ANN-SOFI SIDÉN

ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Curtain Callers
Curtain Callers is a new commission with Ann-Sofi Sidén and the composer Jonathan Bepler. The project is examining the contemporary institutional theatre from
within. By focusing at the very core of fiction building and its ongoing processes, the work traces the fleeting moment of release in the rehearsed ritual between the
audience and the stage.
The project is presented as a film Curtain Callers and a multi-channel video installation Curtain Callers (entracte). Both works are produced by MAP, Mobile Art
Production, and have been recorded at The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN is one of Sweden’s most established artists both at home and internationally. Since the 1990s, she has participated in several major international
group exhibitions and her films have been screened at film festivals. She has held solo exhibitions at prominent museums and galleries in, among others, Vienna,
Paris and London.
JONATHAN BEPLER is a composer who has received wide attention for his collaboration with Matthew Barney in the major film productions Cremaster 2, 3 and 5.
He also composes music for film, theatre and dance. He has directed and acted in several operas as well as designed computer-controlled sound installations
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN in collaboration with JONATHAN BEPLER
Curtain Callers, 2011
1-Kanal Video Installation / single channel piece
20:00 min
Ed. 5 + 1 a.p. + 1 e.c.
Installation shot, Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN in collaboration with JONATHAN BEPLER
Curtain Callers (Entracte), 2011
5-Kanal HD Video Installation / 5-channel HD video installation
35:00 min
Ed. 5 + 1 a.p. + 1 e.c.
Installation shot Västra Stallet, Stockholm
The Wigmakers Visit
In today’s theatre institutions the craft of making wigs has not changed very much from Freud’s time.
The Wigmakers Visit is a meditative bridge to the past. The wigmakers meticulous, tender and mechanical care is both touching and uncanny. In moments the
subject and object are one, intimating our own complex relationships of family and friends, expressing in idiosyncratic terms the ambiguities between analyst and
patient. The hairs are plucked, collected and examined in a purgatory backroom. The hairy wooden skulls resemble primitive tools used in ancient rites, reminding
us of the origins of theatre and its rituals, as well as Freud’s impact on surrealism.
(Ann-Sofi Sidén)
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
The Wigmakers Visit, 2011
6-Kanal HD Video Installation mit Ton, auf 3 Säulen installiert /
6-channel HD video installation with sound, installed on 3 poles
10:30 min, Maße variabel / dimensions variable
Ed. 3 + 1 ap + 1 ec
Installation shot Sigmund Freud Museum Wien / Vienna
Fidei Commissum
Für die Ausstellung in der Christine König Galerie 2001 schuf Ann-Sofi Sidén eine Installation mit Videos und Fotos, die sie - ausgehend vom 1:1 Abdruck ihres Körpers in
Bronze - entwickelte: Modellstehen, Bronzeguß, Aufladen, Transport, Abladen, Auspacken, Aufstellen, Inbetriebnehmen des „Selbstportraits-als-Brunnen“. Handlungen, die
von männlichen Arbeitern an der weiblichen, nackten, pissenden Figur vorgenommen werden. Die dementsprechend forsch, humorig, aber auch etwas verschämt agieren,
vermutlich ähnlich wie der Kunstbetrachter, der unversehens zum Voyeur wird. Das erste Mal wurde die Figur Fidei Commissum im idyllischen Schloßpark von Wanas in
Südschweden aufgestellt und gefilmt. Fidei Commissum bedeutet, „Familiengut zu treuen Händen belassen“, legt die Unveräußerbarkeit des Besitzes und die männliche
Erblinie fest. Das alles erfuhr die Künstlerin auf Schloß Wanas und es verführte sie – entspannt lächelnd - zur „Landnahme“, zum „territorialen Markieren“, zu einer
anarchistischen Handlung in der Nähe des Schlosses, die man sonst nur bei Männern (und Männlichen Statuen in Parks) beobachten kann.
