MAGASIN 3 STOCKHOLM KONSTHALL: PLINGELING

PLINGELING, Magasin 3 + Norrköpings Konstmuseum, 2003

Polly Apfelbaum, Olle Bonniér, Erik Chambert, Siri Derkert, Cecilia Edefalk, Max Ernst, Roj Friberg, Katrine Helmersson, Hans Hermansson, Carl Fredrik Hill, Per Kirkeby, Olle Kåks, Beth Laurin, Sivert Lindblom, LG Lundberg, Evert Lundquist, Eva Löfdahl, Esko Männikkö, Karl Nordström, Karl-Axel Pehrson, Ulf Rollof

CURATORS Magasin 3: David Neuman and Elisabeth Millqvist.
Norrköpings Konstmuseum: Birgitta Flensburg

The exhibition Plingeling is a collaboration between Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall and Norrköpings Konstmuseum. After its run in Stockholm the exhibition will travel, in a modified form, to Norrköping (18 januari - 7 mars 2004). By showing works from both collections the exhibition creates a meeting of the two institutions.

The Norrköpings Konstmuseum Collection consists of works by 20th century Swedish artists. The main focus is on painting, particularly landscapes and depictions of social settings. The museum is especially proud of its collection of modernist works. Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall began its collection in the 1980s, focusing on three-dimensional works by international artists. Many of the artworks have been acquired in conjunction with site-specific exhibitions.

Artists working at the beginning of the 20th century, such as Siri Derkert, as well as artists working today, such as Cecilia Edefalk, are represented in the selection from Norrköpings Konstmuseum. Several of them are among Sweden's best-known artists. The point of departure for the exhibition are the works from the Norrköpings Konstmuseum Collection, with which Magasin 3 correlates. This presents an opportunity to complement with three-dimensional works such as Polly Apfelbaum's Red Desert (1993-1995) and to bring together works by artists who are represented in both collections, such as Carl Fredrik Hill. The exhibition also provides an opportunity to present works from the Magasin 3 collection previously not exhibited - exceptional works such as La Fôret Blonde (1925) by the German artist Max Ernst. The exhibition is accompanied by a booklet with quotations by and about the artists, and with texts by the directors of the two institutions, Birgitta Flensburg and David Neuman.

The title of the exhibition refers to the work Plingeling (1949) by Olle Bonniér, from the Norrköping collection. The painting consists of sparsely placed dots and appears to be entirely abstract, but in fact it was made to be interpreted as an orchestral score. Plingeling does not provide specific instructions as to how it should be played, so every performance will sound different. Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall and Norrköpings Konstmuseum would like to see its collaboration in a similar way: an opportunity to create new contexts in which to experience their collections.

Both institutions are happy to present fantastic works that have their homes only 200 km from each other.

CONTENTS:
Independent of Time an e-mail conversation between Birgitta Flensburg, director Norrköpings Konstmuseum (2003) and David Neuman, director Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall.
About the works - quotations by the artists and excerpts of texts about the artworks.
Folder no. 4.
23 pages, black and white, not illustrated. Texts in Swedish/English.
Published 2003 by Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall.

PLING SOUNDS
by Olle Bonnniér, 1949

The dots are elusive as roving flies.
Tones don't come into existence on a dot.
Fumbling along prudently
in precarious gaps: WRONG!
The erroneous rambling
causes crashes among particles
and the sounds PLINGELING spring up.

Can the score from a distance
be perceived as an 'unpainted monochrome'?
Rather as a brittle Chaos
and thus by mistake creating sounds.
In a reduced sense.

What is right and what is wrong?
'Right' one looks to be programmed.
For example, plane and solid geometrical laws.
'Wrong' knocks these out of position. Knocks mess up.

PLINGELING
The white, pure surface of the image represents, to me, the infinite, luminescent universe. The dots that appear can be understood as constellations according to planetary or geometrical rules, but that, however, has not been my intention. I see every dot as an isolated event, which does not create a conceptual connection to the other dots. Furthermore, I imagine that the dots revolve in irrational orbits and bump into each other by accident, thus creating the sound 'plingeling'. I have imagined the isolated dots in a musical fashion: as separate notes with infinitely long time intervals.

Moreover, a dot represents the smallest or largest of all forms.

