Dansk billedkunstner

Fragments 2009/2011

Jan Kather (USA)
Marty McCutcheon (USA)
Michael Chang (DK)

Exhibition history

2009 Fragments, world premiere screening, July 25, Berkeley Commonplace, Berkeley, California.

2011 Fragments, ephemeral installation, April 58, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira New York, New York.

michael baastrup chang fragments project

2009 Fragments, world premiere screening, July 25, Berkeley Commonplace, Berkeley, California.

michael baastrup chang fragments project installation photo at arnot art museum

2011 Fragments, installation, April 5-8, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira New York, New York.

Synopsis

The Fragments Project is a video collaboration project headed by Michael Chang (DK) and Marty McCutcheon (US). Chang initiated the project in 2009 when he invited fifteen artists to collaborate on three threads of video art while adhering to specific rules.

The Fragments Project had its premiere in July 2009 in Berkeley, California at the community screening center run by McCutcheon, Berkeley Commonplace. During the event, three threads of video were projected onto a screen composed of the white-washed fragments of broken objects. Junk! The premiere event featured music from the Californian band Slowness pre-release debut EP as well as live experimental video performances by visitors and members of the Commonplace Community.

In 2011 Chang and McCutcheon teamed up with Jan Kather (US) and on April 58, 2011, the Arnot Art Museum in Elmira, New York hosted The Fragments Project as part of a museum series focusing on collaboration.

Support

The New York State Council on the Arts and The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.
The Arnot Art Museum, Elmira New York, USA.
Berkeley Commonplace Community Screening Center, Shattuck Avenue 2571, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Californian band Slowness, http://www.myspace.com/slownessmusic.

Participating artists 2009

Credited alphabetically

Aditi Kulkarni (India)
Alberto Guerreiro (Portugal)
Alicia Felberbaum (United Kingdom)
Alison Williams (South Africa)
Ambuja Magaji (India)
Anders Weberg (Sweden)
Brad Wise (United States)
Dave Swensen (United States)
Kika Nicolela (Brazil)
Marty McCutcheon (United States)
Mads Ljungdahl (Denmark)
Niclas Hallberg (Sweden)
Stina Pehrsdotter (Sweden)
Ulf Kristiansen (Norway)
48073 (Holland)

Participating artists 2011

Credited alphabetically

Adamo Macri (Canada)
Aditi Kulkarni (India)
Alberto Guerreiro (Portugal)
Alicia Felberbaum (United Kingdom)
Alison Williams (South Africa)
Antonio Pinto (France)
Assangni Kisito (Togo)
Brad Wise (USA)
Christine Heusner (USA)
Claus Collstrup (Denmark)
Cora De Lang (Argentina)
Dave Swensen (USA)
Doug Anderson (USA)
Germn Britch (Argentina)
Graham McDougal (Scotland)
Irina Gabiani (Luxembourg)
Joas-Sebastian Nebe (Germany)
Kai Lossgott (South Africa)
Larry Caveney (USA)
Ludovic Sauvage (France)
Melanie Chilianis (Australia)
Niclas Hallberg (Sweden)
Osvaldo Cibils (Italy)
Per Eriksson (Sweden)
Stina Pehrsdotter (Sweden)
Ulf Kristiansen (Norway)
Uma Ray (India)
Vigga Vangsgaard (Denmark)
Willy Darko (Italy)
48073 (Holland)

Links

2011 Fragments: An Ephemeral, International Video Installation at the Arnot Art Museum

2011 Fragments: Bending the rules

2011 Fragments: Meeting in the Middle

2011 Fragments: Remix of Fragments Footage

2011 Fragments: Collaboration in Action

2011 Alice Talks about Fragments, An Ephemeral, International Video Collaboration

2011 Bear Hug by Tom Oberg projected in the Fragments Installation

2009 Fragments Announcement Video, Chang & McCutcheon

2009 Fragments Thread One, 48073 (NL), Marty McCutcheon (US), Brad Wise (US), Alberto Guerreiro (PT), Aditi Kulkarni (IN)

2009 Fragments Thread Two, Alicia Felberbaum (UK), Mads Ljungdahl (DK), Ulf Kristiansen (NO), Anders Weberg (SE), Niclas Hallberg (SE)

The Man Without Qualities 2010

Michael Chang (DK)

Separatudstilling

2010 Feb. 1 Apr. 30, The Man Without Qualities, CDS Art & Visibility - Gallery for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen.

michael baastrup chang print

michael baastrup chang gallery installation

2010 Feb. 1 Apr. 30, The Man Without Qualities, CDS Art & Visibility - Gallery for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen.

