TRONDHEIM ACADEMY OF FINE ART
THE SILENT SPEAKER – part II: The Costume
A trilogy by Regina (Maria) Möller
Solo-Exhibition at Trøndelag Senter for Samtidskunst / TSSK
Opening Thursday, 19. February 2015, 19.00
The Silent Speaker – a trilogy – is a project in-progress developing over time from part one, to two and three. The three chapters of this story are built upon each other, and have been created for three different cultural venues.
Part I: The Curtain has been shown in context of the Public Site Project Deep Sites in Levanger (curator: Anne-Gro Erikstad), 2014. Part II: The Costume is a solo-show in the Exhibition Space of TSSK (director: Randi Martine Brockmann), 2015. The entire story unfolds in Part III: The Body written and created for the theatre stage, AVANT GARDEN, forthcoming (artistic director: Per Ananiassen)
The Silent Speaker embodies “silence”, “delay” and “the invisible”. Although quite controversial discussed subjects, they imply listening, concentration and focus. These are invaluable features to be anew addressed in a time that is full of “noise”, “velocity” and virtual “visibilities”, which cause in the din of digital life a constant reconstruction of identity.
In this exhibition (part II of the trilogy) Möller extends The Curtain to The Costume –interweaving patterns of symbols and sign languages with patterns of clothing. Clothing plays an important role in the construction of “identities”, and this part The Costume focuses on readings of disembodied garments that embody a character – The Silent Speaker. It is a voice that renders the ordinary unordinary and pays attention to the unheard and overlooked. A reminder of “Silence as a place for bumping into yourself”.
About the artist:
Regina (Maria) Möller is a German artist, writer and founder of the magazine regina and creator of the production line embodiment. She lives and works in Berlin, Germany and Trondheim, Norway.
Her artistic practice involves a wide range of medial formats; interweaving complex stories, which often deal with the question of identities. She uses “strategies inherent in the media she works with; overwriting and adapting them for the purpose to show that there are always a number of different versions underneath and alongside the official interpretation”*
1994 she founded the magazine regina – which achieved international acknowledgement. regina is an adaptation of the format of mainstream women’s fashion magazines and their notion of women’s everyday life. The magazine includes familiar sections – fashion, work, home & garden, recipes, partnership – but the real content of regina is evident how this everyday is dealt with differently, often through the production of discourse. regina is an art work in printed matter format and published in limited print run / edition.
In the same year Möller launched the (art) label embodiment. Under this production line she designs art works as prototypes that relate to clothing – “Bekleidung”. In limited editions, Möller creates products which concern “home”, “interior” and “the (female) body”, so to speak the works of embodiment are some kind of furniture, wallpapers, carpets, accessories and garments, which operate as an interface between art and design. They are in use and function, and at the same time they relate to portraits and sculptures. With embodiment Möller is additionally addressing the second skin as “shelter”, but also considering it as a “gutter” or looking into the “collapse” between the body and the environment.
The projects and works of Regina Maria Möller have been widely exhibited both nationally and internationally in solo and group shows in venues including, Manifesta 1 / NL; 45th Venice Biennial / IT; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art / DK; Tate Liverpool / GB; Kunstverein München, DE; Wiener Secession / AT; 3rd Berlin Biennial / DE; Sprengel Museum Hannover / DE; Tate St. Ives / GB; , MuMoK (Museum of Modern Art, Vienna) / AT and more. 2012 she co-curated ZERO 1 San Jose Biennial, Silicon Valley, USA.
*Matthias Herrman, In: Regina Möller: embodiment; exhibition catalogue Secession, Wien, 2004.
Photos
Top: Exhibition view at TSSK
Photo taken by Anne-Karin Furunes, 2015
Bottom: showing the curtain in process The Silent Speaker – part I: The Curtain, 2014
© Regina Möller, VG Bild-Kunst, 2014
Review
http://trondheimkunsthall.com/news/Stofflig-stillhet
More information about part I: The Curtain :
http://levart.no/the-silent-speaker-a-trilogy-2/?lang=en&lang=en