is put together through the contents of the relationship between people and places, meetings and dialogues. Mathisen is known for combining personal opinions and political content related to place, culture and her own life as an artist. Mathisen works with drawings, video, photography and performance, often presented in installations combining different medias.
In one of her works, ”The Countries in the Wardrobe”, Mathisen, by looking through her own closet, has studied the origin of her clothes. She poses questions as: Does it matter where our clothes are manufactured? How conscious are we of the terms of production behind the clothes we buy cheap in the big stores? Does it affect her identity as a ”Norwegian” that she dresses in clothes manufactured other places than Norway?
These questions have been the starting point for the installation at TWT, consisting of her personal clothes and a travelling TV.
In the installation ”The Bridges between Us”, Mathisen has worked on the subject of connections, meetings and relations. By using objects and commodities, materials with wounds and a mixed aesthetic, she has made a connection between time, life and every day things.
To emphasize the theme about relation and dialogue, the importance of processes and collaborations in her work, she has invited the Norwegian artist Anne Lise Stenseth to do a performance with her at the opening on the 22nd of February. Elisabeth Mathisen and Anne Lise Stenseth studied at the same time at the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo 1989-93 where they got to know each other’s work. This is the first time they will do a performance together.
I FEEL GUILTY OR BAD BECAUSE: … I eat meat, - I very often buy my clothes at H&M, - I am too much away from my children, - I don’t love my mother, - I have had sex without wanting to, - I often feel unwell after reading the artists union magazine “Billedkunst”, - I think artist are self indulgent, including myself sometimes, - I don’t believe in “artistic freedom”, - When I was a child I was sexually attracted to my dog, - I write in English, - I sometimes scream to my children, - I have faked orgasm, not any more though, - I have not read Henrik Ibsen, … NOW I DON´T FEEL GUILTY ANYMORE, - … (excerpt from “Confessions from my sisters diary.” A. L. Stenseth)
To emphasize the theme about relation and dialogue, the importance of processes and collaborations in her work, she has invited the Norwegian artist Anne Lise Stenseth to do a performance with her at the opening on the 22nd of February. Elisabeth Mathisen and Anne Lise Stenseth studied at the same time at the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo 1989-93 where they got to know each other’s work. This is the first time they will do a performance together.
I FEEL GUILTY OR BAD BECAUSE: … I eat meat, - I very often buy my clothes at H&M, - I am too much away from my children, - I don’t love my mother, - I have had sex without wanting to, - I often feel unwell after reading the artists union magazine “Billedkunst”, - I think artist are self indulgent, including myself sometimes, - I don’t believe in “artistic freedom”, - When I was a child I was sexually attracted to my dog, - I write in English, - I sometimes scream to my children, - I have faked orgasm, not any more though, - I have not read Henrik Ibsen, … NOW I DON´T FEEL GUILTY ANYMORE, - … (excerpt from “Confessions from my sisters diary.” A. L. Stenseth)
