Manifold (Exidy Sorcerer 1978) 1 - 3Deconomy

Manifold (Exidy Sorcerer 1978)
2007, banner, 230x180 cm
1

René Schmidt
Ferdinand Ahm Krag
Trine Ross
Morten Alsinger
2 IBM
2008, photo polymer intaglio mounted on styrofoam, 26x19,5x5 cm
3

Halo
2010, jesmonite, h 152 cm
5

6 collaps utility
2010, jesmonite, l 50 cm
7

8 Invers psoriasis
silicon graphics
9
2010, jesmonite, h 0 cm
2010, jesmonite, 8 cm

10 BASCAP
2010, jesmonite, h130 cm
11

12 Gigatube map
200 , b&w lasercopi, 59x82 cm
13

1 The Golden Age of Wireless
calypso and grind
15
2010, jesmonite, l 58 cm
2010, jesmonite, l 50 cm

16 Butterfly
surface of unit area
17
2010, jesmonite, w30 cm
2010, jesmonite, h57 cm

18 Cluster
2010, jesmonite, w110 cm
19

20 Booo
2010, jesmonite, l60 cm
21

22 IBM
2008, photo polymer intaglio mounted on styrofoam, 26x19,5x5 cm
23

Tripping in junk-space
Translation: Morten Alsinger
The work is a shower of particles, an unendingly cascade of forms and conditions
constantly changing: floating, crystallizing, melting, stiffening, freezing.
The starting point seems to be this room of chaotic processes, where in something
at a certain time starts to condense. Ongoing accumulations. We see
before us a colossal cloud of uneven material which pulls together only to
implode under the influence of its own gravity. This collapse results in a solid
body: a sculpture. A hard block of condensed impressions/notion of senses,
a little chemical planet being whirled around, growing and taking on shape
impact after impact, crash after crash. The sculptures can come out scarred
as an asteroid or smooth and polished like a piece of hand soap after it has
just been used, And that’s how they stand, lies or hangs in the odd white vacuum
of the art-space, like planetarian assemblage. Frozen evidence about a
storm of transformative processes, which have washed over us and covered
the planet, and which collectively have changed the living conditions.
What are we really talking about here? What is it that implodes in these
sculptures?
We could call it capitalism, but the term is too weak, too morally loaded and
too wide. Market democracy? Experience economy? The funny term pop-baroque
has been used describing the art by René Schmidt, which stylistically is
precise. In the sculptures and in the videos we observe these highly complex
folds that truly points to the aesthetics of the baroque. The absolute rich
multiple and almost excessive cultivation of the morphological potential of the
material is with Schmidt always twisted.
Those of the sculptures that have an up-down orientation, typically constructs
from the lower to the upper in a series of diagonal twists and bends or morphological
mutations. The sculptures do not as such (or only as an exception)
point to any vertical order. The slanting position of the sculptures, the additive
and asymmetric geometrical growth points in a direction of another principle
for the morphogenesis: the infinite potential in variation that do not fall in
under a horizontal or vertical order. Instead, we have here a in every direction
flourishing growth. And at this point we shouldn`t think as much botanic, as
we should think economy? Economical growth.
UniGamble video still, 2004, foto, 100x150cm
Tripping in junk-space
Ferdinand Ahm Krag
Værket er en byge af partikler, en uafbrudt kaskade af hele tiden skiftende
tilstandsformer: flydende, krystalliserende, smeltende, størknende, frysende.
Udgangspunktet synes at være dette rum af rene kaotiske processer, hvori
noget på et tidspunkt begynder at fortætte sig. Ansamlinger finder sted. Vi
ser for os en kolossal sky af uensartet materiale, der trækker sig sammen, for
til sidst helt at kollapse under sin egen tyngdepåvirkning. Dette kollaps resulterer
i et fast legeme: en skulptur. En hård blok af sammentrængte sansninger,
en lille kemisk klode, der slynges omkring og som vokser og tager form
efter nedslap på nedslag, sammenstød på sammenstød. Skulpturerne kan
fremstå arrede som en asteroide eller glatpolerede som en håndsæbe efter
den har været i brug. Og sådan står, ligger eller hænger de i kunstrummets
sære hvide vakuum; som planetariske assemblager. Frosne vidnesbyrd om
en storm af transformative processer, der er skyllet ind over os og henover
planeten, og som samlet set har ændret livsvilkårene. Hvad er der i grunden
tale om? Hvad er det, der imploderer i disse skulpturer?
Vi kunne kalde det kapitalisme, men begrebet er for vagt, for moralsk ladet
og for bredt. Markedsdemokrati? Oplevelsesøkonomi? Det spøjse begreb popbarok
er blevet brugt om Rene Schmidts kunst, hvad stilistisk set er rammende.
I skulpturerne og videoværkerne finder vi disse yderst komplekse
foldninger, der rigtignok kan lede tanken hen på en barok æstetik. Den absolut
righoldige og nærmest excessive dyrkelse af materiens morfologiske
potentiale er hos Schmidt altid skævvredet. De af skulpturerne der har en
op-ned orientering, bygger sig typisk op fra det nedre til det øvre gennem
en serie af diagonale vred eller morfologiske mutationer. Skulpturerne peger
således ikke (eller kun yderst sjældent) på nogen form for vertikal orden.
Skulpturernes skrånende stilling, den additive og asymmetriske geometriske
vækst peger i retning af et andet princip for morfogenesen: det uendelige
variationspotentiale, der ikke følger en horisontal eller vertikal orden. I stedet
er der tale om en i alle retninger knopskydende vækst. Og her skal vi ikke så
meget tænke botanik, som vi skal tænke økonomi – vækstøkonomi.
I Rene Schmidts kunst forfølges en særlig model for rumlig ekspansion, som
UniGamble video still, 2004, foto, 100x150cm
2 25

vi skal ind i reklamen, emballage-æstetikken og butiks-designet for at forstå.
Ikke for med kunstneren at gøre disse emner til ikoner, som den klassiske
popkunst gjorde det. Vi skal længere og dybere, vi skal ind i infrastrukturen
og distributionsmodellerne for den økonomi, der skaber og udvikler vores
samfund – for her at undfange praktikken bag markedskræfternes ekspansive
og ”rumlige” strategier. Et eksempel fra Schmidts egen skrivende hånd
kaster lys over tematikken: ”I discountvaren bliver det altoverskyggende modelleringsprincip
transporten; ting skal kunne stables, de skal fylde så lidt
som muligt, det drejer sig om at udnytte europallen til sit yderste. Et eksempel
på dette er plastikhavestolen med dennes besynderlige V-formede ben;
de er sprøjtestøbt i ét hug – et produkt, som kan fuldautomatiseres, det er
ét objekt. Objektantallet i verden stiger med voldsom kraft; hver producent
sit format, ingenting passer sammen, og da slet ikke med det fra i går…Der
bliver omformuleret og nymodeleret hele tiden. Tandpasta med hologrammer,
shampooflasker i samme formsprog som mobiltelefoner og tennissko. Elkedlen
fra Tefal ligner en mellemting mellem en ufo og en i-mac. Forankringen i
praktik/brugelighed sejler, skalaen flyder”.
På den ene side ser vi altså en uhyre effektiv og pragmatisk tankegang,
der forstår at udnytte euro-pallen til sit yderste. Men denne tankegang er
kun effektiv og pragmatisk indadtil. For på den anden side – udadtil og på
forbrugerens side – handler det om det stik modsatte. Forbrugeren får hele
tiden præsenteret nye objekt-grupper, som hverken kan eller skal stå i noget
kontinuert og praktisk forhold til tidligere eller fremtidige objekt-grupper.
Kun derved kan forbruget accelereres radikalt i en kreativ ødselheds-kultur.
At vedligeholde denne kultur kræver dog ikke bare at de forskellige ’designløsninger’
skal være ekstremt kreative, originale, konceptuelt banebrydende
og permanent overraskende. Det kræver også at selve situationen omkring
forbruget er gjort til genstand for et underholdende og stimulerende design.
Et total design. Et oplevelses-felt. Det er dette total-design, vi ser implodere
i Rene Schmidts kunst.
Junk-Space
Når man i kunstneriske kredse taler om kapitalismen som samfundsform,
kan man konstatere at kunstnere også er gode skuespillere, der kan deres
replikker. De er gode til forhånende at moralisere over forbrugersamfundets
vulgære og korrumperende træk. Med indlevende indigneret og bekymret
mine kan de til enhver tid agere kapitalismens dårlige samvittighed (alt imens
den typiske moderne kunstner udlever en lang række privilegier, som netop
kun er muliggjort igennem den kapitalistiske samfundsmodel ). Der kan være
velmenende grunde til dette skuespil, men de er ikke kunstneriske. Når man
moraliserer stiller man sig over sit emne og ser ned på det. Det kan man synes
er akademisk eller snobbistisk, hvad fører til, at nogen kunstnere gør det
26 27
sketch
2010, print, 63x89 cm

