Bergen/Copenhagen Papers no. 1
Release / Launch Party 6 June 2019
Really Simple Syndication Press, the publication arm of SixtyEight Art Institute, warmly welcomes you to the release of our new journal on art & politics: Bergen/Copenhagen Papers no. 1 with an essay by Gitte Sætre and images by Kent Klich. The launch of this new essay as event and publication initiative will take place at Lydgalleriet in Bergen, Norway.
Launch & first circle of dialogue
Thursday, June 6 at 19:00
Lydgalleriet
Østre Skostredet 3, Bergen
Bergen/Copenhagen Papers is a new print-only journal on art & politics; and a new initiative and dialogue between cities; published by Really Simple Syndication Press, Copenhagen, and organised in collaboration between:
Lydgalleriet, Bergen; Kunsthall 3,14, Bergen; Kunstakademiet - Institutt for Samtidskunst / KMD / UiB, Bergen; and SixtyEight Art Institute, Copenhagen.
The journal is edited by visual artist and professor Frans Jacobi.
And supported by KMD / UiB, Bergen.
Issue no 1 contains contributions by artists Gitte Sætre and Kent Klich as well as open peer reviews by artists Ane Hjort Guttu and Stine Marie Jacobsen. Journal design by THE WINTER OFFICE.
On the Bergen/Copenhagen Papers, no. 1
Fear is still embedded in our bodies, and cleansing them of it is a long process.
Bergen/Copenhagen Papers is a low-tech artistic research magazine, made fast and directly without a long and expensive process of design and printing. The magazine will be published in a small print runs, measured to the circumstances. It will arrive at irregular intervals, whenever a relevant need to publish arises.
The name Bergen/Copenhagen Papers is to be taken quite literally; the publication springs from an already ongoing process of traveling and thinking in and out of these two cities. Through a mutual interest, the editor Frans Jacobi and RSS Press have set out to facilitate a certain strand of artistic/political thinking. How can art engage in a politically-charged horizon, scorched by apocalyptic abysses and systemic entanglements? How can art add creativity and vision to societal debate?
As an additional feature the Bergen/Copenhagen Papers will include an open peer review. In each issue, two independent peer reviewers will be asked to make a short statement that reviews the content at hand. These two statements will be printed on the last page, including the names of the peer reviewers. This text itself will work as a combined review of and afterword to the issue. In order to establish a transparent structure, we have chosen the open peer review model instead of the closed peer review that is the norm in academic research.
Circles
The Bergen/Copenhagen Papers is intended to reach and create a small circle of engaged and committed readers who will be able to relate to the output in a direct, informal manner. The Papers are produced in collaboration between Kunstakademiet – institutt for samtidskunst, Kunsthall 3.14 and Lydgalleriet in Bergen, and RSS Press and SixtyEight Art Institute in Copenhagen. For each issue these institutions will host these social circles around each essay and where the issues at hand can be discussed and oriented to new responses or dialog.
Fables
The first issue contains two artworks that each provide an entry point into the hyper-complex political spaces from which the discussions of Bergen/Copenhagen might take off.
In Syvende etasje, Synkront by Gitte Sætre, a movement takes place and a new space widens towards a future horizon. This futuristic fable contains a political hope, that seems appropriate for opening this new series of politically related artistic research.
In Birdfly, a series of 9 photos by Kent Klich, Palestinian pigeons are depicted on a middle-blue background. The format of these portraits is that of the Palestinian passport. The pigeons thus become substitutes for the Palestinians who are not able to escape the deadlock of Israeli walls and restrictions. Here, the pigeons have a passport and the pigeons are able to fly. Away.
Birdfly and Syvende etasje, Synkront share the format of the fable. Instead of describing the political issues in a direct, journalistic manner, both artworks use an allegory to describe urgent political issues, thus opening a poetic entry into a potential discussion.
Bios
Gitte Sætre (born 1975) is a multidisciplinary artist, living and working in Bergen. She works with dialogue-based art, performance, photography, video and sound. Her work has been shown at Bomuldsfabriken, Oslo Kunstforening; House of Foundation; Media Impact, Moscow; Arctic Art Forum, Arkhangelsk; Komunitas Salihara, Jakarta; XX1 Gallery, Warsaw; Pristine Galerie, Mexico; the WhiteBox in New York; Kunsthall 3.14 in Bergen, Bergen Kunsthall; KODE; Fylkingen, Stockholm; The National Theater in Bergen and Guramayne Art Center in Addis Ababa. Gitte Sætre’s oeuvre deals with current issues, such as climate change, neoliberal ideological patterns, as well as cultural radicalism. Her body of work is characterized by the weight of contemporary society, yet makes room for humour and quiet reflection. Her work investigates roles and positions through the generations, related to philosophical questions like forgiveness, guilt and freedom within the close family sphere, and into the sphere of national and international politics.
Gitte Sætre initiated the art group Soups & Stories together with Katrine Meisfjord, and the Green Hijab Movement together with Frans Jacobi.
Kent Klich (born 1952) is a Swedish photographer living in Copenhagen. Klich studied psychology at the University of Gothenburg and worked with adolescent children before turning to photography. He joined Magnum Photos in 1998 and left in 2002.
His work is noted for a strong commitment to social issues; he has worked with street children in Mexico and drug addicts in Denmark. In 2001 he collaborated with the author Herta Müller on a project and book Children of Ceausescu, detailing the HIV crisis among Romanian children. He has produced numerous books, films and exhibitions, as well as having received numerous prestigious prizes. His latest solo exhibition Gaza Works, dealing with the Israeli occupation of Gaza, was shown at The National Museum of Photography, The Black Diamond, Copenhagen, Denmark and at Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Sweden. The book Gaza Works has been selected as one of Germany’s Most Beautiful Books (Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher) by the Stiftung Buchkunst, 2018.