"Plingeling" is based on a train of thought. The idea is that the new in art has nothing to do with the outer shape. This has two implications. Firstly, the most commonly used shape can be given a new meaning - and still, in its outer appearance, it can be the same old 'worn-out' shape. Secondly, the 'painterly quality' does not become all-important. In Plingeling I have gone as far as I can imagine in abolishing 'painterly quality'. Anyone can produce these white surfaces and dots. Consequently, it is not about an outer shape, but about a vision.

"Pling" was made after "Plingeling". It is an end or a beginning. An inceptive occurrence in a complete void, or a completive point, a convergence of all imaginable dots. The elimination of all non-essentials means that Pling's character of being a material image is of no consequence. It is transformed into a meditative incitement.

Olle Bonniér, 1949.
(Excerpt from the exhibition folder Plingeling, about the works, 2003.)

COLLECTION NORRKÖPINGS KONSTMUSEUM

Olle Bonniér
"Plingeling", 1949.
Temper on canvas, 114 x 145,5 cm

Erik Chambert
"Karin II", 1966.
Black paper relief in plexi glass box, 55 x 55 x 7.5 cm

Siri Derkert
"Danskt landskap", 1918-20.
Oil on canvas, 43 x 41 cm

Cecilia Edefalk
"Painting", 1992.
B&w photography, 81 x 54 cm

Roj Friberg
"Epitafium över en miljö I-IV", 1967.
Pencil on paper, 4 parts each 89 x 123 cm

Katrine Helmersson
"Eros & Sexus", 1992.
Silvered bronze, six parts, length 60 cm

Hans Hermansson
"Söndagen den 11 september 1932", 1970.
Oil on canvas, 150 x 225 cm

Carl Fredrik Hill
"Ovädersdag", 1875-1876.
Oil on canvas, 65 x 80 cm

Olle Kåks
"Räven", 1969.
Oil on canvas, 240 x 210 cm

Beth Laurin
"Skulptur I", 1985.
Fibre glass reinforced polyester and aluminium, 78 x 133 x 80 cm

Evert Lundquist
"Sandtaget", 1955.
Oil on canvas, 116 x 90 cm

Eva Löfdahl
"...ut ur det synliga spektrat", 1991.
Steel, five parts each 139,5 x 82, 5 x 38 cm

Karl Nordström
"Gravkumlet (Motiv från Tjörn)", 1903.
Oil on canvas, 106 x 170 cm

Karl-Axel Pehrson
"Fem vita", 1947.
Oil on panel, 51 x 32 cm

COLLECTION MAGASIN 3 STOCKHOLM KONSTHALL

Polly Apfelbaum
"Red Desert", 1993-95.
Crushed stretch velvet and dye, eleven sections, each approximately 130 x 140 cm

Max Ernst
"La Fôret blonde", 1925.
Oil on canvas, 92 x 65 cm

Carl Fredrik Hill
"Träd med flod".
Crayon on paper, 17 x 21.5
"Jätteträd vid havet".
Crayon on paper, 17 x 20.5
"Träd i vatten".
Crayon on paper, 17 x 21

Per Kirkeby
"Herbst - Anastasis, I, III, X", 1997.
Oil on canvas, three paintings, each 200 x 170 cm

Sivert Lindblom
"Untitled", 1963.
Bronze, height 103 cm

LG Lundberg
"Oväder", 1995-96.
Oil on canvas, 190 x 200 cm

Esko Männikkö
"Hyrynsalmi", 1990.
62 x 52 cm
"Utajärvi", 1990.
50 x 60 cm
"Hyrynsalmi", 1990.
71 x 61 cm
"Kuivaniemi", 1992.
40 x 48 cm
"Kuivaniemi", 1993.
68 x 58
"Kuivaniemi", 1993.
53 x 63
"Kittilä", 1995.
53 x 68
(All works are c-prints)

Ulf Rollof
"Construction 1", 1999.
Steel, wood, rubber, gold, 225 x 433 x 293 cm
"Collision", 1999.
Video of Collision tests at 53 km/h of chair, fir tree & Construction 1. Registered by high speed cameras at VTI, Linköping, Sweden. Produced by The Chimney Pot in Stockholm DVD, DVD- player, monitor. 2. 13 min. Courtesy the artist