Insomnia

The group exhibition Insomnia at Bonniers Konsthall revolves around sleeplessness as a cultural symptom. It brings together a group of contemporary artists—Carsten Höller, Katarina Löfström, Julia Feyrer & Tamara Henderson, Kate Cooper, Leif Elggren and Rafaël Rozendaal—and key works by Maya Deren, Mladen Stilinović and Andy Warhol. Together the artists create a place where sleep and wakefulness, rest and motion, dreamlike absence and constant availability blend, and where the artworks keep the gallery awake around the clock.

Cultural shifts in sleeping habits go together with major changes in our ways of living. Today we are witnessing a shift, in which the possibility of direct communication at any geographical distance shatters the 24-hour rhythm of the time zones. We have the possibility of doing everything regardless of what time of day it is. Insomnia aims to draw a map of the sleepless state that this accessibility creates. It seeks to test out whether this hyperactivity embodies a new kind of sensibility and presence that goes beyond previous sensory experiences. A wide-ranging, wide-awake communication that promises new experiences for consciousness and art. Or, on the contrary, is this utopia that we have woven out of optic fibres actually only an expression of an invasion of wakefulness into the formerly dark room reserved for dreams, thoughts and creativity?

A key piece in the exhibition is Two Roaming Beds (Grey), 2015, by Carsten Höller. It consists of two identical robotic beds, clinical in their appearance and with an automatic steering system. Visitors have the opportunity to book an overnight stay and spend a night in the gallery. Julia Feyrer & Tamara Henderson’s works are manifestations of excursions into different modes of consciousness, while Katarina Löfström explores the limits of consciousness and losing control. Leif Elggren lets the visitor eavesdrop, curled up like a child under Freud’s iconic sofa. Kate Cooper’s animations touch on questions about image, representation and labour in the digital age, while Rafaël Rozendaal’s 15 websites play on the idea of the ever active, always accessible. Rozendaal’s works will also take over Bonniers Konsthall’s website, and be displayed on commercial billboards in the centre of Stockholm.

A book is published on the occasion of the exhibition, with new material as well as key texts related to insomnia as a social and cultural metaphor. It is edited by Sara Arrhenius, Sofia Curman and Camilla Larsson, with contributions from Ellen Blumenstein, Rosi Braidotti, Kate Cooper, Jonathan Crary, Roger Ekirch, Leif Elggren, Julia Feyrer, Tamara Henderson, Martin Herbert, Siri Hustvedt, Carsten Höller, Katarina Löfström, Marti Manen, Filipa Ramos, Raqs Media Collective, Rafaël Rozendaal and Karen Russell. The book is the first in Bonniers Konsthall’s new publication series, created in collaboration with Art and Theory Publishing.

The exhibition opens on September 24 with a 12-hour night exploring the boundaries between sleep and wakefulness. From sunset to sunrise, Bonniers Konsthall will be filled with performances, workshops, rituals, live music and DJs. Appearances by Nahum Mantra, Karl Holmqvist, Wu Tsang and boychild featuring Patrick Belaga, and more. During the course of the exhibition, there will be an extensive program of viewings, performances and talks with among others Roger Ekirch and Rafaël Rozendaal as well as a 24-hour book with Cabinet Magazine. See the calendar on Bonniers Konsthall’s website for full program.  

Insomnia is curated by Sara Arrhenius and is on view at Bonniers Konsthall until Jan 22, 2017.