To understand the certain model for spacious expansion pursued in the art of
Rene Schmidt, we have to dig in to the esthetics of mercantile packing and
shop designs and lay outs. Not to - by the will of the artist - to shape these issues
into icons, as performed in the classic pop-art. We have to move further
and dig deeper, we must venture into the infrastructure and the distributions
models for the economy that constitutes and forms our society to capture
the practice behind the expansive, spacious and forceful strategies of market
economy.
An example written by the artist himself sheds some light on the thematic:
“In the discount-product the predominant principle for modeling and producing
is the transport: things have to be able to be stacked, to take up as little
space as possible; it is essential to utilize the euro-pallet to the max. One
example would be the plastic garden chair, which with a strangely V shaped
legs are being power-casted in one go. A product that can be fully automated,
that is an object. The numbers of these objects are on a global scale massively
escalating. A constant re-articulation and re-modeling. Toothpaste with
holographic, shampoo bottles in the same design as cell phones and sneakers.
The water boiler from Tefal looks like a crossover between an UFO and
an Imac. The connection to practice and usability is afloat. The scales are
sliding…”
So, on one side we have an immensely effective and pragmatic mind frame,
that fully understand to utilize the euro-pallet to the max. But this way of
thinking is only effective and pragmatic internally. Because, on the other side,
externally, and on the side of the consumer, it is all about the directly opposite.
The consumer is constantly presented to new categories of objects,
which neither can nor should be in a continuing and practic relation to earlier
or future objects-groups. Only by doing so the consumption accelerates radically
in a creative lavish/extravagant,wasteful culture.
It doesn’t only take different smart, creative, original, conceptual groundbreaking
or permanently surprising design solutions to maintain this culture. It
also demands that the situation itself defining the consumption has been the
subject for an entertaining and stimulating design. A total design.
It is this total design that implodes in the art and works of Rene Schmidt. The
sculptures are as formally in their variation as they are thematically consistent.
The work folded like a moebious-band , where real and virtual architectures
conflates in an impatient knot of inhospitality.
Space is an alien fluid, that has osmosized into everywhere.
junk-space
When you in the art-world are speaking of capitalism as structure, you can
establish the fact that artists also are talented actors, who know their lines.
28 sketch
2010, print, 63x89 cm
29

omvendte: de placerer sig under deres emne og moraliserer nedefra og op.
Det virker både forudsigeligt og patetisk. Rene Schmidts kunstneriske projekt
er ét blandt for få projekter, der knytter skulpturen til en diskussion af vores
samfundskonstruktion. Og det gør han uden på nogen måde at forfalde til at
blive moraliserende, illustrativ, pointesøgende eller lavest af alt: at lade en
partifarve skinne igennem sit projekt.
Rene Schmidt gør noget andet. Han stiller sin aktivt sansende krop ind i begivenhedernes
kaotiske centrum. Og arbejder sig ud derfra. Ikke i én retning,
men i fem-seks-syv retninger på én gang. Det er måske dét, der gør hans
udtryk så heftigt og kompleksiteten så excessiv. Og det er måske dét, der
giver nogle af figurernes kroppe dette abnorme og forstrukkede udtryk. Som
i animationsvideoen ’Unigamble’, hvor menneskefiguren buler sært og muterende
ud i alle retninger. Vi ser elastiske kroppe blive skubbet muntert frem
i en vraltende koreografi, der er tilpasset shopping centerets muzak. Motoriske
materieformationer mere end menneskekroppe. De er drevet frem af et
fluktuerende begær, der stikker skizoidt ud af alle kropsåbninger; et begær
der får dem til at danse, transformere og multiplicere sig. Disse besynderlige
menneskefigurer vi finder i Schmidts kunst, minder ikke så lidt om nogle af
futuristen Umberto Boccionis skulpturer. Men hvor Boccionis menneskefigurer
vandrer med en determineret elegance mod fremskridtet, så vandrer Schmidts
figurer i lukkede cirkler og labyrintiske kredsløb, der ikke fører nogen
steder hen.
Jeg bilder mig ind at Schmidts skulpturer i udgangspunktet næres af et frådende
indre overtryk. Hvad der kommer
ind i systemet skal ud igen.
Udskydes. Skydes ud. Værket som
udskydelse og udkrængning af et indre
rum, der er blevet kolonialiseret af
junk. Junk som i junk-food og junk-tv.
Og junk som i junkie. Det skabende
subjekt har ikke længere hjemme hos
sig selv; det er far out! Spaced out!
Out of Space! Tripping in Junk-space.
Dette er den post-moderne udgave af
den ekspressive gestus: subjektet er
blevet til sin egen yderliggjorte satellit,
der forsøger at komme ’hjem igen’,
men ’boet’ (dets eget indre rum) må
først tømmes for fremmed inventar
igennem en symbolsk udrensning.
Den ekspressive gestus er en sådan
udkrængning og -udrensningsproces.
30 sketch
Umberto Boccioni
31
2010, print, 63x89 cm
1912, Testa e casa e luce

They are good at taunting moralization on the vulgar and corrupt features of
the consumer society. With emphatic indignant and worried faces, they can
at any time play the part as the bad conscience of capitalism (while typically
the modern artist is enjoy a string of privileges that has been made possible
by just that same capitalistic society).
There can be numerous well intentioned reasons for this charade, but none
are artistic. When you moralize you position yourself above your subject,
looking down at it. This can, you could think, be either academically or snobbish,
which leads to the fact that some artists do the opposite: They position
themselves below or under their subject, and moralize from down and up.
Its seems predictable and pathetic. The art project of Rene Schmidt is one
among few projects that combines the sculpture to a discussion of how our
society is constructed. And he does that, without in any way to sell out to
moralization, illustrative, point-seeking or the lowest of all: to let a certain
political tendency shine through his project.
Rene Schmidt does something else. He puts his actively sensing body in the
chaotic center of the events. And he works from there end out. Not in one
direction, but in five-six-seven directions at once. It might be just that that
makes his expression so severe and the complexity that excessive. And it
might be that which adds this abnormal and bend expression to some of the
figures. As in the animation video “Unigamble”, where the human figure oddly
bulges and mutates in any possible direction. We see elastic bodies being
shoved joyfully onwards in a waddle choreography, adapted to the muzak of
the shopping mall. More motoric formations of material than they are human
bodies. They are driven forwards by a fluctuating desire, schizoid sticking out
from every crack in the body; a desire that makes them dance, transform and
multiply. These strange human figures found in the work of Rene Schmidt,
has a close resemblance to the sculptures of futurist Umberto Boccioni’s. But
where Boccioni’s figures moves with a determined elegance toward progress,
Schmidt`s figures moves in closed circles and labyrinth orbits, that has no
immediate direction.
I imagine this, that in Schmidt`s sculptures, the starting point is nourished
by a foaming inner overpressure. What comes into the system has to get
out. Postponed. To be shot out. The work itself as an outcast/expression
and an inside-out depicturing of an inner space colonised by junk. Junk as
in junk-food and junk-TV. And junk like in junkie. The creative subject no
longer is familiar with itself; it is far out! Spaced out! Out of Space! Tripping
in Junk-Space. This is the postmodern version of the expressive gesture: The
subject has become the externalized satellite of itself, which strives to come
back “home again”, while the content (the inner space of the subject), first
have to be emptied off intruding elements through a symbolic cleansing. The
expressive gesture is such an inside-out cleansing process. It is present in
32 sketch
2010, print, 63x89 cm
33