Ann-Sofi Sidén created another biographical situation in Vienna for her bronze figure Fidei Commissum, first being installed in the park of Wanas Castle in Southern
Sweden, a self-portrait squatting and urinating, with the micturition making it work as a fountain.
Many other sculptural figures, almost always male, you’ve seen similarly urinating in various parks and gardens through the years. This is a humorous inversion, but an
extremely effective one. (...) Peeing marks the space territorially, and by extension it infiltrates a culturewide, or worldwide, situation in which men in general occupy huge
proportions of public space. (...) There is an interesting progression, caught on videos, as the figure is transported and installed. It is lifted up by its thighs, carried, touched,
moved, adjusted, and eventually installed in its proper crouching perch. The workers are not entirely uncomfortable, but then neither are they entirely at ease. That’s probably
a pretty good description of what happens for the audience with the finished piece, which is simultaneously inviting and disconcerting, weird and familiar.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Fidei Commissum, 2000
Ansicht The Wanas Foundation, Schweden / view The Wanas Foundation, Sweden
Bronze, Pumpe, Wasser / bronze, pump, water
ca. 100 x 60 x 70 cm
Ed. 6 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Fidei Commissum, 2000
Ansicht Christine König Galerie, Wien / view Christine König Galerie, Vienna
Bronze, Pumpe, Wasser / bronze, pump, water
ca. 100 x 60 x 70 cm
Ed. 6 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Head Lake Piss Down, 2000
DVD PAL
7 min 26 sec
Edition unlimitiert / edition unlimited
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Head Gallery Piss Up, 2001
DVD PAL
11 min 24 sec
Edition unlimitiert / edition unlimited
Poshlust! (A quest for White Horses)
During my stay in Vienna in the spring of 2003, I met up with a British collector of historical photography who was in Vienna going through a large archive of
2nd World War photos in his search for pictures that directly related to “Anschluss”. One day he came over to my studio exhausted after
looking through thousands of images. At the spur of the moment I asked him if he had found any pictures of white horses.
I think the question came out of my fascination for the Lippizaner and a plain curiosity of what happened to them during the war years.
During a second meeting a month later my friend handed me a gift: a group of photos of white horses that he had selected for me. I was surprised that by just
studying a group of photos, where the common denominator is a white horse, the horrifying moments and the gradual development of a war reveal themselves.
On the backside of the press photographs are captions that describe where and when each photo was taken, etc. Next to, or under the caption, an ink stamp
shows the name of the photo agency that distributed the pictures to the press. Different photo agencies occur: “Atlantic” and “WeltBild”, but in some of the
stamps the initial owner is referred to as “Ehemals Schostal” along with the new name “Wien Bild.” I found out that Agentur Schostal was initially owned by a
Jewish family. After “Anschluss”, in March 1938, the owner Robert Schostal fled Vienna and took refuge in Italy, forced to leave his company behind to a new
and approved Arian owner. Finding this out made me revaluate the gift. The backside of the photos turned out to hold as much information as the photographic
image itself. (ANN-SOFI SIDÉN 2003)
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Poshlust! (A quest for white horses), 2003
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
7- teilig, je 34 x 82 cm, Künstlerrrahmung / artist’s frame
Ed. 6 + 1 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Poshlust! (A quest for white horses), 2003
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
7- teilig, je 34 x 82 cm, Künstlerrrahmung / artist’s frame
Ed. 6 + 1 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Poshlust! (A quest for white horses), 2003
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
7- teilig, je 34 x 82 cm, Künstlerrrahmung / artist’s frame
Ed. 6 + 1 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Poshlust! (A quest for white horses), 2003
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
7- teilig, je 34 x 82 cm, Künstlerrrahmung / artist’s frame
Ed. 6 + 1 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Poshlust! (A quest for white horses), 2003
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
7- teilig, je 34 x 82 cm, Künstlerrrahmung / artist’s frame
Ed. 6 + 1 a.p.
