Klara Lidén
Battement battu
29 October 2015–10 January 2016
WIELS
Avenue Van Volxemlaan 354
1190 Brussels
Belgium
Hours: Wednesday–Sunday 11–18h
T +32 (0)2 340 00 53
Klara Lidén’s work provokes a search for adjectives, which might at first seem contradictory: violent yet reticent, humorous yet painful, personal yet universal. Influenced by street art, informed by Conceptual Art, and tinged with vandalism, her work takes many forms. Her materials are drawn from her immediate urban environment, and her subjects from her own experience of living as an individual in a crowd. She also uses her own body to explore the possibilities of escaping or bypassing social control, with highly visceral results.
Lidén’s way of working is shaped by her initial training as an architect, with an emphasis on the urban environment in both its physical materials and the politics of its (mis)use. Her exploration of the urban fabric is informed by Situationist practices and an interest in alternative economies or structures. Several of her works involve gathering or stacking material, which she sometimes literally presents as a pile. This can be read as a critique of our consumer society, yet the political aspect of her work is never explicit. Rather, it is contained within her material choices or implicit in the actions that she undertakes, which always go against the grain.
Lidén’s solo exhibition at WIELS—her first institutional presentation in Belgium—encompasses these very different sides to her work. Its title, Battement battu, is an untranslatable ballet term that, rather fittingly, contains both grace and violence. The exhibition is constructed to allow different speeds or modes of viewing, drawing the visitor slowly into Lidén’s intense interior world.
Curated by Zoë Gray
This exhibition is generously supported by the Embassy of Sweden.
Klara Lidén: biography
Born in Sweden in 1979, Klara Lidén lives and works in Berlin.
Recent solo exhibitions include Le Consortium, Dijon and Galerie Neu, Berlin (both 2015); Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen and Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York (both 2014); Museion, Bolzano and Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2013); New Museum, New York (2012); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2011); Serpentine Gallery, London, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn and Jeu de Paume, Paris (all 2010); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2009); and Hayward Gallery, London (2007).
Lidén received the Prize for Sculpture from the Moderna Museet (2013); the Carnegie Art Award (2012); and special mention for the 54th International Art Exhibition ILLUMInations, Venice Biennale (2011). She studied at Konstfack in Stockholm (2004–07); Universität der Kunst, Berlin (2003); and School of Architecture, Royal School of Technology, Stockholm (2000–04).
Complementary programme:
Opening: Wednesday 28 October
Public opening: 7:30pm
Concert by Tvillingarna: 9:30pm
Founded in Stockholm in 2006, Tvillingarna have worked together with Klara Lidén to make the music for several of her videos. They have also collaborated with Askar Brickman, Gunnar Kolbjer, Rita Ackerman, Thomas Hemstad and Mira Eklund among others. Their first single, “The Future Master,” was released by record company Du och Jag och Askar Brickman.
Poetry reading by Karl Holmqvist, “ONE IS NO ONE”
Wednesday 2 December, 7pm
The Swedish-born, Berlin-based artist and poet Karl Holmqvist is a longstanding friend of Klara Lidén and has previously written about her work. This autumn they are collaborating together on a new project in Mexico City. In the framework of Lidén’s solo show at WIELS, Holmqvist will read from his own poetry.
Entrance: free
Language: English
Look Who’s Talking: Zoë Gray
Wednesday 16 December, 7pm
WIELS Senior Curator gives an informal tour of Klara Lidén’s exhibition.
Entrance: free
Language: French
Lecture by Hilde de Bruijn
Wednesday 6 January, 7pm
Hilde de Bruijn explores the work of Klara Lidén through the lens of Asger Jorn’s writings and his ideas on vandalism in art. De Bruijn is curator at the Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen (Netherlands). She also works as a freelance curator and writes the blog www.hildegoesasger.org.
Entrance: free
Language: English
Press contact
Micha Pycke
micha.pycke [at] wiels.org / T +32 (0)2 340 00 51 / M +32 (0)486 680 070
