Momentum 9: Alienation - The 9th Nordic Biennial of Contemporary Art

momentum 9: alienation 

THE 9TH NORDIC BIENNIAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART 

MOMENTUM 9: ALIENATION VISUAL IDENTITY DESIGNED BY TUOMAS KORTTEINEN AND HEIKKI LOTVONEN 

Contributers
bigail deVille (US), Atelier Cyberspace (DK), Búi Aðalsteinsson (IS), H.R. Giger (CH), Johannes Heldén (SE), John Duncan (US), Jone Kvie (NO), Jussi Kivi (FI), Jenna Sutela (FI), Kapwani Kiwanga (CA), Kjersti Vetterstad (NO), Levi van Veluw (NL), Linda Persson (SE), Mediated Matter (US), Museum of Nonhumanity (FI), Olga Bergmann & Anna Hallin (IS), Patricia Piccinini (AU), Patrick Jackson (US), Pinar Yoldas (TR), Public Dreaming (NZ), Ragnar Þórisson (IS), Rana Hamadeh (LB), Rolf Nowotny (DK), Serina Erfjord (NO), Sonja Bäumel (AT), Stathis Tsemberlidis (GR), Third Ear (DK/US), Trollkrem (NO), Tuomas Kortteinen & Heikki Lotvonen (FI), Wael Shawky (EG), Ylva Westerlund (SE) 

Alien encounters and engagements
Since its inception in 1998, MOMENTUM has strived to present compelling works of art and outstanding artistic ventures in Norway and the Nordic context. The Biennial has since become established as one of the most exciting platforms for contemporary art in the Nordic region. 

The ninth edition of the Momentum Biennial (M9) takes the notion of alienation as its starting point. In the term alienation the curators refer to a contemporary world where alien processes and entities are becoming an integrated part of our lives through technological, ecological and social transformations. We encounter and engage with the alien every day. Alienation is our contemporary condition. While more information and modes of communication are available to us than ever before, it is not easier to make sense of the whole. M9 addresses this confusion and insists on searching for new tools for greater understanding of the human condition through cross-pollination of methods, categories and disciplines. 

Transdisciplinary Explorations
The creative practices featured in M9 reflect an expanded transdisciplinary exploration. The practices will address alienation, focusing on the following three areas: 1) Bodies, Objects and Technologies, 2) Ecology and 3) Structures and Societies. 

The three areas are conceived as overlapping and interconnected and manifest through the individual works and through the multiple connections these works create. The Biennial addresses topical concerns of cultural and geographical borders, biopolitics and social inequality. The works featured in the Biennial resonate with the local context of Moss and furthermore branch out to instigate and participate in broader discussions. 

Towards Extraordinary Futures
With alienation as its theme, M9 will present diverse and conflicted ways of experiencing, explaining and imagining the world anew. Alienation represents a potential to expand the horizons of our current lives, to think and act progressively and usher in change. Thus M9 wants to welcome the alien – including the alien in us – without preconceptions of the familiar and foreign. It wants to welcome the alien as a challenge to the present as well as a promise of better, extraordinary futures. 

Curators
lrika Flink (SE) Ilari Laamanen (FI) Jacob Lillemose (DK) Gunhild Moe (NO) Jón B.K. Ransu (IS) 

Commissioner
Punkt Ø, Director Dag Aak Sveinar 
Punkt Ø is the county gallery of Østfold. It runs both Galleri F 15 and MOMENTUM – Nordic Biennial of Contemporary Art. 

Venues
MOMENTUM 9: Alienation will feature works in the Momentum Kunsthall and Galleri F 15 and at selected off-site locations in the city of Moss. MOMENTUM KUNSTHALL is in Moss’s historic city centre, housed in an old industrial and urban centre typical of the region and situated by a river and close to a former paper factory which closed down in 2012. GALLERI F 15 is at Alby Mansion on the island of Jeløy in the Oslo fjord. The gallery occupies a historic mansion house, which also includes a garden.