Schmidt`s art, but here always accompanied by a experimental and analytic
take which firstly approaches the expressive in a spacious terms: as a kind of
architecture for subjectivity. A principle for modeling.
Enough said about the art of Schmidt. You shouldn`t read about it, but see
it. That is where it thoroughly can light up and arouse, reject or attract the
observer. The art/work of Rene Schmidt is a cluster bomb you have to allow
yourself to be hit by. Conclusively I`ll let the words of architect Reem Koolhaas
– that more comprehensive than I – describe the phenomenon – this
principle of spacious growth – which Schmidt works parallel to.
The following is how Koolhaas characterizes the concept junk-space:
“If “space junk” – thrash in outer space – is the trash left over by humanity,
and which to an accelerating degree is polluting the universe, then junkspace
is the garbage that is left over by man on the planet itself… Junk-space
consists merely by sub-systems without any superior concepts, by astray
particles chasing a plan or just a pattern. Any form of materialization is temporary.
Cut, bend, scratch, coating: The constructions of the building-trade
have gained a new form of softness close to clothe tailoring. At midnight everything
might change into Taiwanese gothic, just to reoccur three years later
as contemporary Nigerian style. Junk-space is based on collaboration. We are
not dealing with any conscious plan nor a definitive design, but of a creative
multiplication that quickly is scattering everywhere. 3 dimensional graphics,
transplanted brands from different franchises (business concept) and
a shining infrastructure of light, floating crystal display and videos, describes
a world without a creator in which no single creator can be held responsible;
completely unique, totally unpredictable although immensely recognizable.”
Den findes i Schmidts kunst, men her er den altid ledsaget af et eksperimentelt
og analytisk blik, der anskuer det ekspressive først og fremmest i rumlige
termer: som en art arkitektur for subjektivitet. Et modellerings-princip.
Nok ord om Schmidts kunst. Man skal ikke læse om den, men se den. Det
er dér, den for alvor kan antænde og opflamme, frastøde eller tiltrække sin
beskuer. Rene Schmidts kunst er en klyngebombe man skal tillade sig selv at
blive ramt af. Afslutningsvis vil jeg give ordet til arkitekten Reem Koolhaas,
der bedre end jeg kan give en beskrivelse af det fænomen – dette princip
for rumlig vækst – som Schmidt arbejder parallelt med. Koolhaas giver her
følgende karakteristik af begrebet junk-space:
”Hvis ”space-junk” – verdensrumsaffald – er det skrot der stammer fra menneskene
og som i stigende grad forurener universet, så er junk-space det
skrot som efterlades af mennesket på selve planeten…junk-space består kun
af subsystemer uden overordnede koncepter, af herreløse partikler på jagt
efter en plan eller bare et mønster. Enhver form for materialisering er foreløbig:
snitte, bøje, rive, ”coate”: Byggeriets konstruktioner har fået en ny form
for blødhed, lidt i stil med tøjskrædderiri…Ved midnat forvandler det hele sig
muligvis til taiwanesisk gotik, for så tre år senere at gå over til nigeriansk
nutidig stil. Junk-space er baseret på samarbejde. Der er ikke tale om nogen
samlet plan eller et definitivt design, men om en kreativ knopskydning der
hastigt breder sig ud over det hele. 3-dimensionel grafik , transplanterede
varemærker fra forskellige forretningskæder og en skinnende infrastruktur af
lys, flydende krystal-display og video, beskriver en skaberløs verden for hvilken
ingen enkelt skaber kan gøres ansvarlig; fuldstændig enestående, totalt
uberegnelig og alligevel uhyre velkendt”
3
Thorvaldsen’s Christus at Visitor Center North, Temple Square, Salt Lake City
35

36 Low self esteem
2008, jesmonite, 7,5x25x15 cm
37

38 Suck/vintilator
Tranquility of solitude
39
2008, jesmonite, 3 x26x19 cm
2008, jesmonite, 0x20x20 cm

0 1

2 aa
2008, jesmonite, 30x35x39 cm
3

Viscose
2008, jesmonite, 23x22x 2 cm
Polygon desktop
2008, jesmonite, 18x1 x22 cm
5

6 Q
2008, jesmonite, 23x32x22 cm
7

8 Elecon 100
2005, photo, foam, 8x2 x 8 cm
9

50 External Enclosure
2005, paper, foam, 23x50x57 cm
51

52 Trolley
2005, Mixed media, 48.5x27x18 cm
53

5 55

56 Head
self portrait
57
2008, jesmonite, 180x125x77 cm
2008, print on kappaboard, 60x 3 cm

58 PolyCom
2006-2008, 107x39x 0 cm
59

60 Developed (Dobbelt Sphere)
Krystaltung
61
2007, paper, mdf, foam and airbrush, 71x20,5x23 cm
2008, gips, jesmonite, 67x38x26 cm

62 Cyclops
Flipping Normals
63
2007, Paper, mdf, foam and airbrush, 130x 1x 1 cm
2007, paper, mdf, foam and airbrush, 162x37x37 cm

6 Lust
Beacon for Mombassa
65
2008, jesmonite, 137x 8x 7 cm
2007, acid free stainless steel, 211x57x57 cm

66 Beacon for people
2008, acid free stainless steel, light, 300x105x105 cm
67

68 Blop Blop Bending Corner
2007, plastic, mdf, foam and airbrush, 72x115x 0 cm
69

70 CPU
Local Default
71
2007, Plastic, mdf, foam and airbrush, 33,5x21x12 cm
2007, Plastic, mdf, foam and airbrush, 20,5x62x12 cm

72 Plotter
Plastic, mdf, foam and airbrush, 30x37x12 cm
73

7 Additional Options
Multibox
75
2007, Plastic, mdf, foam and airbrush, 6x50x2 cm
2002, print, glasfiber armored polyester, 150x70x100 cm

76 Foam cutter
Onion
77
2008, photo polymer intaglio mounted on styrofoam, 26x19,5x5 cm
2008, photo polymer intaglio mounted on styrofoam, 26x19,5x5 cm

