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Annika Ström – the fifth show (2008)



The After Film Trailer, 2008
DVD, 3:20 min

The by visitors touched drawing listening to the audioguide in the fifth show, 2008
Drawing Paper, metal cramps, 70 x 100 cm

Candy Girl, Opening Performance, c/o – Atle Gerhardsen 2008

Popcorn Performance, Opening Performance, c/o – Atle Gerhardsen 2008




Press Release

Annika Ström
the fifth show

Exhibition duration: September 26 – October 24, 2008

We are very pleased to announce our fifth exhibition with the Swedish artist Annika Ström. Annika Ström will present her current film project during this new show with c/o – Atle Gerhardsen. To date, the artist is especially known for her video art, songs, music clips and text pieces. In the exhibition the announcement of a full-scale film to be produced in 2009 takes on the form of a five-minute film "After Film – trailer" (2008), hereby becoming an artistic event in its own right.

In her art, Annika Ström always entertains the option to disrupt and derail the course of events, often in an amusing manner, serving to trigger thought processes and question things with a sense of humour. Failure is a recurring theme in the artist's work, and similarly to in the video "The missed concert" (2005) she alludes to this human quality in "After Film –trailer": "Failing as an artist and failing as a human being are recurrent themes in Annika Ström's work. Her songs, text pieces and films all touch on the question of inadequacy – if not miserable failure. The content and aesthetics repeatedly play with the notion of imperfection. Ström's text pieces are clearly hand painted, the videos include shaky, blurred images, and her rhythm-box compositions flirt with an amateurish Eurovision aesthetic.
(…)
After film (…) documents Ström's incompetence even before the failure has become a fact. The video predicts the artist's first feature will be a total flop. Upon the film's release in 2009, friends from Ström's neighbourhood in South England are questioned about the sudden disappearance of the film maker and her son. Some speculate that she has quit her career as an artist to join an aid program for children in Argentina – or was it Indonesia? All in all, After film is not only about failing. It plays with the romantic notion of secretly leaving your old life behind to begin a new." (Lotte Møller)

Parallel to this show onestar press will be launching Annika Ström's third artist book.[1] The book poses as a link between the artistic and actual reality: it finally seems to provide the visitor with a sign of life from the vanished artist.

In 2008, Annika Ström's work is included in the following group exhibitions: Divas. Les interprètes de Berlioz, Musée Hector Berlioz, La Cote Saint André (June 27 – December 2008); No more reality. Step 3: SHARED FOLDER, curated Claire Staebler & Jelena Vesic´, De Appel, Amsterdam (July 5 - September 7, 2008); Sonic voices, Rocking hard, Montevideo, Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam (August 29 - November 2, 2008); Spaport, curated by Ana Nikitovic, Protok, Banja Luka (September 2008); Intimacy, Curated by Anna MacDonald, ACCA, Melbourne (October 2008).

In autumn two solo exhibitions in the Bohuslän Museum, Uddevalla and Ystad Konstmuseum will be showing the artist's work.

[1] onestar press is specialized in the publication of artist books. MoMA in New York recently purchased the entire onestar press collection in a bookcase designed by Lawrence Weiner. The publication "Live!" by Annika Ström provides an overview of her videographic work and painting from the years 1995-2008, and also refers to the forthcoming film project through the multifarious analyses of her work (including contributions by: Jennifer Allen, Ina Blom, Staffan Boije af Gennäs, Christophe Boutin, Jacob Fabricius, Dominic Eichler, Jörg Heiser, Jennifer Higgie, Mark Kremer, Thomas Millroth, Lotte Møller, Tom Morton, Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, Monica Ross and Cecilia Wendt). The publication is a collaborative effort with the Swedish publishing house Fälth & Hässler.
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Annika Ström
the fifth show

Ausstellungsdauer: 26. September – 24. Oktober 2008

Wir freuen uns sehr, unsere fünfte Einzelausstellung mit der schwedischen Künstlerin Annika Ström ankündigen zu können. Annika Ström wird in ihrer neuen Ausstellung mit
c/o – Atle Gerhardsen ihr aktuelles Filmprojekt präsentieren. Bislang ist die Künstlerin vor allem durch ihre Videos, artist songs, music clips sowie text pieces bekannt, in der Ausstellung wird die Ankündigung des großen Films, der 2009 fertiggestellt wird, mit dem fünfminütigen Film „After Film – trailer“ (2008) selbst zum eigenständigen künstlerischen Ereignis.

