Curatorial Statement

The recent surge of performance art as an expression in contemporary art is manifest, especially in what concerns a younger generation of artists. The reasons of this development may be financial, social, and political or for that matter artistic, but whatever the explanation is, the movement is there. Whether it is the beginning of a shift of paradigm is not the issue, but it is a surge that gets more and more important.

We are very pleased to be able to present Live Action New York – Scandinavian Performance Art alongside PERFORMA, the biennial of visual performance art directed by RoseLee Goldberg. However, it has to be clearly stated that Live Action New York 09: Scandinavian Performance Art is an independent event with no direct relation with PERFORMA, except for the fact that it occurs in the same. Nevertheless, Live Action New York 09 takes advantage of this moment when visual performance art is present all over Manhattan, as to showcase the new Scandinavian scene of performance art.

It is our ambition that Live Action New York 09 will become a recurrent event and that in 2010 it will become an American-Scandinavian festival of performance art, as to build ties and create a pro-active dialogue between performance artists in the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

For this first edition we are proud to present 15 major and emerging Scandinavian performance artists during six days in New York City. One of the curatorial criteria is to feature a mix of younger and emerging artists with their natural energy, ambition and inventiveness alongside the experience and quality of some of the most important artist on the international scene. We are convinced that this inter-generational blend of different tendencies in contemporary Scandinavian performance art will make Live Action New York an artistically high-profile, experimental and thought-provoking event beyond the mainstream.

We are pleased to be able to present Eric Andersen, the Danish Fluxus pioneer, one of the early European performance artists who already belong to art history, and whose work with intelligence still tells us who we could be. But also the fabulous and inventive

Roi Vaara from Finland, who will take part with a work full of humor, profound signification and subtlety. Vaara is probably one of the most important performance artists today on the international scene, and a member of the legendary international collective Black Market International.

The prominent Finnish artist Irma Optimist will show us how mathematics and feminism are related in her outstanding style – a style that can make the most serious person find a sense of humor.

As a modern shaman from the heartland of Finland, Pekka Kainulainen, one of the pioneers in Finnish performance art, will take us to a world that we have not yet seen, where nature, man and animal, become one, humanly, in pain and in laughter.

One of the major Swedish performance artists, Elin Wikström, deals with issues in contemporary society, like censorship and how we use our rights as citizens. The question she focuses on is our own actions as citizens.

And then there is the Norwegian Kurt Johannessen, another major contemporary performance artist whose work is at once detailed, conceptual, and visually elaborate. With humor, a specific macro perspective and duration he creates an immediate and unique energy that gives us a large view of things while establishing an intimacy with the audience, and a tension, that always work.

We are also happy to present the Icelandic Love Corporation whose work has had several followers in Scandinavia since the mid 90s. At Live Action New York we will showcase the original. Humor, love, irony, intelligence and feminism are terms that could be used in relation to their work. But of course words can’t describe the experience.

Alongside these internationally renowned artists, we will give some emerging artists the opportunity to present their work as well, like the Norwegian Stein Henningsen, who usually presents thought-provoking works on issues like George W. Bush’s War on Terrorism, the financial crisis and climate change.

Mimosa Pale from Finland is a young artist who deals with questions concerning gender and sexuality from a most original perspective.

Jane Jin Kaisen is a young Danish artist whose work deals with memory, subjectivity, and political agency. Her work explores how history and memory is negotiated through the relationship between knowledge, desire, and power and between subjectivity, representation, and privilege.

The Swedish artist Joakim Stampe explores contemporary history with a focus on social and political issues that confront the audience with their prejudices and perceptions of the surrounding world.

Agnes Nedregard from Norway is concerned about involving the audience, questioning the relationship between artist and viewer, with a will to blur the limits between the categories, not through intimidation, but blending the process of our visual experience through tenderness.

Finally, Hans T. Sternudd from Sweden, whose video-based and ritual-inspired performances might be messy like life, and may shock some philistines. But then if you come to see performance art you certainly don’t belong to that category of art amateurs.

The curatorial criteria of this first edition of Live Action New York 09: Scandinavian Performance Art, is one of quality and of diversity. However, there is one common denominator: that of taking risks. Risk is, alongside time, space and presence, maybe the most important quality in contemporary performance art. It is not a spectacle; it is not a product to be bought and sold; it is not entertainment; it is human action, which in the particular case of performance art always includes, risk taking…

Finally, I would like to thank Kyle Reinhart at Scandinavia House for his great interest and support for the realization of Live Action New York 09: Scandinavian Performance Art. And also the general consulates of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden for their help in different ways to make the event possible. I would also like to thank Jill McDermid at Grace Exhibition Space for her spontaneous and direct support in hosting the event. I also want to thank our different sponsors; without their support the event would not take place: Nordic Culture Fund, Nordic Culture Point, and FRAME - Finnish Fund For Art Exchange.

Jonas Stampe, curator Live Action New York 09 : Scandinavian Performance Art