Codex
“History is the shelf inside all of us. Judicial records make people visible in remote spots of history. By transcending the law these people exist. And by the laborious
manuscripts of the recording clerks in books thick as record collections the protocols uncover objectively parts of the life of the individual. This has been the point of
departure in my work with CODEX. I have chosen to pay attention to eleven women because of the fact that their fates would presumably never had been represented
anywhere else than in the confrontation with the law. The fact that I have succeeded in realizing this project is due to cooperation with and engagement in people who
have helped me.” (ANN-SOFI SIDÉN, Stockholm 1993)
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
The Stocks (aus der Serie Codex), 1993/2005
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
11-teilig, je 93 x 78 cm
Ed. 3
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
The City Stones (aus der Serie Codex), 1993/2005
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
11-teilig, je 93 x 78 cm
Ed. 3
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Trial by Water (aus der Serie Codex), 1993/2005
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
11-teilig, je 93 x 78 cm
Ed. 3
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
The Spinning House (aus der Serie Codex), 1993/2005
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
11-teilig, je 93 x 78 cm
Ed. 3
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Birching (aus der Serie Codex), 1993/2005
s/w - Fotografie / b/w - photography
11-teilig, je 93 x 78 cm
Ed. 3
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Codex, 1993
DVD
51 min 38 sec
Ed. 3
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
VIDEO STILL Same Unknown (strain 1, 2 & 3), 2009
9-Kanal Video Installation, auf 3 Säulen installiert /
9 channel video installation, installed on 3 poles
27 min 30 sec
Ed. 5
In Passing
Ann-Sofi Sidéns Arbeit In Passing (2007) erzählt aus verschiedenen Perspektiven fragmentarisch die Geschichte einer jungen Frau, die ihren Säugling in der Babyklappe
eines Berliner Krankenhauses ablegt. Mit dieser Verzweiflungstat setzt sich die Narration der mehrteiligen Videoarbeit in Gang, die auf der einen Seite die institutionalisierte
Fürsorge für das Kind und auf der anderen Seite, in Andeutungen, die Geschichte der Mutter schildert. Die verschiedenen Erzählstränge spielen sich auf diagonal im Raum
angeordneten Projektionsflächen und Flachbildschirmen ab. Dabei differieren die gezeigten Sequenzen formal wie atmosphärisch stark. Zwei großflächig nebeneinander
gezeigte Videos verfolgen das Geschehen im Krankenhaus vor und nach dem Auffinden des Kindes. Das Schwarz-Weiß der Bilder, der ständig wechselnde Blick in andere
Räume des Hospitals sowie ein konsequent erhöhter Kamerastandpunkt suggerieren Aufnahmen von Überwachungskameras. Auf der gegenüberliegenden Projektion
hingegen werden die ruhig dahinfließenden farbigen Bilder immer wieder von eingeschobenen Stills durchbrochen. Die Kamera begleitet die Protagonistin auf Augenhöhe bei
ihrem Gang zur Babyklappe und danach in eine ungewisse Zukunft.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
In Passing, 2007
6-Kanal Video Installation, synchronisiert, mit Sound und Säule /
6 channel video installation, synchronized, with sound and pillar
14 min
Ed. 5 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Untitled (Baby Klappe), 2007
Video Installation (1 Monitor, 2 Bücher, 1 Regal, Alarm, Computer) /
video installation (1 monitor, 2 books, 1 shelf, alarm, computer)
Endlosschleife / endless loop
Ed. 5 + 1 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
After the Fact (Back), 2007
Fotogravüre, 12-teilige Serie
40 x 50 cm
Ed. 9 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
After the Fact (Underpass), 2007
Fotogravüre, 12-teilige Serie
40 x 114,50 cm
Ed. 9 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
After the Fact (Nurse Students), 2007
Fotogravüre, 12-teilige Serie
40 x 129 cm
Ed. 9 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
After the Fact (Scale), 2007
Fotogravüre, 12-teilige Serie
40 x 129 cm
Ed. 9 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
My Country (Somewhere in Sweden), 2010
Video Installation, 4-Kanal HD-Video / 4-channel HD video
38 min
Ed. 5
3 MPH (Horse to Rocket)
On July 7th 2002, Ann-Sofi Sidén set off on a journey from ArtPace, a centre for contemporary art in San Antonio
(Texas), to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Centre, in Houston, a symbol of technological innovation and space exploration. Her chosen mode