Translation: Mette Qvistgaard
Facing René Schmidt’s works is getting your sense of reality turned
inside out. Everything that is immediately recognizable disguises itself
right in front of our eyes – or is it the other way around? This
fertile instability is complimented by Schmidt’s ability to work with
the kind of contradictory imagery that can spawn world-class art. As
an example, take a look at the sculpture ‘Flipping Normals’, which
physically appears as if it could rock from side to side in front of
the astounded viewer. The extremes here are fundamentally made up of
the hand done multicolored graffiti that twines around the physical
form, and the title of the piece, which Schmidt has borrowed from the
digital modeling software he frequently uses to actually shape his
pieces.
This crossing of the hand-made and the computer-generated appears in
most of René Schmidt’s pieces and reflects one of the central themes
of his artistic practice. But simultaneously to this crossing, the
graffiti makes the entire three- dimensional construction of ‘Flipping
Normals’ tremble. It is like watching a fight between surface
and volume. In classical art history this combat is between two
schools, with one swearing by the line and the other by the color as
an artwork’s most fundamental component. But for Schmidt this battle
takes place within one piece, before our very own eyes.
Schmidt adds an additional dimension of tension to the experience of
the piece by letting the two seemingly incompatible elements, surface
and meaning, intersect in a brand new way. Linguistically and
visually we are accustomed to finding no literal or symbolic depth in
pieces focusing on the aesthetic surfaces. René Schmidt breaks with
this expectation. Rarely do we see as ultra-shiny, hairy, multicolored,
and almost naughtily present surfaces, but here there is also a
profusion of connotations to be found.
Traditionally, art with a message has been far less tactile, and definitely
way less colorful, than René Schmidt’s. The sincerity and
social criticism, which Smith deals with, has typically been expressed
in black and white imagery, perhaps with a few somber earth tones
mixed in. But Schmidt shows us that it can be done differently. Having
an earnest message to convey (and being born here in Scandinavia) does
Trine Ross
At stå overfor René Schmidts værker, er som at få vendt vrangen ud
på sin virkelighedsopfattelse. Alt, hvad der er umiddelbart genkendeligt,
forklæder sig for øjnene af os – eller er det omvendt? Denne
frugtbare usikkerhed står ikke alene, for Schmidt forstår samtidig
at arbejde med den form for modsætningspar, der kan sende god kunst
op i verdensklassen. Tag som eksempel skulpturen ’Flipping Normals’,
der rent fysisk fremstår, som om den kunne vippe fra side til side
foran den måbede beskuer. Mere grundliggende opstår modsætningen her
dog mellem håndens arbejde, i form af den farvestrålende graffiti,
der slynger sig omkring formen, og så værkets titel, som Schmidt har
hentet fra et digitalt modelleringsprogram, han gør flittigt brug af,
når hans værker skal tage fysisk form.
Dette møde mellem det håndgjorte og det computergenererede går igen
i hovedparten af René Schmidts værker, og det er ingen tilfældighed,
for det er en af de centrale problemstillinger, Schmidt arbejder så
intenst med. Men samtidig sker der det, at graffitien får hele ’Flipping
Normals’ tredimensionale konstruktion til at vakle. Det er som
om man overvære en kamp mellem (over)fladen og formen. I den klassiske
kunsthistorie udkæmpes denne tvekamp mellem to skoler, hvor den ene
sværger til linjen og den anden til farven som værkets mest grundliggende
bestanddel. Men hos Schmidt sker det hele i ét og samme værk.
For øjnene af os.
Desuden skaber Schmidt endnu et spændingsfelt i oplevelsen af værket,
idet han lader de, tilsyneladende, uforenelige størrelser, overflade
og mening, mødes på en helt ny måde. Både sprogligt og visuelt er vi
vant til, at dér, hvor der er fokus på overfladen, finder man ingen
dybde – hverken bogstaveligt eller i overført betydning. Men sådan
er det ikke hos René Schmidt. Sjældent har man set så spejlblanke,
behårede, farvestrålende og nærmest uartigt tilstedeværende overflader,
som i Schmidts værker – samtidig med at der er masser af mening
at hente.
Traditionelt set har kunst med budskaber været langt mindre taktile,
og bestemt meget mindre farvestrålende, end René Schmidts. Alvor og
samfundskritik, for det er det, vi er ude i sammen med Schmidt, har
typisk været holdt i sort/hvid, måske iblandet en smule traurige
Flipping Normals Flipping the normal changes the direction of the face of the polygon 3d Color Taskmgr.
Benita Kock-Otte color-range Johannes Itten colorsphere
78 79

not have to limit an artist to using straight lines and a subdued
range of colors.
As if it wasn’t enough to shatter the traditional barrier between
surface and content, Schmidt bends the concepts even further by incorporating
a strong element of humor. Looking at a sculpture like
‘Elecon 100’, I cannot help smiling. For a really long time I stood
there wondering why this shape seemed so familiar, and finally it hit
me: It is one of those old computer hard drives that had to be hidden
in special brackets under the desk. The word Spasser! (Retard!)
is written on it, perhaps indicating that Schmidt and the hard drive
have had a troubled relationship.
It is not that common to find shapes from our prosaic everyday lives
in art works, so when we do it is instantly amusing. But it is also
unsettling. Especially since René Schmidt manages to change the perception
of the shape solely by his use of color. Even the ancient
Greeks painted their sculptures, although we have gotten to know them
as virgin white, and every day lots of people apply make-up to modify
elements and expressions of their faces. In computer games all shapes
are created by triangles, which does not actually seem to present a
problem as long as there are millions of them available. Then it is
no trouble making a rolling ball out of triangles. The only setback
is that it is digitally heavy to load that many triangles. The solution
is to color the digital surface in a way that tricks the eye to
believe that it is looking at a perfectly round object.
It can be argued that the visual aspects of the works are a visual
artist’s natural concern. However, very few artists work with these
aspects the way René Schmidt does. For him it is not a question of
beauty in the classical sense – it is actually not about art at all.
At least not the art of other artists. While the majority of all art
works to some degree position themselves in relation to other art,
art history, or institutions that the works are meant to become a part
of, René Schmidt is aiming in a different direction.
Schmidt labels his works ‘objects’ and it is his goal and intension
that they have to find their own place in the world. And the world and
reality, which the objects are to be part of, are far from institutional.
This is why René Schmidt imagined the inside of a camper when he
jordfarver. Men Schmidt viser os, at sådan behøver det slet ikke at
være. Bare fordi man har noget på hjertet (og er født her oppe mod
Nord), behøver man ikke holde sig til de lige linjer og den nedtonede
farveskala, hvis man vil tages alvorligt.
Som om det ikke var nok at bryde det traditionelle skel mellem overflade
og indhold, tilføjer Schmidt endnu en anderledes bøjning af begreberne,
ved samtidig at holde humoren højt. Jeg kan i alle tilfælde
ikke lade være med at smile, konfronteret med skulpturer som ’Elecon
100’. Længe stod jeg og undrede mig over, hvor i al verden jeg kendte
den form fra, og så slog det mig: det er en gammel harddisk af den
slags, der måtte gemmes væk i særlige bærebøjler under skrivebordet.
Spasser! står der på den, så noget tyder på, at Schmidt og harddisken
har haft et nært forhold til hinanden.
Det er ikke så almindeligt at genfinde former fra hverdagens prosariske
gang i kunstværker, så når det sker, er det allerede morsomt. Men
det er samtidig foruroligende. Ikke mindst fordi René Schmidt mestrer
at ændre på formen, udelukkende ved hjælp af farve. Allerede de gamle
grækere bemalede deres skulpturer, selvom vi har lært dem at kende
som uberørt hvide, og hver dag lægger masser af mennesker make-up for
at ændre på ansigts elementer og udtryk. I computerspil skabes alle
former af trekanter, hvilket egentlig ikke er noget problem – hvis
man bare har millioner af dem til rådighed. Så er det ikke svært at
få trekanter til at skabe en trillende kugle. Problemet er bare, at
så mange trekanter er tunge at trække rent digitalt. Løsningen er i
stedet at farvelægge den digitale overflade således, at øjet snydes
til at tro, at der er tale om en cirkelrund genstand.
Man kan mene, at det er ganske naturligt for en kunstner at interessere
sig for værkernes visuelle aspekter. Men det er ikke mange,
der gør det på samme måde som René Schmidt. For ham handler det ikke
om skønhed i klassisk forstand – ja faktisk handler det end ikke om
kunst. I alle tilfælde ikke andre kunstneres kunst. Hvor store dele
af verdens kunstværker på en eller anden måde forholder sig til anden
kunst, kunsthistorien eller til de institutioner, værket er ment til
at blive en del af, retter René Schmidt sin opmærksomhed i en anden
retning.
Selv omtaler Schmidt sine værker som objekter, og det er hans mål
Elecon 100 Polygon economy Taskmgr headmap
Head map
Mummy
80 81

