LABOUR

Fredag 27 januar kl 19

Lansering av LABOUR utgave #1
«No Comment», en performance av Rachal Bradley og Jessica Wiesner,
samt en utstilling med arbeider av Henry VIII’s Wives

28. januar – 19. februar 2012

 

Kunsthall Oslo and Torpedo Bookshop are pleased to present the Norwegian launch of LABOUR, a new independent publication on art and work with a feminist perspective. On the occasion of the launch, we are also presenting work by some of the artists featured in Issue #1: the performance No Comment by Rachal Bradley and Jessica Wiesner, and a mini-retrospective of the artists’ group Henry VIII’s Wives (Rachel Dagnall, Bob Grieve, Sirko Knupfer, Simon Polli, Per Sander and Lucy Skaer).

The performance No Comment will combine a scripted conversation – between Rachal Bradley, Jessica Wiesner, Melissa Gordon, Rachel Dagnall and Simon Polli – with the live production of a giant screen print. Sabotaging the framework of the artist interview and the implied validation of those involved, the choreographed scenario of No Comment will draw on the controlled slapstick of Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton to aid its investigation of the conditions of art production.

LABOUR is published in London and edited by artist Melissa Gordon and writer Marina Vishmidt. The first issue includes: Nina Power on Women’s Work; Avigail Moss on What We Talk About When We Talk About Painting; Marina Vishmidt on Working Artists in the Greater Economy; Lisette Smits in conversation with Meredyth Sparks on The Female Dandy; Lizzie Borden interviewed by Kaisa Lassinaro about the making of Born in Flames; and artists’ projects by Henry VIII’s Wives, Emma Hedditch, and Rachal Bradley with Jessica Wiesner. LABOUR was initiated as a result of the discussion series ‘A conversation to know if there is a conversation to be had’ held in 2010-11 at Dexter Sinister (New York); Kunstverein Amsterdam; Salon Populaire (Berlin) and Raven Row (London).

Henry VIII’s Wives are a collective of artists founded in 1997, and include Rachel Dagnall, Bob Grieve, Sirko Knupfer, Simon Polli, Per Sander and Lucy Skaer. The six members of Henry VIII’s Wives met at art college in Glasgow in the mid-90s and are now based in various northern European countries. In the last two years they have been commissioned by Kunsthalle Bern, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade and created a new work for Populism, commissioned by NIFCA that also travelled to Frankfurt Kunstverein, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, CAC, Vilnius and Spike Island in Bristol. Rachal Bradley is an artist currently working in Glasgow, and Jessica Wiesner is an artist and stage designer based in London. They began their collaboration with the exhibition ‘Ever-Changing Moods’ at Auto Italia, London in 2011.