February 4-8, 2015

The Fugue

The Stockholm session was titled ‘The Fugue’  and aimed to allow art and science to enter into a novel dialogue. The session took the fugue state as a starting point – a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by complete but reversible amnesia. The patient suffering from a fugue state will lose all traces of personal memory and identity, lasting hours to several days. It is characteristic of the disorder to undertake unplanned travels, during which the patient might establishment a temporary new identity. The Stockholm session was structured as a polyphonic music formula, including interventions by scientists, visual artists, musicians, philosophers, researchers and curators.

Some highlights of the program

The week was opened together with the exhibit Artists Adrift at Bonniers konsthall, where we explored our overlapping themes in conversation with the exhibiting artists, and presented two sonic installations by Elena Nemkova and Natasha Rosling. Psychiatrist and neuroscientist Predrag Petrovic gave a public lecture on our constantly changing reality at the old nuclear power plant underneath KTH, followed by a course on escapism through screenings of short movies, curated by Elena Nemkova. For the occation, Italian artist Jacopo Miliani was an artist-in-residence at MDT, and together with Jean-Louis Huhta, Sanna Söderholm and Carima Neusser, created a dance universe at the Dance Museum deceiving our vision and explore our sense of darkness. At the Italian Cultural Institute music psychologist and neuroscientist Laszlo Harmat lectured on the parallels between the fuga and the organization of the brain, followed by a musical performance of Bach fuga by Anna Buchenhorst of the Stockholm Royal Opera. Each event was freestanding and self-contained so that a visitor could choose to attend a single activity, a whole day or the entire session.

The full program can be found here.

Organizers

The session was curated by Stephen Whitmarsh with Eléna Nemkova, along with curatorial assistance by Susanne Ewerlöf.

Participants and contributors

Anders Widoff, Anna Buchenhorst, Antoine Bertin, Arijana Kajfes, Claudia Squitieri, Gustav Nilsonne, Elena Nemkova, Elias Arner, Henrik Sputnes, Iréne Berggren, Jacopo Miliani, Jean-Luis Huhta, Laslzo Hamat, Marco Pasi, Natasha Rosling, Olav Westphalen, Per Hüttner, Pina Kingman, Predrag Petrovic, Samon Takahashi, Sara Giannini, Stephen Whitmarsh, Susanne Ewerlof, Thomas Nordmark, Vilma Luostarinen and many more.

Partners and venues

Bonniers konsthall, Iaspis – The Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual Artists, Index Foundation, MDT, KTH R1, Hallwylska Museet, Karolinska Institutet, Kungliga Konsthögskolan, Stockholm Italian Cultural Institute and Naïvité. OuUnPo is part of Vision Forum and supported by Creed. The events are organised with Curatorial Mutiny and supported by Linköpings universitet, Kulturbryggan, Stockholms läns landsting, Stockholms stad, Statens kulturråd and Kungliga konsthögskolan.

Excerpts and reflections

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68abQOBKh7o&index=2&list=PLOI_e1h0yeCmHioot1HCF5udBWlaWSGTu