82 83

produced his floating pieces, ‘PONG’, which are reminiscent of space
ships from far away galaxies. This is where they should be able to
fit in – or in the sitting rooms of a nursing home. Schmidt wants his
works to get out into the real world, away from the institutional art
world, to be put to the test. For a while this attitude also led him
to try to make them sturdy and resilient enough for even children to
handle without either of them getting hurt.
But René Schmidt does not only send his objects into the world, he
also lets the surrounding world be his key source of inspiration. And
what is more everyday like than the supermarket? Schmidt has taken
quite a bit of inspiration from it, both in regards to the physical
shape of his pieces as well as his presentation of them. Examples of
this were seen at Schmidt’s extensive solo exhibition at Brænderigården,
where sculptures were placed on stands made out of used cardboard
boxes. The boxes had marks and text indicating that they had
previously transported everything from tomatoes to frozen hamburgers
across Europe.
This constant hauling of all things – and especially consumer goods
– is an issue Schmidt would like us to notice. The shipping happens
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and year round we can buy Spanish tomatoes
(and strawberries in December!) and often they are even less
expensive than the locally grown produce. Food and other products do
not just materialize at the store. There are people behind. We just
don’t always consider them.
But transportation of things are on René Schmidt’s mind, actually to
such a degree that he works with some of the same techniques used
to benefit the shipping industry. When an object is prepared for the
market place, the transportability is an integral part of it, mainly
because it influences its final cost. So it has to be designed to be
as efficiently transportable as possible, a fact that has been a focal
point ever since the golden age of Danish design.
This day and age, the available digital modeling processes provide
endless possibilities for variations and diversity. The fact that
things are not square doesn’t automatically mean that they will be
more expensive. In a future that is actually already here, we can
custom make a variety of objects and devices, personally adjust everything
around us and customize it all to our personal likings. René
PONG UniGamble t-shirt
Slowboat to China
og mening, at de skal forsøge at finde deres eget ståsted i verden.
Og den verden og virkelighed, objekterne skal indgå i, er alt andet
end institutionel. Derfor forestillede René Schmidt sig det indre af
en campingvogn, da han udførte de svævende værker, ’PONG’, der kan
give mindelser om rumskibe fra fjerne galakser. Det var her de skulle
kunne hænge – eller i dagligstuen på et plejehjem. For Schmidts værker
skal ud i den virkeligheden, udenfor kunstinstitutionen og stå
deres prøve.
Dette førte en overgang ligefrem førte til, at han forsøgte at gøre
dem så stabile og holdbare, at også børn kunne få fingre i dem, uden
at hverken de eller værkerne tog skade af den grund.
René Schmidt nøjes dog ikke med at sende sine objekter ud i verden,
han lader også den omkringliggende virkelighed være sin grundlæggende
inspirationskilde. Og hvad er mere hverdagsvelkendt end et
supermarked? Her har Schmidt hentet en hel del inspiration, både til
værkernes fysiske udformning og til præsentationen af dem. Det kunne
man opleve på Schmidts store separatudstilling i Brænderigården, hvor
skulpturerne i den ene udstillingssal alle var placeret på sokler – af
brugte papkasser. På kasserne kunne man både se og læse, hvordan de
tidligere havde transporteret alt fra tomater til frosne hamburgere
gennem Europa.
Denne konstante flytten rundt på alting og ikke mindst forbrugsgoder,
er et tema, som Schmidt gerne vil henlede vores opmærksomhed på.
Transporterne foregår 24 timer i døgnet, 7 dage om ugen og året rundt
for at vi kan købe spanske tomater (og jordbær i december!), der endda
ofte er billige end dem, der er dyrket lokalt. Fødevarer og andre
produkter har ikke bare materialiseret sig selv nede i supermarkedet.
Der står mennesker bag. Vi tænker bare ikke altid over det.
Men René Schmidt tænker over transporten af ting, faktisk så meget,
at han arbejder med en del af de samme teknikker, som man benytter
for at tilgodese transportsektoren. Når en genstand skal ud på markedet,
er transporten af den nemlig en integreret del – ikke mindst
fordi den har indflydelse på prisen. Derfor gælder det om at designe
så transportvenligt som muligt, noget man allerede tilbage i dansk
designs guldalder var mere end opmærksomme på.
I dag giver de digitale moddeleringsprocessorne uanede muligheder for
variation og mangfoldighed. Alting behøver ikke længere blive dyrere,
8 85

Schmidt even envisions that in a few years we will all have some kind
of a 3-D printer available in our homes to produce any object we desire.
This unlocks the possibility of an unprecedented degree of diversity
– and a new kind of democracy. Everyone (at least in the Western
World) will get unrestricted access to the means of production and
be able to shape our everyday life and work life in brand new ways.
And as I mentioned, René Schmidt is already using his computer as an
artistic tool. Just take a look at the two steel sculptures, ‘Beacon
for People’ and ‘Kæden’(‘The Chain’). Every single shape and facet
is the result of the welding together of flat pieces of steel and
Schmidt has controlled both the placement of the welds and the shapes
and dimensions of the metal pieces via his computer, which then has
passed on the information to a machine that physically has carried
out the sculptures.
These two pieces are also great examples of how the technique in itself
does not make up the work of art. Although the two sculptures
clearly are related, there are also significant differences: ‘Beacon
for People’ has a presence that vaguely resembles a human contour,
while ‘Kæden’ (‘The Chain’) winds around itself like an expansion of
the infinite Möbius strip. Considering René Schmidt’s results one can
only wonder why more artists don’t take creative control of their
computers.
But even if we in the future will be able to print out whatever we
might want, the question remains whether we even know what it is that
we want to wish for. With such a multitude of possibilities it is easy
to get quite overwhelmed. But there is no reason to get panicky. If
we can’t figure it out for ourselves, René Schmidt will be ready to
give us a few good ideas! And it for sure won’t be dull since he has
a knack of “adding some country”, as he puts it, if everything starts
getting a little too neat and pure.
Schmidt has a fascination with Americana, like the giant billboards
that often have the character of autonomous architecture. Well, they
kind of have to be massive, since they are meant to capture the attention
of people who are passing by in cars, rather than walking by
on the sidewalk as in Europe. So the billboards shoot up, often in the
shape of the advertised products. They completely clash with anything
bare fordi det ikke er firkantet. I den fremtid, der faktisk allerede
er her, kan vi specialfremstille diverse objekter og genstande, tilpasse
alting omkring os og få det præcis, som vi vil have det. René
Schmidt forestiller sig ligefrem, at vi om få år alle vil have en form
for 3D-printer stående i vores hjem, så vi selv kan fremstille alle
de genstande, vi har lyst til.
Derved opstår muligheden for en hidtil uset grad af diversitet – og
for en ny form for demokrati: Alle (i alle tilfælde i den vestlige
verden) vil få fri adgang til produktionsmidlerne og bliver i stand
til at forme både hverdag og arbejdsliv på helt nye måder. Og Schmidt
er, som sagt, allerede godt i gang med at bruge computeren som kunstnerisk
værktøj. Se bare på de to stålskulpturer, ’Beacon for People’
og ’Kæden’. Samtlige former og facetter fremkommer som resultat af
sammensvejsninger, der forener flade stålstykker, og Schmidt har
styret både svejsningernes placering og stykkernes form og størrelse
på computeren, som derefter har sendt informationerne videre til en
maskine, der rent fysisk har udført skulpturerne.
De to værker er desuden glimrende eksempler på, at teknikken i sig
selv ikke former værket, for selvom de tydeligvis er i familie med
hinanden, er der også centrale forskelle: ’Beacon for People’ rejser
sig i noget, der giver vage mindelser om menneskelig form, mens ’Kæden’
slynger sig om sig selv, som en videreudvikling af det uendelige
Möbiusbånd. At ikke flere kunstnere tager kreativ kontrol over computeren,
kan kun undre, René Schmidts resultater taget i betragtning.
Men selvom vi i fremtiden vil kunne printe os til lige hvad vi vil,
er spørgsmålet måske, om vi overhovedet ved, hvad det egentlig er, vi
ønsker os. Med så mange muligheder kan man let blive ganske overvældet.
Der er dog ingen grund til panik, for kan vi ikke selv finde ud
af det, så skal René Schmidt nok give os et par gode idéer! Og kedeligt
bliver det i alle tilfælde ikke, for han besidder en evne til at
” Gi’ den noget country”, som han selv kalder det, hvis det hele går
hen og bliver lidt for pænt.
Schmidt er fascineret af amerikansk folkekunst, sådan som den kommer
til udtryk i de gigantiske reklameskilte, der ofte antager karakter
af selvstændig arkitektur. Hvilket de sådan set også er nød til, da
de skal fange opmærksomheden hos mennesker, der ikke, som i Europa,
Beacon for People Johannes Itten Chain Walter Gropius, Monument to the March dead, 1922
Titan close up
Snoose close up
86 87