of transport for the ‘pilgrimage’ through rural America was an Appaloosa horse, which in times past was the main form of transport used by
the Indians that used to inhabit these parts. Travelling at a leisurely speed of 3mph (4.8 kph), Sidén covered 440 kilometres in twenty-five days. In
3MPH, Sidén appropiates mechanisms common to film (especially docmentary) and performance. As the title suggests, 3MPH is a formula for using
the notions of space and time to create a sensation of constant movement, in this case relative to horse and rider. Five panoramic projections, lasting
35 minutes each, form a highly condensed mix of synchronized images and local sounds, bringing the viewer into a reality that is immediate and
fleeting. The work documents the artist’s journey through the suburbs, open expanses, and small farming communities of rural Texas, with its
churches and derelict roads. It is a vacillatation between motorized, urban city culture and country life. In true road movie style, Sidén reveals the
complex structures and social fabric of Texan society through an intense sociological portrait of its people.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
3 MPH (Horse to Rocket), 2003
DVD, 5 Kanäle / 5 Channels
35 min 50 sec
Ed. 5 + 1 a.p. + 1 exh. copy
Warte Mal! Prostitution after the Velvet Revolution
During 1999 Ann-Sofi Sidén travelled through the Czech Republic from the western town Cheb to Dubi in the north, where she stayed in
Motel Hubert – an establishment that lets out rooms to working girls. Sidén got to know the prostitutes and their pimps, as well as the local police and the clientele.
Gaining their trust and sometimes friendship, Sidén recorded video interviews with them. Some are shown on TV monitors which are displayed in video booths,
reminiscent of peep shows. Other interviews, including footage of prostitutes working the streets, are projected on to large screens. Sidén also documented her own
experiences, which are presented in a video projection. Excerpts of her diary can be seen scrolling by, interspersed with photographs of prostitutes inside Motel
Hubert. In the installation Warte Mal! , the viewer becomes immersed in the stories and realities of daily life in Dubi, where corruption, abuse and human exploitation
is routine. The installation also reveals the capacity for individuals, against the odds, to create unexpected spaces of solidarity, compassion, and human decency. The
interviews reveal in detail the reasons why the girls have taken up prostitution. For some prostitution seems to be the result of a decision, where pros and cons have
Been weighed. While others have been kidnapped from their hometowns by pimps and forced to work the streets; many have been lured into the trade under false
pretences with the promise of work as waitresses or dancers, but instead have been taught by threats and violence to accept their fate as prostitutes.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Eva, 2001
Aus der Serie “Motel Hubert” / from the series “Motel Hubert”
Farbfotografie auf Aluminium / color photograph on aluminium
76 x 51 cm
Ed. 7
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Andrea, 2001
Aus der Serie “Motel Hubert” / from the series “Motel Hubert”
Farbfotografie auf Aluminium / color photograph on aluminium
76 x 51 cm
Ed. 7
QM - Queen of Mud
(hier/here: The Clocktower (A Queen of Mud Trailer), QM at NK (A Queen of Mud Action), 53 West 9th Street, Clinical Studies Part 1, The Test Chamber)
Die Figur der QM - Queen of Mud - kann als das Alter-Ego der paranoiden Psychiaterin Ruth Fielding verstanden werden, welches sie vergeblich zum Verschwinden
bringen will, das aber wie ein Golem zurückkehrt. Im Gegensatz zu den mythischen, vorchristlichen Frauenfiguren, die besonders in den 70er Jahren von feministischen
Künstlerinnen „gerufen“ worden sind, ist die QM keine muttergottheitliche Wohltäterin. Sie ist ein Alien und sowohl in vorgeschichtlicher Zeit als auch in
Zukunftsutopien wurzelnd. Der Schlamm, mit dem sie über und über bedeckt ist, assoziiert eine sensible fötale Membran, die nicht zerstört werden darf. Aus den
früheren Videoarbeiten der Künstlerin geht hervor, dass in und mit diesem Schlamm ein Bestimmungsort, ein Ziel kodiert ist, weshalb sich die QM auch in
schwindelerregenden Höhen, oder gefährlichen Orten mit dichtem Verkehr sicher bewegen kann. Diese faszinierende Kreatur spiegelt eine distanzierte Sicht der Welt für
uns wider und erinnert an Kaspar Hauser oder Mowgli aus dem Dschungelbuch. Verletzbarkeit, Ausgeliefertsein, Kontrolle, Überwachung und Wahnsinn sind rekursive
Themen in Sidéns Arbeiten. Auffallend oft beschäftigt sie sich mit dem schlechten Gewissen unserer Kultur, unserer Gesellschaft, welches unterdrückt und/oder
überspielt wird.
