Henrik Hakansson at Dunkers Kulturhus
11 December 2004 – 27 February 2005
Dunkers Kulturhus
Kungsgatan 11, SE-252 21 Helsingborg, Sweden
T +46(0)42-10 74 00
anncatrin.gummesson [at] helsingborg.se
Oct 24, 2004 (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), Filmstill: Henrik Hakansson Henrik Hakansson
In collaboration with researchers at Lund University’s department of theoretical ecology, Henrik Hakansson was allowed to record and document on film the test flights of several bird species, among them the redstart. Hakansson’s recent project “From Here to Eternity (Phoenicurus phoenicurus). The Wind Tunnel Sessions, Lund, Oct. 24 – 29, 2004″ is based on this work. The project describes the unique opportunity afforded the researchers by a specially constructed wind tunnel allowing for detailed analysis of the way birds fly. Hakansson’s films focus on the aesthetics of flight and document the testing process in the form of a sound piece in a sculpture representing the wind tunnel. He also highlights the extensive bird collection of the Museum of Helsingborg – a donation of the private collector Carl Moller and now in storage. In an installation that mirrors archival methods, the artist provides a comment on science, classification, and the depletion of natural resources and species.
Henrik Hakansson’s works often focus on themes that revolve around the relationship between humans, animals, insects and plants. As evidenced in pieces resembling scientific experiments and using advanced technical equipment, Hakansson works with the minute precision of a biologist/zoologist – only this time from an artistic and reflective vantage point.
His pieces highlight the clash between the slow pace of nature and the speed of technology, and raise questions concerning people of today and their relationship to nature. Hakansson seeks to render visible a nature from which humans are increasingly distancing themselves – while depicting it as a stage for artistic activity.
Henrik Hakansson works in film, visual installations, sound, and digital expressions, creating nature observations (construed natural cycles) from the perspective of the artist. Unlike staged and narrated nature films, his films and installations are devoid of analyses and obvious answers. The artistic process is often characterized by suggestiveness, as exemplified by the intense impact created by the documentation of swarming wasps or Hakansson’s use of music.
Henrik Hakansson is a native of Helsingborg. He lives and works in Varberg and Berlin.
Lecture. Saturday, February 19 at 2 pm. The dark side of illegal trade
Commerce in animals and plants is a lucrative multi-billion crown business. In recent years the issue has become highly political, and it is nowadays a frequent feature of the debate on the protection of different species under the international CITES convention (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
Lecturer Mats Forsberg, representing the international network TRAFFIC (Trade Analyses of Flora and Fauna in Commerce).
Workshop. Saturday, January 22, 1 – 3 pm. Wing-beats, flying, danger or flight.
A practical demonstration of how to find our way, quickly and simply.
Art pedagogue: Karin Muller-Lindberg, Dunker Culture Centre.
Exhibition catalogue Henrik Hakansson, 128 pages.
Preface by Magnus Jensner/Kirse Junge-Stevnsborg, Dunker Culture Centre.
Essay by Max Andrews, London, UK
Abstracts by Susanne Akerstrom and Anders Hedenstrom, Lund University.
Publisher: Henry Dunker Culture Centre and Revolver Verlag.
Coming art exhibitions at Dunkers:
January 29 – May 1, 2005: Visages & Voyages – Runa Islam
March 19 – May 29, 2005: private idiot – Charlotte Gyllenhammar.
June 18 – September 18, 2005: Jeppe Hein.