88 89

considered good, Scandinavian taste, where the colors in both design
and art are most often earthy and any decoration is reduced to an
absolute minimum. The Nordic constraint contrasts the still prevalent
American belief in bigger, faster, better!
However, it is not the giant size in itself that fascinates and inspires
René Schmidt. It is more the kind of unruliness and lack of
perfection that characterize these often partially hand made adornments
of public space.
As René Schmidt has pointed out, it is a paradoxical fact that even
if we in this country nowadays rarely have anything manufactured by
hand, we are still surrounding ourselves with lots of handmade products.
They just all come from Asia, where manual production is still
less expensive than machining. Yet even the most mass-produced merchandise
has its individual variations. Just ask a child who is buying
a toy like a teddy bear or a doll. Every single one has its very own
expression that translates into an individual personality.
René Schmidt is not alone with his attraction to what in broad terms
can be called folk art. Back on the 1930s and 1940s, Asger Jorn was
very preoccupied with what he called “the banal”. And already back
in the 19th century, the French author Arthur Rimbaud wrote about
“loving the idiotic imagery, carvings above doors, decorations, curtains
in front of performer booths at fairs, signage, broadsheets”.
Jorn quoted him in the magazine Helhesten that was publish in Denmark
during World War II.
Also, when it comes to the purpose of art, there are a few congruent
beliefs across the generations. Both Jorn and René Schmidt want to
free the artwork from its isolation inside the institution and send
the art into the real world – and observe how it is able to compete.
However, the finished works of Jorn and Schmidt, and the way they were
completed, differ vastly.
René Schmidt clearly works in the 21st century, and he noticeably
embodies our potential future in his pieces in a way Jorn would never
have dreamt of doing it. An essential part of this future is the
struggle for the cultural capital, which in René Schmidt’s opinion
will be crucial. In Denmark we don’t have any other basic resources
bevæger sig forbi på fortorvet, men kører i biler. Derfor tårner reklamerne
sig op – gerne i form af det, de reklamerer for. Dette er i
direkte modstrid med alt, hvad der karakteriserer den gode, nordiske
smag, hvor farverne, både i design og kunst, oftest er jordnære og
enhver form for dekoration er reduceret til et absolut minimum. Ganske
modsat hos amerikanerne, der stadig hylder princippet om bigger,
faster, better!
Det er nu ikke størrelsen i sig selv, der fascinerer og inspirerer
René Schmidt. Det handler nærmere om en form for løssluppenhed og den
mangel på perfektion, der kendetegner de oftest lettere håndlavede
amerikanske udsmykninger af det offentlige rum. Det mærkværdige er,
som René Schmidt har påpeget, at selvom vi her i landet efterhånden
meget sjældent får udført noget som helst i hånden, så omgiver vi os
alligevel med masser af håndlavede produkter. De stammer bare fra
Asien, hvor mennesker stadig er billigere end maskiner. Men selv de
mest masseproducerede varer har deres individuelle forskelle. Spørg
bare et barn, der skal købe et stykke legetøj. Ikke mindst hvis det
drejer sig om bamsedyr eller dukker, der kan have højst forskellige
ansigtsudtryk og dermed personligheder.
Fascinationen af det, man sådan lidt flot kan kalde ”folkekunst”,
står René Schmidt ikke alene med. Allerede Asger Jorn var i 1930’erne
og 40’erne stærkt optaget af det, som han betegnede ”det banale”.
Men heller ikke han var alene, for allerede i 1800-tallet havde den
franske forfatter Arthur Rimbaud skrevet om at
elske ”...de idiotiske billeder, figurer over døre, dekorationer,
fortæpper i gøglertelte, skilte, skillingstryk”. Hvilket Jorn citerede
ham for i magasinet Helhesten, der udkom herhjemme i under Anden
Verdenskrig.
Også når det kommer til målet med kunsten, er der et par sammenfald
på tværs af et flere generationer, for både Jorn og René Schmidt vil
frisætte kunstværket fra dets isolation i institutionen, de vil sende
kunsten ud i virkeligheden – og se om den kan klare sig i konkurrencen.
Til gengæld er der stor forskel på, hvordan Jorns og Schmidts
færdige værker tager sig ud, og på hvordan de er blevet til. René
Schmidt arbejder tydeligvis i det 21. århundrede, og han indarbejder
vores potentielle fremtid i sine værker på en måde, Jorn end ikke
kunne have drømt om.
Rullstolar (Finland) Astrid Winberg Polish woman Polish woman Jenny Nilsson, solid color grit sphere
Lunik and mr. Bowman
90 91

and this is why we constantly have to secure and carry on this cultural
capital in every way possible. But culture is not just high
culture and there are a large number of players who have very different
motivations for their attempts to seize power in this field.
This is one of the reasons why one of René Schmidt’s sculptures is
titled “Cola”. By letting the sculpture’s material and the evidence
of Schmidt’s work process appear raw and exposed the piece calls attention
to the fact that big business and its commercial interests
continuously mold our minds and bodies.
We let our bodies and souls dissolve by cola fizz, but is doesn’t
have to be this way. That is why René Schmidt sends his pieces out
to meet us in the midst of our lives, in our everyday situations, to
give us food for thought. To make us recognize that we can take over
that power – if we dare to reflect.
Coke, Energy Security Growth and Sustainability through co-operation and outreach, Program Suttied
En central del af denne fremtid er kampen om den kuturelle kapital,
som René Schmidt mener bliver helt afgørende fremover. I Danmark har
vi intet andet grundstof at gøre godt med, og derfor må vi konstant
bygger videre på og tilegner os denne kulturelle kapital på kryds og
tværs. Men kulturen er ikke kun finkulturel, og der er mange aktører,
der med højst forskellige bevæggrunde forsøger at bemægtige sig
magt i dette felt. Blandt andet derfor bærer en af Schmidts skulpturer
titlen ’Cola’. Ved at lade skulpturens materiale, og ikke mindst
Schmidts bearbejdning af det, stå råt og blottet, peger værket på,
at vi og vores kroppe konstant bliver modelleret af erhvervslivet og
dets interesser.
Vi opløser krop og sjæl i colabrus, men sådan behøver det ikke at
være. Det er derfor René Schmidt sender sine værker ud for at møde os
midt i livet, i hverdagen og give os noget at tænke over. Få os til
at forstå, at vi selv kan tage magten – hvis bare vi tør at tænke os
om.
92 93

