Øyvind Renberg og Miho Shimizu åpner i dag, fredag 15. oktober, utstillingen Upstream på Hordaland kunstsenter i Bergen. Utstillingen består av eldre og nye arbeider – fra akvareller til porselenskopper fra Figgjo – og markerer starten på et langvarig samarbeid mellom visningsstedet og de to kunstnerne. Neste år vil de lage et spektakulært papirarbeid på Kunsthuset Kabuso som del av Hordaland kunstsenters Utenforprosjekt. I Upstream sikter Danger Museum seg inn på en analyse av vår visuelle kultur og hukommelse samt masseproduserte objekter, særlig hentet fra en asiatisk undergrunnssetting i storbyer som Tokyo og Seoul. Stereotype forestillinger om natur tilknyttet turisme og kommersialisme belyses i utstillingen, som finner sted i et svart gallerirom.
Øyvind Renberg og Miho Shimizu er begge utdannet fra Goldsmiths College i London. De har samarbeidet siden begynnelsen av 2000-tallet under paraplynavnet Danger Museum, som inkluderer skiftende samarbeidspartnere. Danger Museum ble i følge deres hjemmeside opprinnelig stiftet i London i 1998, og er per i dag basert i Asia og Europa, med forskjellige «direktører» i Singapore og Tokyo/Oslo. Danger Museum har utviklet en rekke collage- og nettbaserte arbeider, såvel som skulpturer, musikkutgivelser og designobjekter. De arbeider ofte analytisk i forhold til kulturelle og nasjonale særegenheter, museumssamlinger og kunstinstitusjoner – gjerne gjennom en tydeliggjøring av sosiale, diskursive nettverk og reisen som dynamisk praksis. Den kollektive samarbeidsformen danner en mobil og prosessbasert plattform som organiserer kunstnerisk aktivitet.
Vi har bedt Øyvind Renberg og Miho Shimizu besvare Kunstkritikks ti spørsmål. De svarte på engelsk, og vi velger å publisere svarene på originalspråket.
1. How are the preparations for your upcoming show going?
Things are going well – we are just about to produce a fairly large, black cheese for presenting our LP Art of Cheese. Miho brought some super mature Edam from Holland that inspired it. Yet we are filled with the usual undercurrent of installation angst. Perhaps too much cheese late at night.
2. What do you consider the most important aspect of this exhibition?
Stepping further into our visual explorations, involving some serious hours of water colour and airbrush. These are actually studies for our next piece – a Japan inspired picture scroll set in the fjords of Norway. Oh, and we are launching a new cup in our ongoing tableware series Rio that is looking pretty good.
3. When, how and why did you become artists?
We both come from «creative» families bred up on jazz, art rock, Willi Storn and Sunday museum trips. Going to art school felt like a natural (and perhaps unavoidable) path from there.
4. What is your role as artists today?
Being alive and keeping a momentum in the work.
5. How would you describe your working method?
Working collaboratively involves a lot of talking, walking round and picking up ideas from everywhere. We sometimes work over the internet, but ideally we are stuck in the same place, working side by side, though with a reasonable distance.
6. Can you mention current art or projects/practices that inspire you?
Right now: Ricardo Basbaum’s work and ideas, as well as Paul McCarthy’s gnome statue, across from Miho’s school in Rotterdam.
7. What role does theory play in your work and what theorists have inspired you lately?
Theory is not the main fundament of our work, but can sometimes be a source of inspiration. We have recently been reading some of Ricardo Basbaum’s texts about his own practice and art on the whole, which we really could relate to, and which also opened up our own thinking. Our dialogue with Denise Carvalho – a curator with an artist’s background – through conversations and writing, has also been great
8. How can visual artists make a living and still maintain a critical attitude towards the commercial art market and governmental funding bodies?
Rather than an oppositional attitude, it is more productive for us to work with the commercial market and governmental funding bodies. They are hard to avoid, as they are as integral to society. One needs resources to be able to voice critique.
9. How can we theorize and historicize contemporary art?
A vibrant art scene will attract people who will try to place events culturally and historically. Many artists naturally document their encounters with other practices, generating words, publications, photographs.
10. What would you change in the world of art?
The world needs more cheese related art.
