INTERIOR
Olli Keranen (FI) & Biba Fibiger (DK)
23.08 - 08.09.2018
Den nordiske ambassade proudly present Interior by Olli Keränen (FI) and Biba Fibiger (DK) as the fourth exhibition in the series of ”artistic meetings”. The two artists don´t know each other beforehand, and coming from different backgrounds they are invited to start an artistic conversation ending up in a collaborative exhibition.
Keränen and Fibiger are put together because of their shared passion for raw sculptural elements, spacial understanding and focus on the notion of functionality / dysfunctionality.
Welcome to Interior.
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On my way to work I pass by a junkie trying to figure out how to open the lock of a bicycle. He has slumped over the bicycle and you can´t really tell if he is searching for something from a plastic bag that he has with him, or if he is indeed figuring out how to get the lock opened.
The slow phased individual is taking his time. You could argue that he is just so out of it all. You could even say that he happened to forget where he put his own bicycle keys, and that this is the reason for the lingering motions being exhibited in front of a supermarket side door. It is a hot day.
I go to the bathroom where I can be alone and find comfort from these provoking thoughts. I believe the bathroom must be the most personal space in the house, just as thoughts inside the head are the most inexplicable and private to a subject.
Looking into the mirror I see shapes. Looking into my face I see space. Looking into the space, I get dizzy and my body starts to swirl into an unknown territory of images and different times.
I awaken as if I were a different person. 4000 yrs ago it seems that they had the key to unlock this swirling puzzle of above and below. Where is that key today?
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In the exhibition space Olli Keränen and Biba Fibiger are showing a sculptural landscape of objects that form a conversation. The two artists in this exhibition are conceptually and visually trying to deal with the notions of interior and exterior. Both are in their own way interested to form objects that seem to manifest in themselves; a form of chaos that is presented to the viewer. This chaos they argue in the exhibition, is only possible through the act of systematic and rigorous production of specific objects. Akin to curious creatures they approach and try to resolve conflicts in these specific objects that are clearly emerging from traits of their own personality. This being explained to them does not seem to extinguish their willingness to ask the objects in the show for something that only their minds can provide.
Biba Fibiger’s work centers around the body of a female meeting its surroundings of cultural elements such as language, architecture and images.
Drawing on a personal and naive sculptural language that she believes embodies the feelings that she herself is having at the time of creation she often clashes these with found materials and functionality. The two materials are often in an opposing mirror state, misunderstandings or a search to illustrate how the female is both a space of creation as well as a projection screen to certain cultural beliefs; Both the root to all divine and to all evil. In this sense the female rarely rises beyond mere functionality.
Olli Keränen’s works often discuss shared spaces that are in a constant need of negotiation. He´s practice is often multidisciplinary alternating from installation and sculptural elements to video works. Keränen produces works that take their cue from different kind of made up worlds. With these worlds he is aiming to locate certain patterns in the world that we inhabit. He is interested to see if there always is and obvious correlation between the make believe and the ways in witch the world around us actually functions.