Everyman

Catalog text
Melissa E. Feldman
Independent curator and writer

MICHAEL CHANG came into my life suddenly and vanished as quickly. We met last August (2009) when he was in San Francisco producing aquatints at Crown Point Press for this exhibition (The Man Without Qualities 2010). His timing was perfectI was in town briefly between summer trips and was able to meet him the next day. (Its a good thing too, because the printsand the artistwere shipping out in two days time to Copenhagen.) Arriving at Crown Point, a tall, dark-haired youngish man greeted me with an accent and a face I couldnt place. He spoke English with confidence and apart from his height, Chang didnt look particularly Scandinavian. He struck me as being a kind of everyman, someone who could fit in any where, be it Lhasa or Manhattan.

We chatted and I asked a lot of questions and studied the prints, all aquatints in a minimalist style. Two of the series were complete: A handsome group of aquatint and chine coll, 77 by 55 cm, that starts out all white and ends, seven prints later, with an all-violet impression, and a smaller oblong series of four whose main drama is a diminishing midline dividing its washes of gray-greens and bronze, some in a striped moir pattern befitting a Renaissance waistcoat. There was also an unfinished set of gridded variations on a squarish, book-size paper. This set was to be editioned; all the others are unique. Chang showed me a digital image of an ambitious, 15 by 6-foot multi-panel painting, The Man Without Qualities (2009), that would accompany the new aquatints. This imposing work, a tour de force from what I could tell, comprises eight vertical panels, all 54 by 185 cm except for the central bone white one which is a bit wider, and each painted a different muted red, green, yellow, purple and black. It resembles the American artist Brice Mardens classic minimalist works from the early 70s (also oil and wax), yet it is less formalist and studied. Changs shifts in color seem more naturally-occurring, an unforced sequencing that seems to mirror the shifting color of water under an overcast sky, or the way one thought leads or leaps to another. Chang explained the meticulous coding system involving the number of staples attaching the canvas to the stretcher and how he works on them flat and selects a different brush size and directional stroke for each one. Yet when asked why he named the work after the novel by Robert Musil [1] he said the title just seemed apropos though he had not read the book. By now I was beginning to grasp Michael Changs paradoxical approach: Order colliding with chance and intuition.

[1] Robert Musil (1880 - 1942) Austrian. Author of the (unfinished) modernist novel, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften.

It was completely by chance, for example, that he discovered the work of Brice Marden, one of the abstract American painters whose work was inspirational for him, and his first monochrome painting came about by accident. The monochrome stands as the ground zero of painting, a beginning and an end. That is how it went for Chang, when he made his first monochrome painting by inadvertently ruining his lastand he says bestfigurative work. In Changs native Scandinavia, figurative traditions prevail over abstraction, both contemporary and historical, Chang himself made figurative work until two years ago (2007). Vaguely surrealist, these earlier paintings feature an isolated figure or object, such as two fish trapped in a glass jar, set in a tonal background of uncertain depth. Still Changs abstract work bears a Nordic sensibility that can be traced back to the late 19th century Scandinavian symbolists, whose most famous affiliate was Edvard Munch, in its reductive formal means and sense of interiority. Unlike the brilliant palette and empirical realism of their French counterparts, the moodier modernists in the North opted for Whistleresque tonal and monochromatic color, and flat, shadowless light.

As a cultural mistizo with a Danish mother, an Asian father, and a British education, his attraction to the monochrome begins to make even more sense. The idiom encompasses ancient archetypes and Eastern zen, modern architecture and Western doubt. This mutability, perhaps, accounts for its remarkable resilience. Kazimir Malevich is responsible for its modern identity. Since then (1917) the monochrome has been adopted by artists working all over the world from the early Italian conceptualists Piero Manzoni and Lucio Fontana, to the heady meditations of Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama, James Lee Byars, and Wolfgang Laib. It serves the deconstructivist investigations characteristic of Americans Robert Ryman and Ad Reinhardt. More recently, in the work of Glenn Ligon, Byron Kim and Alejandro Otero, the monochrome bears the inscription of identity politics. As a visual paradigm, it can be an image, a denial of imagery, a state of mind, an iconoclast.

