Momentum 2006
4th Nordic Festival of Contemporary Art
“Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better.”
2 September – 15 October
Curators: Annette Kierulf and Mark Sladen
Moss, Norway
Endre Aalrust & Thomas Kilpper / Lara Almarcegui / Johanna Billing / Gerard Byrne / Phil Collins / Copenhagen Free University / Kajsa Dahlberg / Edvard Gran / Tue Greenfort / Jeppe Hein / Knut Henrik Henriksen / Sergej Jensen / Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen / Ragnar Kjartansson / Joachim Koester / Juozas Laivys / Camilla Løw / Talleiv Taro Manum / Michaela Meise / Rosalind Nashashibi / Romantic Geographic Society / Egill Sæbjörnsson / Michael Sailstorfer / Lucy Skaer / Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan / Mark Titchner / Sue Tompkins / Lars VilksM
Momentum is the Nordic festival of contemporary art, held in the town of Moss in Norway. In its previous incarnations Momentum has been a festival of emerging Nordic artists, but in 2006 the event expands to include artists from a large number of northern European cities, including Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin, Glasgow, Helsinki, London, Malmö, Reykjavik, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Vilnius. The curators are Annette Kierulf (Director, Gallery By the Way, Bergen) and Mark Sladen (Senior Curator, Barbican Centre, London).
Momentum 2006 includes a number of works created especially for the project. The town of Moss is famous for its smell, derived from a paper factory, and Tue Greenfort is creating a work in which he will use a byproduct of this factory to make ice cream. Many ex-industrial spaces in Moss are being re-developed, but Lara Almarceguis work moves in the opposite direction, preserving a piece of wasteland for public use. And in a reversal of the usual model for site-responsive works, Phil Collins is traveling to Kenya to explore the legacy of Norwegian aid projects in the country.
Momentum 2006 takes its title from a Samuel Beckett text: Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Many of the featured artists have an engagement with absurdity and often their works are based on misappropriation or misconstruction but it is an absurdity combined with an ongoing, self-critical endeavour.
Momentum 2006 is being shown in a converted industrial space called the Brewery, the long-established Gallery F15 on the edge of town, and a variety of public sites. In addition to the main exhibition, the festival includes a number of independent projects and events.
Professional preview Friday 1 September
For press accreditation and preview pass: info@momentum.no
For further information see www.momentum.no