Johannes Heldén (SWE)
www.johanneshelden.com
Introduction
In recent years my artistic practice, both as visual artist and author, has been about narrative systems, SF and entropy - nature always being present, as promise or threat. In my work I let nature and technology meet, to create meaning and new structures in the flow of information, structures to point out cracks where new possibilities, in language and aesthetically, can shine through and create order in chaos. Each artwork becomes a fictive system, it's main operators being technology and nature, hope for the future and dystopia. Even though reality dissolves and what's left is a meaningless jumble, there is still something that gives hope, an idea of progress. /Johannes Heldén
First Contact, 2011
(mixed media, variable dimensions)
konsten.net review The Archive May 2011
Kalmar Konstmuseum
Eskilstuna Konstmuseum
On line
Väljarna, 2008 (Bonniers Publishing House)
The Prime Directive, 2006 (Afsnit P)
The Archive, 2011
May 12 - June 4, Stene Projects
" [...] And I remember looking out the window and seeing stars, set against a dark blue sky, and somehow I could feel the woodland and the fields and every single stem of grass out there in the darkness. And it was safe and horrible at the same time. A great secret, a story told in a new language, books below leaves, grass, roots. [...]"
The Archive, 2011
(installation view, Stene Projects)
The Archive: first edition, 2011
(29X20cm, edition 1/1, ink print on paper)
The Archive: science fiction, 2011
40X32cm, edition 1/1, ink print on paper
The Archive: index, 2011
(40X50cm, 35 individual pieces, edition 1/1, ink print on paper)
The Archive: Field, 2011
88X158cm, paper collage mounted in plexi, wooden frame
The Archive, River Bank, 2011
77X108cm, paper collage mounted in plexi, wooden frame
The Archive: chapter I, 2011
83X34X25cm, books, paper, plaster, plexi, ink print on paper
The Archive: chapter II, 2011
36X34X24cm, books, paper, plaster, ink print on paper
The Archive: chapter III, 2011
44X24X15cm, books, paper, plexi, ink print on paper
Collectors edition part II, 2010
60X100cm, edition 3+2AP, C-print
(installation view, Untitled announcement, feat Steven Stewart NY, at Stene Projects, 2010)
Distant Light, Distant Hope, 2009
Season Finale pt. 2, 2009
height 60cm, dimension variable, mixed media
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Prime, 2009
65X107cm, watercolour
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
A Better Tomorrow, 2009
(installation view, Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Entropy Index, 2009
76X56cm watercolour
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Distant Hope, 2009
112X167cm, watercolour
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Red Shift, 2009
dvd, duration 9.04
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Sequence I, 2009
16X21,1cm x 9, watercolour on paper
Sequence II, 2009
16X21,1cm x 9, watercolour on paper
Natural History
An interactive animation (depicting a map of islands and a stretch of the sea) is screened on top of a model of an archipelago. The numbers on the map that signifies the waters' depth are clickable, for each number a short poetic text emerges. When clicking one of the islands, the screening goes dark and the selected island is lit with a green light. A longer text-animation is played. The texts are like notes from a distant future, with elements of slow violence, something lurking beneath the surface. The spectator chooses beginning and endpoint in the viewing - depending on how much time you give the piece
the underlying storyline becomes clearer. It is nearly impossible to experience the work identically two times, to follow the same sequence of numbers.
