Beier, Nina & Marie Lund (DK)
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Nina Beier & Marie Lund
Nina Beier, born 1975 i �rhus, Denmark. Lives in Copenhagen and London
Marie Lund, born 1976 in Hundested, Denmark. Lives in Copenhagen and London
Nina Beier and Marie Lund have worked together since 2003. By giving simple
instructions to friends, museum visitors or people on the street, they challenge our habits and attitudes. The medium is often a kind of social choreography involving, for instance, the artists getting people to hang from trees for as long as possible, or to stare and keep staring in through a window from the street until someone looks back out. These are simple, social experiments, recalling children's games of dare. But Beier and Lund's poetic stagings are not simply games. They are also about creating situations where all social rules - even the most commonplace - seem to be up for grabs. While many artists today throw a critical spotlight on major political and social issues, Beier and Lund deal with everyday reality, turning it upside down through a range of spontaneous and quirkily thought-provoking actions performed by ordinary regular types like you and me. And what could be more important really than revolutionizing our day-to-day life?
Beier and Lund's contribution to U-TURN, The Difference between Humans and Walls, also involves the staff at an art museum. In the main exhibition space at Carlsberg Tap E and at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek staff will intermittently block the path of visitors in door openings, on staircases and at other circulation nodes. Uniformed attendants, deep in conversation and apparently oblivious to all else, will leave it to visitors to decide whether they should move out of the way. The moment someone tries to push through or asks the attendants to step aside, the human wall disperses, only to reconstitute itself elsewhere in the building. The 'travelling event' continues on its way, with the wall reasserting itself according to an irregular, unannounced schedule, making it impossible to track down, or to predict where it will turn up next. -CSJ
Marie Lund, born 1976 in Hundested, Denmark. Lives in Copenhagen and London
Nina Beier and Marie Lund have worked together since 2003. By giving simple
instructions to friends, museum visitors or people on the street, they challenge our habits and attitudes. The medium is often a kind of social choreography involving, for instance, the artists getting people to hang from trees for as long as possible, or to stare and keep staring in through a window from the street until someone looks back out. These are simple, social experiments, recalling children's games of dare. But Beier and Lund's poetic stagings are not simply games. They are also about creating situations where all social rules - even the most commonplace - seem to be up for grabs. While many artists today throw a critical spotlight on major political and social issues, Beier and Lund deal with everyday reality, turning it upside down through a range of spontaneous and quirkily thought-provoking actions performed by ordinary regular types like you and me. And what could be more important really than revolutionizing our day-to-day life?
Beier and Lund's contribution to U-TURN, The Difference between Humans and Walls, also involves the staff at an art museum. In the main exhibition space at Carlsberg Tap E and at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek staff will intermittently block the path of visitors in door openings, on staircases and at other circulation nodes. Uniformed attendants, deep in conversation and apparently oblivious to all else, will leave it to visitors to decide whether they should move out of the way. The moment someone tries to push through or asks the attendants to step aside, the human wall disperses, only to reconstitute itself elsewhere in the building. The 'travelling event' continues on its way, with the wall reasserting itself according to an irregular, unannounced schedule, making it impossible to track down, or to predict where it will turn up next. -CSJ