Engelska

Den bild vi har i Sverige idag av den internationella konstnärsskara som samlades i den franska byn Grez-sur-Loing under 1870- och 80-talen, präglas i hög grad av sin tids nationalistiska kulturklimat, men också av den konstruktion av platsen och fenomenet konstnärskoloni som både konstnärer och konsthistoriker skapat i efterhand. Vissa fakta i historieskrivningen har etablerats som sanningar. Berättelsen om den skandinaviska Grezkolonin har återberättats så många gånger, att det nu existerar en tydlig bild av det glada kolonilivet och dess melankoliska, gråtonade måleri, som sägs härröra från den fuktmättade luften i flodlandskapet. Grezkolonin besöktes flitigt av svenska konstnärer som Carl och Karin Larsson, Karl Nordström, Nils Kreuger, Georg Pauli och Julia Beck, men även av konstnärer från USA, England, Skottland och Irland. Konstvetaren Alexandra Herlitz har undersökt hur bilden av kolonin framställts i svensk konsthistorisk litteratur och jämfört denna med bildmaterialet, utsagor i opublicerade källor och den bild av Grezkolonin som engelskspråkig litteratur beskrivit där utgångspunkten varit andra nationer än den svenska. Alexandra Herlitz forskning visar att den bild som skrivits fram i Sverige innehåller aspekter som är signifikativa för hur de hela tiden återkommit och betonats. Till dessa hör en etablerad föreställning om att de skandinaviska och engelskspråkiga konstnärer som vistades samtidigt i Grez endast hade ytliga kontakter med varandra. Likheter i den internationella konstnärsskarans ofta gråstämda verk, som till exempel motiven, har förklarats med gemensamma franska förebilder och inte minst byns lokala vädervillkor. Många hittills opublicerade källor vittnar om kontakter mellan de olika ländernas konstnärer. Herlitz menar att dessa sociala och artistiska kontakter senare delvis förnekades av konstnärerna, för om det inte fanns någon social kontakt alls, skulle inget konstnärligt inflytande ha varit möjligt något som kan ha varit av viss betydelse för dessa konstnärers senare karriärer. En av hennes slutsatser är att det finns aspekter i de internationella verken från Grez som snarare kan ses som ett resultat av den sociala konstnärsgemenskapen än ur gemensamma förebilder och en etablerad platsmyt om det gråa Grez.

Behind the Scenes gives you an inside look at today's design industry and the challenges it faces, the commercial undercurrents that shape and define it and a glimpse of those in power. The book includes subjects such as design media and PR and the relationship between the two, payment methods in the design industry, the escalating speed of the new and the effect it has on the products, as well as the importance of pricing. Behind the Scenes is a book debating the issues around design that rarely is spoken about.

Norway Calling, the book of contemporary Norwegian design, is a kind of answer to the question of why Norwegian design is arousing such pleasure and curiosity today the world over. It is the first book to mirror the exciting northern trend, introducing some of the principal figures and some of their most important projects - an excellent opportunity for design-lovers to acquaint themselves with the vigorous development of Norwegian design after such titans as Sverre Fehn, Grete Prytz Kittelsen and Arne Korsmo. After years of silence there proved to be a new, living world of Norwegian design. Now widley known designers and architects such as Snøhetta, Daniel Rybakken, Norway Says and Arne & Carlos bare witness to this forceful trend.

The growing flow of digital culture depends on the hidden protocols of its underlying systems. To explore how interfacing shapes spectatorship online, this pioneering study pinpoints experiences of flow through the friction of photo-based glitch art by Phillip Stearns, Rosa Menkman, and Evan Meaney. Homing in on the viewer, these three cross-disciplinary case studies present and analyze material that is new to the art-historical context. In particular, they focus on how glitched artworks in online environments make viewers aware of their own activity within the flow, causing a break from the increasingly naturalized integration of system and individual. When a glitch invites the viewer to try out different positions in relation to the system, a tactical spectatorship unfolds.

Just like architecture is spatial, there are spaces inside oneself. We construct them, move through them and let them protect us. Abody Abode is a poignant collection of fragmentary stories and architectural spaces are both memories of emotions and made-up moments. The outcome is a modest but also rebellious anthology that tells a story of modern womanhood.

Today we are all photographers. Self-portraits are everywhere and snapshots of our lives are circulated and shared frenetically on various social media networks. Distinctions are blurred, not only between the private and public spheres but also between professional and amateur photographic practices. This calls for increased knowledge about the performative characteristics of digitized and networked visual communication. What are the limits of automation and what is the potential of virtuality? When is visuality empowering and when is self-monitoring out of control? Auto investigates how the everyday digital photography of our times challenges notions of autobiography, interactivity, and democracy.

Qualis artifex pereo ? translated What an artist the world loses in me, was the dying words of the infamous Roman emperor Nero. The phrase here marks what Bo I Cavefors and Martin Bladh through their performance-series The Theatre of the Decadence of Cruelty for several years have manifested: the close proximity between staged debauchery and oppressive violence transformed through artistic self-exploration; how humiliation can be handled when converted into enjoyment, sexual absolutism and a strict acceptation of its most profound consequences: sperm, blood and the crack of the whip; and in the end, the question: what is sensation in itself? One answer that is presented in this work is that sensation is a violent physical overload, an attack on the nervous system best handled completely naked, when one is bleeding and disappearing into sexual ecstasy. STYX förlag presents QUALIS ARTIFEX PEREO - a book and a DVD. The book includes: ? a manifesto ? essays by the artists ? in-depth interviews: Cavefors on Cavefors by Johannes Flink Bladh on Bladh by Peter Sotos discussing the nature of their art and their drives ? 9 color collages by M.Bladh ? a poem by M.Bladh intersected by a text amalgam based on works of Georges Bataille ? original action scores for the performance pieces ? the work INJURY The DVD includes two performance pieces: QUALIS ARTIFEX PEREO (40 min) performed and filmed in Malmö, 8th of June 2008. Actors: Bo I. Cavefors, Martin Bladh, Erica Li Lundqvist, Johanna Rosenqvist. Film: Aryan Kaganof. African Noise Foundation in association with Grymhetens Teater Dekadens Music: Martin Bladh Sound engineer: Mikael Oretoft QUALIS ARTIFEX PEREO ? FINIS (27 min) performed and filmed in Norrköping, 12th of June 2009. Actors: Bo I. Cavefors, Martin Bladh, Johan Adolphi, Mikael Oretoft. Film: Peter Andersson, Lars Bosma Music: Martin Bladh plus the extra feature INSULT - a video work by Martin Bladh (15 min)