9 IBM
Melencolia I
95
2008, photo polymer intaglio mounted on styrofoam, 26x19,5x5 cm
1514, Albrecht Dürer, engraving

96 Gemini (double up)
2007, acid free stainless steel, 103x56x 6 cm
Flat bubblegum speakers
97

98 Energy Security Growth and Sustainability through co-operation and outreach
2007, paper, mdf, foam, 52x31x31 cm
99

100 Program Suttied
2007, paper, mdf, foam, 9,5x2 x2 cm
101

102 Pearl-white cartridge
Proximity to the Grid
103
2005, polysterboard, foam, h 90 cm
2007, Paper, mdf, foam, 37,5x20x21 cm

10 Chain
2007, acid free stainless steel, 200x320x 00 cm
105

106 Chain
2007, acid free stainless steel, 200x320x 00 cm
107

108 109

110 Syfilis
2008, jesmonite, 152x110x50 cm
111

112 Coke
2008, EPS (flamingo), 90x120x67 cm
113

11 Pastelvåd
2008, jesmonite, 102x90x50 cm
115

116 Regedit/zapinfo
2006, mixed media, 36x38x50 cm
117

118 Boom Tron
2008, jesmonite, 32x 3x53 cm
119

120 Gigatube
2004, glasfiber coated laserprint, 143x97x77 cm
121

122 123

12 Off-white cartridge
2005, polysterboard, foam, h 90 cm
125

1
Everything I know is gone.
i see
Morten Alsinger
Or it is everything but gone, it going it’s going its gone only to return, this
figurative outsourcing of cartoon utopia, hardly a result more than a reference
referring to dialogue or least at something waiting to be said. It’s a bubble
before it bursts with language lined up almost impatient, but in formations;
the pre-language or the silence before. Embracing the terminology of
outer limits, of greed, deadlines and water in deep space, clutched with the
ordinarity of needs, the need itself more evident than what it satisfies, the
commodificaton of feelings. This is the commotions.
Start a commotion and you have a direction.
The obligation .To challenge form and functionality, to electrocute the short
durations of cultures, to prevent stubbornness and the rigidity of conservatism,
the collective web of ignorance, fear, and phobias, a system that only can
produce new things similar to old ones, a system in which change is the
antithesis, and the road home goes through the shopping malls jogging in
safe environments with your pet therapy group of the week, through the
church and finally home to the bbq and the sizzling noise and sudden smell of
burning flesh, content but not changed. Or challenged.
The ideas. Somewhere between prototype and product, between man,
machine and organ. I expect what I see to work, the persistency of the
form is convincing, luring me, free of tradition, secretive, illegal because
there is nothing foreseeable, an almost violent curiosity, a meltdown of the
contemporary, birth help for the future
The short-lived cultures and colors of consumerism sucking it up and spitting
it out with an unwelcoming attitude of we might squirt but you are the one
swallowing and that is the real difference between them and us right and
wrong, the corporate warfare and you drown in almost 38000 nail clinics
in the bay area but only half a dozen health inspectors brands that will do
anything to please but nothing in return because that is the nature of things
It outs all colors and match the transparency of water like numbness white
while breathing flat on the sand the kings of convenience green spots red on
the green, sick.
Surfing kicks of addiction that surrender your hope expectations and
competence to one narrow astray turf a vast echo of muscle dicks and cunts
daughters fathers mothers and sons from half-moon bay to yardsale city
everybody leave before thy neighbor
126 127

2
Locked and loaded. Readymade. Nifty and dripping like a wet painting she
said I will be dry sooner, the business style contract as attractive as a social
disease and labatory disasters, the poetic justice of the downfall echoes like
a scenic romance gone bad. Fannie Mae left Freddie Mac for the Lehman
Brothers who turned out to be Jewish so she couldn’t marry into that family,
the system stopped breathing, growing backwards. Bonsai nano technology,
capitalism for mental midgets. A pink plaster Dad architects my dream emptying
Lidl in a slade, we are on a shopping
spree, not very strong believers
but we are together, spending the time
we have consuming lit up like a fucking
christmastree, just before he goes terminal,
it’s impossible to take into account
any suggestion of doing stuff differently.
It`s like a dick tie, bad breath,
the intertextual addiction: pronto my
shoes and rest your feet with the redwine
avant-garde, take-a-away or gang
it up or fall down. Color my strive with
candy science, stop, the turn signal on,
off the freeway. A deep and hammering
mist chords the vision hanging cold over
the watery meadows, far from the modern
and with no digital solutions to the
problems, the excuses are many, but
none are good.
3
The essence of physical separation is the rejection or the disconnection of all
communication and there by obsessively to maintain the alienation. A long
visual drought. It never worked in reverse. This summer ended on a Monday.
It had to.
4
Channel your memory in a silent and overlocking dualism like a speakersystem
supporting a blinded optical system like Megan now a 21 year old law
student who recaptures the facts that led up to her 6800 dollar nosejob like
the cheese in the trap was ever free the dream without logic but the dream
itself a towering number 8000 like a constituting chaos at cutstraw square,
like square is ever enough like homes you find chip by chip and pixel by pi-
128 129

xel, like a harddrive at sonic speed without network and cooling system, like
gatekeepers before there is even an exit nude like a widescreen but not really
working not even mobile.
5
Flickering images of idiosyncrasy floating freely without form or control in the
lack of a center maybe just a new human stratospheric linguistic exploding
like white dwarf stars in the attempt to create a new first day to lose history
and the past like the blasted belltowers of vukovar 91 there is no time or meaning
or space only adult losers queing
up in welfare lonely excuses for wasting
time, feed the dog feed the dog, god
can not lie because there is no one to
lie to, there is no god the annihilation is
total, lucky boy burger merges to yellow
captain cowboy, fleeing across the fields
there is nothing stopping us, no arm no
legs no control, there is music get ready
cause here I come like a postcard from
hell, into the future and back around
five, its tame but relatively true that
political and social abuse of norm and
normality causes frontal damages and
distracting stimuli, heads like balloons
and minds like slot machines awash in a
mental lagoon where the smell of overdue
fish constitutes the dream of pitiful
being
6
The choice here is really whether or not to move in to a top end hotel of boulder
less charm. A luxurious pile of bricks with with seaview, pool and patio,
flatscreen and breakfast, maids offering happy endings to ensure odorless affluence.
Anybody can do this and everybody does. There is nothing to it. It’s
more about stigmata than confronting new frontiers thrashing round in turbulence.
That is how it looks, oversized, dubious. Somebody from the 29th
floor is flashing a laser torch at Amari Tower. I am beginning to understand
the idea. Everything is accordingly to where it is headed, not where it is at.
Establishing directions
130 131

