DKF - “Viewing”

Drammen Art Association's exhibition, 2004

When Drammen Kunstforening's exhibition project "VIEWING" addresses a theme that deals with houses and housing aspects, including things for everyday use, this is far from a coincidence. In today's rich flora of art exhibitions, it has been noted over time that quite a few artists take their starting point precisely within the mentioned theme. The impression is that this is to the greatest extent to be found in photo-based art expression. In retrospect, it is interesting to note that the jury in this year's autumn exhibition also finds clear trends and themes that recur across various media and techniques, including a preoccupation with expressing something about house motifs.

The house is a frequently repeated element in children's play and drawing, which lays the foundation for a close relationship with the house. For children, it is about developing the background of experience through exploration and activity. The consequence is that the perception of the house is experienced as a fundamental attachment in life. In today's society, there is an enormous focus on houses and housing. Prospects for new housing projects are dumped in the mailboxes and the daily newspapers have their own housing magazines on a weekly basis, which smoothly and fashionably connect interiors with the advertisements for house sales. The supply is also increasing online and brokers in banks and real estate companies are eager players in the market with arranged viewings on the assembly line. Underlying the situation is, of course, the improvement of people's financial ability, where the low borrowing rate is an important factor. Most people are increasingly able to improve the standard by purchasing larger and more comfortable homes. In the wake of new acquisitions of furniture and furniture, expensive audiovisual equipment, etc. Changes in the structure of society cause, to a greater extent than before, jobs to be moved, a situation that leads to disruptions in order to get a reasonable distance to the workplace. The growing elderly generation also affects the housing and housing circulation. The desire to live so that garden care and snow removal is avoided, creates a need for other types of housing than the traditional one. Surveys from the cities also confirm that more and more people are choosing to live single, which in turn requires a larger supply of varied housing.

Since art often reflects what is moving in the contemporary world, it was obvious to bring in a bunch of artists who could conceivably express something about different aspects within the theme. The intention was to collect these for an exhibition in order to be able to give wide-ranging comments in the form of art prints. During the preparatory work, many lines of thought emerged. Houses and homes today are, of course, light years away from the house's elementary and original function, which was to provide shelter from the weather and wind, protection against wild animals and enemies. The "house" still fills basic needs for warmth and shelter, but basically we need nothing more than "something around and above us". But when the development over a long period of time, together with growing prosperity, has given us houses that often seem to be unnecessarily large in terms of area and which also have a lavish standard, it gives reason for reflection and reason to ask whether the "house of our time" meets the underlying need. psychological / symbolic character.
In our society today, there are many and obvious indications that a strong property-oriented and materialistic view of values underlies our actions. A large group of people clearly emphasize investing in building or buying large flashy houses with ditto expensive furnishings, obviously with the intention of reflecting on their financial ability and position. It seems that the belief in materialism is a prerequisite for creating an identity.

The board of Drammen Kunstforening envisioned works that touched on such existential aspects of life and at the same time captured that the house body itself is often used as a picture, a metaphor for the person himself. Whether the exhibition's twenty invited visual artists have captured some of our thoughts, we leave it to the viewer to find out. But perhaps their work is based on completely different angles and thus grabs hold of threads that are left to us from our point of view to wind up. To complete and enrich the experience we hope the exhibition can provide, a study of mag.art is recommended. Tone Lyngstad Nyaas essay in the catalog "VIEWING".
       

Helge Wahl

Drammen Kunstforening

Monday to Friday 11.00 - 15.00

Wednesday 11.00 – 18.00

Saturday 11.00 – 16.00 (free admission)

Sunday 11.00 – 16.00


OPENING HOURS DURING EASTER: open every day from 11.00-15.00