Welcome to the opening reception with the artists on Friday, November 28, 18:00 - 20:00.
“His head - on the ground - has grown and changed into a sculptural bronze rendering of itself..."
In a new project created specifically for Kunsthall Stavanger, artists Tamara Henderson and Santiago Mostyn linger on the line between dream and reality, art and life. Roughly translated as 'Headless into the World', Sans Tête Au Monde is a collaborative installation sparked by a dream recorded in writing. The text serves as a catalyst, a surface layer through which the exhibition's content has been drawn into the perceivable world. The resulting sculptures, paintings, and photographs function as artifacts, free from any geographical or culturally specific context, unearthed from this parallel landscape.
For this exhibition, both artists employ intuitive creative processes and point to a knowledge and history grounded in the body rather than the rational
Welcome to the opening reception with the artists on Friday, November 28, 18:00 - 20:00.
“His head - on the ground - has grown and changed into a sculptural bronze rendering of itself..."
In a new project created specifically for Kunsthall Stavanger, artists Tamara Henderson and Santiago Mostyn linger on the line between dream and reality, art and life. Roughly translated as 'Headless into the World', Sans Tête Au Monde is a collaborative installation sparked by a dream recorded in writing. The text serves as a catalyst, a surface layer through which the exhibition's content has been drawn into the perceivable world. The resulting sculptures, paintings, and photographs function as artifacts, free from any geographical or culturally specific context, unearthed from this parallel landscape.
For this exhibition, both artists employ intuitive creative processes and point to a knowledge and history grounded in the body rather than the rational mind. In Henderson's work, recognizable forms – a humanoid pair of limbs, a planter, a chair, a painting – have transformed into surreal anthropomorphic shapes. For Mostyn, textile stamps from West Africa, retained through childhood and carried into adulthood, serve as the entry point for the creation of these monumental sculptures. In the gallery space, the forms have evolved into entities of their own, separated from their original use value.The term 'headless' also refers to the removal of the normal hierarchical structure of the exhibition process, and here the artists openly influence each others processes while the exhibition space doubles as a site of production.
The practice of collaboration is key to both Henderson and Mostyn; the dynamic exchange of conversation and information with their peers and friends is fundamental to their individual creative practices. In the midst of constant technological networking, the artists explore far more subtle and intuitive connections. Through their work, Henderson and Mostyn create a balance between intuition and reason, dreams and waking states, and offer the audience a fresh way of seeing and contextualizing their present experiences.
Sans Tête Au Monde is a new production commissioned by Heather Jones specifically for Kunsthall Stavanger. Conceived of as a collaborative project and immersive installation, the project serves as an experiment in generative exhibition practices.
Sans Tête Au Monde is made possible through the generous support of Art Council Norway and the Stavanger Municipality Culture Department
b. 1982
Tamara Henderson is a Canadian artist recently graduated from the Royal Art Academy in Stockholm. In her sculptures and 16mm films everyday items such as vessels and chairs are manipulated and animated to perform functions that, whilst originating in the everyday, appear to arise from the subconscious. Recent exhibitions include Charmer's Scripture, Rodeo, London; Resorting, Freize Live, London; Speaking in Scales, Andrew Kreps., New York; Tapped Out and Spiraling in Stride, Grazer Kunstverein, 2014; On the Tip of my Tongue, Magasin 3, Stockholm; and dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel. Tamara Henderson was nominated for this year's Canadian Sobey Art Award. Henderson is represented by Rodeo, London/Istanbul.
Santiago Mostyn is a Stockholm-based artist with a practice founded on culturally resonant personal histories. His prints, videos, texts, and installations derive from a candid engagement with subcultural communities around the world. Mostyn is a graduate of Yale University and the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, and has exhibited internationally at venues including Kunst-Werke Berlin, Malmö Konsthall, Mass MoCA, and the Hasselblad Foundation. His work has been profiled by The New Yorker, Interview Magazine, BBC Radio, and Creative Time Reports, among others.
Heather Jones is a curator based in New York. She is currently the Exhibitions Coordinator at Independent Curators International (ICI). In addition, she is a co-curator of Constellation Projects, co-founder and editor of Contemporary Art Stavanger and volunteer Curatorial Assistant at Kunsthall Stavanger. She is the recipient of a 2013 Curatorial Fellowship from the Stavanger Municipality Culture Department. She studied in the United States, South Africa, and Sweden and received an MA in Curatorial Studies from Stockholm University and a certificate in Architectural History and Theory from the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm. She was previously a Master Apprentice for the studio of Sol LeWitt and Studio Manager for the artist Swoon.