After more than 12 years of unsuccessful attempts at trying to find a connection to the art I felt that I was supposed to be making, I left Denmark and visited the USA for the first time. [2] That was in 2007, before Changs interest in abstract painting took hold. Changs story recalls Agnes Martins rite of passage from abstract expressionism to her mature minimalist style: I painted for 20 years without painting a painting that I liked. [3] That is, until she got to New York and saw non-objective painting.

[2] Quoted from e-mail exchange between the artist and curator, September 2009. [3] Interview with Irving Sandler in Germano Celant, Agnes Martin: Paintings and Drawings 1977-91 (London: Serpentine Gallery, 1993), 13.

In the larger prints, Chang begins the series with lightness and darkness: A white image and a black one. The ones in between seem to build towards the symphonic finale, a bar code of irregular stripes comprising the colorsblack, white, gray, and violetisolated in the preceding prints. The white is actually an impression of the plate itself, including dirt and grease marks. The velvety bottomless black is the result of being bitten for two 50-minute sessions in an acid bath. The parameters of the printing process and visuality thus marked, the work moves into another basic measure of picture-making and seeing: dividing the plate equally between two blacks, whose difference is barely discernible, then two whites. Such subtle variations in tone are a specialty of aquatint. Then the violet makes its entrance in a cloudy monochrome.

The new works demonstrate the classic Minimalist penchant for subtle geometries that operate on a perceptual level, but Changs approach is more dramatic and free-associative. There is a baroque quality to the contrasting forms and divided surfaces, as well as in his use of scale and sequencing. There is a touch of romanticism in Changs color choice. (The artist likes to contemplate his work in different natural light, including moonlight.) For example in the print with the two blacks and the print with smaller green/gold striped pieces in the oblong series, the tonal change comes across spatially, as if in bas relief, as well as pictorially in terms of color, hue, and pattern. One needs to shift position to determine whether external lighting accounts for the flashing stripes and shifting blacks or if these differentiations occur within the image itself. As always, the answer is yes and no, in Michael Changs elusive, straight-forward art.

Melissa E. Feldman
Piedmont, California, 2009

Links

2009 The Man Without Qualities and Symposium, ISBN 978-87-992964-2-2 (Udstillingskatalog PDF)

The Man Without Qualities (2010), 6 min. 10 sek. (VIDEO)

Statens Kunstfond

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Stories of the Sun God 2010

Christy Walsh (USA)
Michael Chang (DK)

Performance history

2010 Stories of the Sun God, Triskelion's Collaborations in Dance Festival, Brooklyn, New York.

2010 Stories of the Sun God, Valerie Green/ Dance Entropy, Long Island City, Queens, New York.

michael baastrup chang performance photo

Above: 2010 Stories of the Sun God, Valerie Green/ Dance Entropy, Long Island City, Queens, New York.

Synopsis

Christy Walshs dark, narrative fable follows a powerful and immortal sun god on his heedless quest for knowledge. Stories of the Sun God leads the audience through a mythological empire in which secrets are the currency of power. Indeed, the guarding of secrets is of great importance to the characters, who are birds, princesses, young men and an omnipotent sun god. Stories of the Sun God is a series of intertwining tales; seven golden birds that share a secret, the guarding of which becomes their own demise; a princess who upon her death becomes a lover of the sun god; a young man faced with a bluebirds riddle; the sun gods army, birds of prey who cause all manner of trouble until their disbandment & no human nor magical bird remains untouched by the brilliant but sadistic ruler, who is above all accountability. Drawing on ideas as old as Rome, the narrative is at once a meditation on the nature of power and the importance of information in any age.

Stories of the Sun God is about sex, love, deception, mortality, immortality and imperialism told in four acts in a poetic language which combines movement, sound and visual art.

Chapters

1. The Seven Golden Birds
2. The Birds of Prey and the Great Debacle
3. The Bird of Paradise
4. The Red Bird and the Poet
5. The Two Princesses
6. The Magical Bird
7. The Young Man and the Blue Bird
8. The Little Green Bird and the Princess
9. The Four Birds of Death
10. The Golden Bird and the Sun God
11. The Silver Bird

Acts

Act One: Diplomacy by the Sword
Act Two: The Princess and the Sun God
Act Three: The Poet's Revenge
Act Four: Immortality is Forever

Support

Supported with a travel grant from the The Danish Arts Foundation in 2010.
Supported with flags from LS-Flag.
Supported with free work/performance space and video recording from Green Space Studio.
Nancy Mehan Dance Studio
Stringdance+Media.

michael baastrup chang credits

Cast and crew

Christy Walsh

Choreography and direction

Ryan Lawrence
Laura Sifuentez
Carey Moore
Christy Walsh

Performers

Gordon Olson

Lighting

J Pasquale Greco

Sound design

Selina Loper

Assistant

Michael Chang

Visual artist

Links

2009 Recordings from Nancy Meehan Dance Company, Manhattan, New York and sketches in Copenhagen (VIDEO)

Michael B. Chang, One hand in the air, (2011), 3 min. 41 sek.

