Aliasing

27 may – 24 september

The exhibition is based on a collection of photographs by Ida Ekelund, a photographer from the early 1900s who ran a photo studio on Stora Gråbrödersgatan in Lund. After the stock market crash of 1929, Ekelund was forced to close her business but for some reason, she hid the traces of her work – 7907 glass plates – under the floor of her apartment. Ekelund lived until she was 98 years old. She earned her living for the rest of her life as a maid and never mentioned anything about her hidden glass plates. In a renovation of the apartment in 2013 the plates were discovered.

The title Aliasing refers to the effect of distortion that occurs when a digital image is processed in a certain way, by a monitor or a printing device and by the eyes and the brain. Depending on the “saving” process the resulting image differs from the original, so a sort of alias of the initial image is what is seen. For Müntzing this is a working method that simultaneously destroys and creates, like memory, which changes over time and begins to tell a different story.

In Aliasing, artist Kristina Müntzing processes Ekelund’s photographs by scanning and printing selected images on vinyl or photo paper, to then cut, weave and merge them into new photo collages. Müntzing’s work explores the relationship between art and craft, with a specific focus in women’s work in the textile industry and their prominent role in the development of computer programs and code languages, but also the all-too-common dual professional identity of female artists such as Ida Ekelund and Müntzing herself, who also shares her time as a teacher/artist, or personal assistant/artist. In her large woven textiles, these images from different eras and geographies are shredded and intertwined to create a physical encounter in the present, where the artist’s identity is mixed with the traces of a fellow artist from another time and place.

About the artist

Kristina Müntzing lives and works in Malmö. She holds an MA in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK, a Master of Fine Arts from Valand Academy of Art, University of Gothenburg and from the Nordic Art School, Kokkola, Finland. Muntzig has participated in numerous exhibitions in Sweden and abroad.

Her art is represented in the collections of Helsingborgs stad, Apoteksbolaget, Statens konstråd, Kalmar konstmuseum, Göteborgs konstmuseum, Gävle kommun, Västerås konstmuseum, Textilmuseet Borås/Textilhögskolan. She has made public art projects in Neptuniskolan Malmö, Varla Förskola, Kärrdalsskolan Gothenburg, Alingsås emergency room, Kalmar Konstmuseum, Chalmers Patricia It biblioteket, Gothenburg and many others. Müntzing was named Art Project of the Year for Stockholm Konst at the 1% gala in February 2019. She runs the art project Sunshine Socialist Cinema together with the artist Kalle Brolin since 2011.

For more information see also: https://kristinamuntzing.com/

From the series “Don´t quit your day job”, 2021 – ongoing. PVC vinyl, poly ribbon, photo paper, hemp, and wool yarn. Photo: Marcel Köppe.