Reoriented
30 june – 30 september 2012
Boden, a former secluded military town, has undergone a transformation and has emerged as a microcosm of the current globalisation trend. Now it caters to tourism and provides shelter to refugees from war-torn regions all over the world. The international exhibition, Reoriented, features artworks from the Nordics and the Middle East and carries a profound message. It embodies the reorientation of Boden, where the local actions echo the global movement, as well as the substantial changes taking place in the Middle East, marked by revolutionary and often tumultuous events.
Reoriented represents a natural continuation of the 2010s exhibition named The Russians are Coming! It displayed art from Russia and the Nordics, focusing on borders, war and fear. Russia was once regarded as Boden’s eastern adversary that Sweden had to safeguard against. However, the town now trains soldiers to engage in foreign conflicts, primarily in the Middle East. This shift in focus indicates another reorientation in the region, where the defense against Russia has relocated further south.
More information about the exhibition can be found in the Folder.
Participating artists
Adel Abidin. Was born in Bahgdad, Iraq in 1973 and has lived and worked in Helsinki, Finland since 2001. He is a video, installation and photography artist, exploring the complex relationships between culture, politics and identity.
Bouchra Khalili. Moroccan artist Bouchra Khalili was born in 1975, in Casablanca, Marocco and grew up in both Paris and Casablanca. Khalili works in video, mixed media installation, and prints.
Diana Al-Hadid. Born in Aleppo, Syria. Now she lives and works in New York. When she was five years old she and her family moved to the USA. She has been living in both worlds and attempting to bridge the two cultures most of her life.
Kjersti G Andvig. Born 1978. Grew up in the north of Norway and now lives part time in Oslo, part time in Berlin. Her art projects are often carried out during longer periods of time and they are about many aspects of our existence, from the personal to the general.
Laleh Khorramian. Lives and works in New York, but she was born in Teheran in Iran in 1974. Her works in more traditional techniques like collage, monotyping and drawing into her animations and works in digital media.
Marya Kazoun. Was born in Lebanon in 1976. The family fled the war by moving to Montreal. She now lives in New York and Venice. Her pieces are mainly installations and performances, and often combinations of both.
Ann-Sofi Sidén. One of Sweden’s most established contemporary artists, Ann-Sofi Siden, was born 1962 and lives and works in Stockholm. She started as a painter and then moved to be a sculptor. In the last few years she’s mainly been working with films and video installations.
Stein Henningsen was born in 1962 and he lives in Longyearbyen, in Svalbard in Norway, where he also grew up. His project Crosses of liberty is on display in Reoriented; a small American cemetary.
Åsa Bergdahl. Was born in Boden, but then she left town for art studies in Gothenburg when she was 20 years old. Now she lives in Bjärtå, near Kramfors. As an artist Bergdahl has been working in many different ways and techniques, exploring different subjects.