Natural History, 2007
(interactive installation, projection 183X140cm. Islands, height varies between 10 and 45cm)
Natural History, 2007
(installation view, Bonniers Konsthall)
Cold Open, 2007
(animation, 4.23)
And They Multiply, 2006
(animation, duration 6.01)
Collectors Edition
On 32 second-hand science fiction paperbacks, titles and blurbs have changed into a new story, which can be read in it's entirety along the spines of the books on the shelf. The new text tells an alternate, utopian, history of humanity where exploration of space is central instead of warfare, megacorporations and politics. On the backs of the books author presentations and labels have been replaced with poetic fragments
Collectors edition part I, 2005
book shelf, books
(Against Time, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, 2007)
Collectors edition part I, 2005
(detail)
Stardestroyer 2, 2004
(animation, duration 2.13)
www.johanneshelden.com
Introduction
In recent years my artistic practice, both as visual artist and author, has been about narrative systems, SF and entropy - nature always being present, as promise or threat. In my work I let nature and technology meet, to create meaning and new structures in the flow of information, structures to point out cracks where new possibilities, in language and aesthetically, can shine through and create order in chaos. Each artwork becomes a fictive system, it's main operators being technology and nature, hope for the future and dystopia. Even though reality dissolves and what's left is a meaningless jumble, there is still something that gives hope, an idea of progress. /Johannes Heldén
First Contact, 2011
(mixed media, variable dimensions)
konsten.net review The Archive May 2011
Kalmar Konstmuseum
Eskilstuna Konstmuseum
On line
Väljarna, 2008 (Bonniers Publishing House)
The Prime Directive, 2006 (Afsnit P)
The Archive, 2011
May 12 - June 4, Stene Projects
" [...] And I remember looking out the window and seeing stars, set against a dark blue sky, and somehow I could feel the woodland and the fields and every single stem of grass out there in the darkness. And it was safe and horrible at the same time. A great secret, a story told in a new language, books below leaves, grass, roots. [...]"
The Archive, 2011
(installation view, Stene Projects)
The Archive: first edition, 2011
(29X20cm, edition 1/1, ink print on paper)
The Archive: science fiction, 2011
40X32cm, edition 1/1, ink print on paper
The Archive: index, 2011
(40X50cm, 35 individual pieces, edition 1/1, ink print on paper)
The Archive: Field, 2011
88X158cm, paper collage mounted in plexi, wooden frame
The Archive, River Bank, 2011
77X108cm, paper collage mounted in plexi, wooden frame
The Archive: chapter I, 2011
83X34X25cm, books, paper, plaster, plexi, ink print on paper
The Archive: chapter II, 2011
36X34X24cm, books, paper, plaster, ink print on paper
The Archive: chapter III, 2011
44X24X15cm, books, paper, plexi, ink print on paper
Collectors edition part II, 2010
60X100cm, edition 3+2AP, C-print
(installation view, Untitled announcement, feat Steven Stewart NY, at Stene Projects, 2010)
Distant Light, Distant Hope, 2009
Season Finale pt. 2, 2009
height 60cm, dimension variable, mixed media
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Prime, 2009
65X107cm, watercolour
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
A Better Tomorrow, 2009
(installation view, Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Entropy Index, 2009
76X56cm watercolour
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Distant Hope, 2009
112X167cm, watercolour
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Red Shift, 2009
dvd, duration 9.04
(Distant Light, Distant Hope, Stene Projects, 2009)
Sequence I, 2009
16X21,1cm x 9, watercolour on paper
Sequence II, 2009
16X21,1cm x 9, watercolour on paper
Natural History
An interactive animation (depicting a map of islands and a stretch of the sea) is screened on top of a model of an archipelago. The numbers on the map that signifies the waters' depth are clickable, for each number a short poetic text emerges. When clicking one of the islands, the screening goes dark and the selected island is lit with a green light. A longer text-animation is played. The texts are like notes from a distant future, with elements of slow violence, something lurking beneath the surface. The spectator chooses beginning and endpoint in the viewing - depending on how much time you give the piece
the underlying storyline becomes clearer. It is nearly impossible to experience the work identically two times, to follow the same sequence of numbers.
Natural History, 2007
(interactive installation, projection 183X140cm. Islands, height varies between 10 and 45cm)
Natural History, 2007
(installation view, Bonniers Konsthall)
Cold Open, 2007
(animation, 4.23)
And They Multiply, 2006
(animation, duration 6.01)
Collectors Edition
On 32 second-hand science fiction paperbacks, titles and blurbs have changed into a new story, which can be read in it's entirety along the spines of the books on the shelf. The new text tells an alternate, utopian, history of humanity where exploration of space is central instead of warfare, megacorporations and politics. On the backs of the books author presentations and labels have been replaced with poetic fragments
Collectors edition part I, 2005
book shelf, books
(Against Time, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, 2007)
Collectors edition part I, 2005
(detail)
Stardestroyer 2, 2004
(animation, duration 2.13)