7
Engulfed by dominant irrationals categorized as the predictability of tomorrow
with one safety only, there is more riscs than there are profits, bipolar
like a monkey on my back we track everything down that is eatable but hold
no immediate necessity, an ongoing joke of to have or to have not a culture
country club lucky sperm the unfortunate geenpool of the welfare society is
eating birthday cake alongside the greener green, somebody is turning 2
nursing the system of order and chronology,
but today at work he bled and
in three weeks he will be sitting down to
take a piss it has gone haywire the pleasure
of work for the sake of work itself
should be nailed and boxed in because
there is no sweat but neither face, it is
in a ghostlike orbit, it awakens or falls
asleep, the reactions are many but one
is blinding: MY GOD IS SO WHITE!
8
A mean u turn sister love includes that we are not leaving.
Captured he morphs into an instrument to measure the extent of consumption
that defines the level of freedom which frames the number of destinations
to move between
It is starting to look like one big major incompetence, amateurism and the
view from the hills to the luxury of doing good. A puddle goddess has a peachcoloured
vision, small tongues tied together elaborating and insisting on the
fact the language works, small fluffy clouds and the wet leaves in her hand,
they stare blindfolded at her art and kills her god with an eternity of please
me in an escape forward to a nonsmoking futuremania where the precision of
technology have long outdated the insecurity of social culture
9
I am driving to LA with Jake because I can and because John is there because
his brother got a new job there and Bob just came back from Himalaya because
Chris lives in New Delhi and LA is getting closer even though I just left two
weeks ago where we crossed the Mexican border poor and sick and I constantly
count the days to the next lift off or touchdown because it’s the only
132 133

thing that upholds the outreach of the complex set up a constant of 250000
individuals airborn take for example Holden who just came back from Afghanistan
and we are having dinner at with Tom and Kate who just came back
from a month in Pakistan I ask Holden if he knows Laurel who works in Kabul
and yes that he does and silence sneaks in the conversation because his patent
of Afghanistan fades and another flag is planted but we talk more about
general aspects of geography and because or as long we are together nothing
evil will happen to us so we better keep the conversation going and I do not
forget why we got invited at all and tell Holden that we are moving to California
simultaneously remembering that I have to remember to tell Pete but he
is in Turkey and never answer my mails I always try to explain to him that we
are obligated by communication and should never be afraid to become lonely
then an exit from highway one through Santa Barbara because Jake wants to
see the surface of the world as he puts it and I speed up aggressively and tell
him it sucks but he deserves a chance to get that confirmation really thinking
about that I would rather visit Elliot in Silver Lake because he just divorced
from Patricia and we were all friends back then but now it’s complicated and
Patricia is rambling about New York because Ursula lives there but I am not
sure they have anything in common if she could only hook up with Ann but
she moved to Berlin because JD and Sally couldn’t afford to have their apartment
there going to Thailand at the same time as Tom got back from there
13 135

and then moved to Copenhagen and now he calls me from motherfucking
Helsinki with the wind of his motormouth geography destroying the conversation
it is, he says, as evil as it leaves me cold, I am on a stranded jet on
the runway with snow covering every exit and I won’t be able to make it to
the funeral, but I got to, he continues, it’s the simple fatalistic purpose or lack
of same, it aint moving unless you get in there. Ill carry his t-shirts for years
he rambles like a motherfucking tattoo with Africa conveniently tugged away
under horny Europe, that is the curse of Europe he told me that you can be
lonely but never alone, his stretched at a historical low but I understand that
he glad to be where he is at we fit likes boxes at in a warehouse and I can’t
help thinking about Jonas who moved from Stockholm to a small town near
the Skaergarden because Stockholm was strangling him and his family and
now he has a mountain in his backyard and we climb it with brandy, glasses
cigarettes and candles and we freeze our butts off acknowledging the fact
that friendship is the only ideology that stands a chance of surviving and I
tell him about Donald who just moved back to New Zealand after 14 years
on the road to a city that carries a Maori-name meaning the place you never
return to and Cathy is in Tasmania Viggo in the Andorra’s Pat in Barcelona
Mirna in Osijek and Heidi at Iceland where she did not meet Martin who just
had been there but it proves nothing and Jake from Tanzania with me going
to LA Alice in Greenland Ian on the transibirian and Eric in Napoli and we hit
western boulevard with the sun ablaze with a halo I am trying to call him but
I forgot his number
10
Culture is the invention that activates innovation which consequently adds
meaning to the human way of life merely defined by death and of the loss of
sense, logic and purpose
136 137

138 Atari 810
Handgrip
139
2005, photo, foam, 50x26x26 cm
2005, photo, foam, 50x26x26 cm

1 0 Mono Twist
2005, Mixed media, 35x38.5x12.5 cm
1 1

1 2 OMD
2005, Mixed media, h38 cm
1 3

1 1 5

1 6 Escape
2007, Bronze, 40x16x16 cm
1 7

1 8 Architect
Architect taking the Dive
1 9
2008, obomodulan 00, mdf, jesmonite, 86x 3x 3 cm
2007, Photography, 20x30 cm

150 Bitch
2007, Bronze, 55x26x17 cm
151

152 51 PEG
200 , jesmonite, 260x170x120 cm
153

15 SuperStack
2sex 1 center
155
2005, epoxy coated styrofoam, h60 cm
2005, epoxy coated styrofoam, 75x70x38 cm

156 poster
Taskmgr.
157
2005, poster/DIY sculpture, 70x100cm/55x15x22cm
2005, Mixed media, 91x105x 0 cm

158 Low matter
Moisture vessel
159
2007, styrofoam, 5x10x15 cm
2007, styrofoam, 5x10x15 cm

160 Queens
2007, Laser engraved glass, 30x1 x1 cm
161

162 Lady of Stars (Mauricette Mongbo)
2007, Laser engraved glass, 30x1 x1 cm
163

16 Human crystal system
2007, Laser engraved glass, 30x1 x1 cm
165

166 The Bitch and the Seahorse
2007, Laser engraved glass, 30x1 x1 cm
167

168 Snoose
200 , Mixed media, l 180 cm
169

170 Event horizon
200 , Mixed media, l 230 cm
171

172 Dip in the marketplace
200 , Mixed media, h 90 cm
173

17 F.A.S.
200 , Mixed media, l 150 cm
175

176 Titan
A-Z plasma
177
200 , Mixed media, h 120 cm
200 , Mixed media, l 60 cm

178 Phone home
Up where we belong
179
2006, epoxy coated polyester board, 8x80x35 cm
1999, fiberglass, l220 cm

Mindre erhverv, 2001, fiberglass, 48x36x29 cm
NL2000, 2001, fiberglass, h40 cm
Meltdown, 1998, plaster, h70 cm
180 Suck
1998, plaster, 20x20x25 cm
181

182 EuroPalle
Custom rigging system
183
2005, plaster, h28 cm
2005, mixed media, h25 cm

18 Hvori glimtet opstod, GRB030329, glød afterglow – slam
2005, Mixed media, h 86 cm
185

186 Pepsi
W
187
2008, jesmonite, 39x3 x33 cm
2008, jesmonite, 31x3 x16 cm

188 Mer´strøm
2005, flokking coated polyester board, 35x140x85 cm
189

190 S
2008, jesmonite, 31x23x1 cm
191

192 Fugtstand
Cern
193
2008, jesmonite, 22x13x15 cm
2008, jesmonite coated paper, 17x17x17 cm

19 195

196 World builders
2008, billboard (in co. Ole Krappe-Poulsen)
197

198 Democratic Combo
2005, print on parachute textile, 85x85x200cm (in co. Ole Krappe-Poulsen)
199

Meet the wrap (in co. Ole Krappe-Poulsen)
Slæbefod (in co. Ole Krappe-Poulsen)
Democracy and the Golden Middleway Compound (in co. Ole Krappe-Poulsen)
200 Self-Service economy
2005, print on parachute textile, h150 cm (in co. Ole Krappe-Poulsen)
201

202 Slowboat to china
2005, print on parachute textile, l 250 cm (in co. Ole Krappe-Poulsen)
203

Tak
Kunsthal Brænderigården
Fotograf
Kurt Nielsen
Bent ryberg
Anders Sune Berg
Torben Eskerod
Gustav Gimm
anja
Helene Nyborg Contemporary - www.helenenyborg.com
Brænderigårdens Forlag
ISBN 978-87-90192-61-7
Projektet er støttet af Statens Kunstråds Billedkunstudvalg
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206