Ann-Sofi Sidén‘s large project, The Queen of Mud Museum (2004-2005), installed at MASS MoCA, is a conceptual museum devoted to the character QM, a strange
primordial being who was created and physically embodied by Sidén for over ten years. The museum is comprised of a system o sixteen different videos that project
documentary films - all featuring QM and her interactions in society. One of the videos, NK, QM Visits the Perfume Counter (1989), captures Sidén’s first public
performance as QM. Here QM, a naked, mud-covered, ur-creature visits an exclusive department store counter to sample Chanel No 5 perfume. The sheer sight of QM
confounds the retail shoppers. Over subsequent years, QM evolves and establishes relationships with other characters. These complex and engaging narratives illustrate
Sidén’s interest in surveillance, psychology, gender, and performance. Her QM projects culminated in a 1997 feature film, QM, I think I call her QM, in which Sidén
combined her work on the Queen of Mud with her continuing interests in psychology and gender in the form of Dr. Ruth Felding, a practicing psychologist. While the
Queen of Mud is neither animal nor human, she demonstrates how otherness can both attract and repulse the human imagination.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
QM at NK (A Queen of Mud Action), 1989
DVD
4 min 27 sec
Edition unlimitiert / edition unlimited
signiert / signed
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
The Clocktower (A Queen of Mud Trailer), 1995
DVD transformiert von 16 mm Farbfilm /
DVD transferred from 16 mm colorfilm
2 min 40 sec
Edition unlimitiert / edition unlimited
signiert / signed
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
53 West 9th Street, 1994-2004
C-Prints
8-teilige Serie / series of 8
je / each 100 x 100 cm
Ed. 3 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
53 West 9th Street, 1994-2004
C-Prints
8-teilige Serie / series of 8
je / each 100 x 100 cm
Ed. 3 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Clinical Studies Part 1, 2006
3-Kanal Video, 3 Projektoren, 3 Computer, kein Sound /
3 channels of video, 3 projectors, 3 computers, no sound
6 min 31 sec
Ed. 3 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
The Test Chamber, 1997/2004
2 b/w 12-inch Überwachungs-Monitore, 2 MAC Mini Computer, Network Hub, Regal für Monitore, Kabel /
2 b/w 12-inch surveillance monitors, 2 MAC Mini computers, network hub, shelf for monitors, cabling
14 min 27 sec
Ed. 3 + 2 a.p.
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Day’s Inn, 1998
SONY b/w Monitor, 2 4-Kanalschalter, Formica auf Holz,
Leintücher, Handtücher, Klopapier, Plastikbecher
SONY b/w monitor, 2 4-channel switchers, formica on
wood, linen, towels, toilet paper, plastic cups
video installation, 5 DVDs
Ed. 3
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
Good Morning America, 1994
Video Installation, 5 DVDs /
video installation, 5 DVDs
Ed. 3 + 1 a.p.