Annika Ström hält sich in ihren videographischen Arbeiten immer die Möglichkeit offen, auf witzige Weise Geschehen zu stören und zu konterkarieren, um so Denkprozesse anzuregen und die Dinge mit Humor zu hinterfragen. Oft durchkreuzt das Thema des Scheiterns das Werk der Künstlerin, und ähnlich wie das Video „The missed concert“ von 2005 bezieht sie sich „After Film – trailer“ auf diesen menschlichen Zustand: „Failing as an artist and failing as a human being are recurrent themes in Annika Ström’s work. Her songs, text pieces and films all touch on the question of inadequacy – if not miserable failure. The content and aesthetics repeatedly play with the notion of imperfection. Ström’s text pieces are clearly hand painted, the videos include shaky, blurred images, and her rhythm-box compositions flirt with an amateurish Eurovision aesthetic.
(…)
After film (…) documents Ström’s incompetence even before the failure has become a fact. The video predicts the artist’s first feature will be a total flop. Upon the film’s release in 2009, friends from Ström’s neighborhood in South England are questioned about the sudden disappearance of the film maker and her son. Some speculate that she has quit her career as an artist to join an aid program for children in Argentina – or was it Indonesia? All in all, After film is not only about failing. It plays with the romantic notion of secretly leaving your old life behind to begin a new." (Lotte Møller)
Parallel hierzu publiziert onestar press das dritte Künstlerbuch von Annika Ström.[1] Das Buch funktioniert als Verbindungsglied zwischen künstlerischer und tatsächlicher Wirklichkeit: es scheint dem Besucher endlich ein Lebenszeichen der verschwundenen Künstlerin zu geben.

Annika Ström ist zur Zeit mit Arbeiten in den folgenden Gruppenausstellungen vertreten: Divas. Les interprètes de Berlioz, Musée Hector Berlioz, La Cote Saint André (June 27 – December 2008); No more reality. Step 3: SHARED FOLDER, curated Claire Staebler & Jelena Vesic´, De Appel, Amsterdam (July 5 - September 7, 2008); Sonic voices, Rocking hard, Montevideo, Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam (August 29 - November 2, 2008); Spaport, curated by Ana Nikitovic, Protok, Banja Luka (September 2008); Intimacy, Curated by Anna MacDonald, ACCA, Melbourne (October 2008).
Im Herbst widmen sich zwei Einzelausstellungen im Bohuslän Museum, Uddevalla und Ystad Konstmuseum dem Werk der Künstlerin.

[1] onestar press hat sich auf die Publikation von Künstlerbüchern spezialisiert. Die gesamten onestar press Publikationen sind kürzlich vom New Yorker MoMA in einem von Lawrence Weiner entworfenen Bücherregal angekauft worden.
Die Publikation „Live!“ von Annika Ström leistet einen Überblick über ihr videographisches Werk und Malerei aus den Jahren 1995 bis 2008, und weist gleichzeitig durch die vielfältige Analyse des Werkes (u.a. schreiben: Jennifer Allen, Ina Blom, Staffan Boije af Gennäs, Christophe Boutin, Jacob Fabricius, Dominic Eichler, Jörg Heiser, Jennifer Higgie, Mark Kremer, Thomas Millroth, Lotte Möller, Tom Morton, Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, Monica Ross und Cecilia Wendt) auf das kommende Filmprojekt hin. Die Publikation entsteht in Zusammenarbeit mit dem schwedischen Druckhaus Fälth & Hässler.