Michael B. Chang, Two hands in the air, (2011), 3 min. 4 sek.

Statens Kunstfond

The Journeyman 2011

Michael Chang (DK)

Separatudstilling

2011 Jun. 21 Aug. 20 The Journeyman, Cath Alexandrine Danneskiold-Samse Gallery, Copenhagen.

michael baastrup chang artwork

michael baastrup chang installation view

2011 Jun. 21 Aug. 20 The Journeyman, Cath Alexandrine Danneskiold-Samse Gallery, Copenhagen.
(Photo: Anne Mie Dreves).

Regarding The Journeyman

Catalog text
Melissa E. Feldman
Independent curator and writer

Recently Michael Chang wrote about affinities in the work of an unlikely triad of artists--Damien Hirst, Bob Dylan, and Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II--proposing artmaking as a great equalizer between people, be they rich, poor, famous or obscure. He notes that the chances of us becoming colleagues outside the realm of painting are slim. Last year Dylan, who explains that If I could have expressed the same in a song, I would have written a song instead, came out as a painter with a show at the National Gallery of Denmark. While Hirsts blockbuster art epitomizes the late twentieth century artist, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II exercises her passion for and considerable gifts in both ecclesiastical embroidery and landscape painting, her royal position notwithstanding. In the case of Dylan and the Her Majesty, artistic identity does not function in its usual elitist manner; on the contrary, has a normalizing, even humanizing, effect on how we view these untouchables.

The works comprising The Journeyman might be understood as extending the purview of Changs dialogue with artistic colleagues to include Francis Bacon, Paul Cezanne, Francisco Goya, Edvard Munch, Andy Warhol, as well as a few American minimalist painters encountered through the artists armchair and airplane travels. But before we get to them, lets talk about his other colleagues: all of you. You can qualify by adding your marks or words to Y (2010), a monumental, multi panel blackboard. Mine would say, why not? Using a blackboard as surface and support creates a role reversal in which the visitor/student becomes the artist/teacher, where touching and graffiti are allowed, confessions become public information, and the picture is always impermanent. Words and images are interchangeable, and the work is always both finished and unfinished. Accordingly, the scale and narrow proportions of the panels underscore the physical (as opposed to cognitive) action of markmaking. The height correspondences to the artists height and the width of each panel equals that of his extended arm from shoulder to finger tips. For Chang the piece represents a catharsis, a getting rid of words and thoughts, emptying myself and stop verbalizing everything.

The same can be said of Changs new monochrome paintings in homemade egg tempera whose satin surfaces show nairy a brush mark. The surface quality is the result of a labor-intensive process of sanding successive applications (at least three) of chalk and then egg white. If it werent for the ragged bottom edge revealing its layered history, the works would not appear to have been painted at all. Despite the mediums medieval origins, the egg temperas remind me of the perfect monochromatic fields that California Light and Space artists of the late sixties such as John McCracken and Robert Irwin producedfields that reflected Los Angeless clear skies as well as the flawless surfaces of their automobiles and surfboards.

In the works that comprise The Journeyman Chang opens up his practice to different kinds of processes and materials, both traditional--the egg temperas for example-- and newfangled. As in postminimalism, or so-called process art of the early 1970s exemplified by the work of such artists as Barry Le Va and Bruce Nauman, Changs new work walks a fine line between the intentionality of a set procedure and the physical limits of the operator (artist) and his materials. In the Appropriations (2011) Chang wrangled a large commercial printing pressfor what could be more intentional than a machine? Seeking to undermine the reproduction quality of images of works by Warhol, Munch, and Cezanne among a few others, he reprinted the same sheets (all 1168 of them) four times using corrosive liquid to corrupt the image. Paradoxically, the resulting splashing and dripping offset ink resembles running paint. Next Chang covered the image with hand-applied graphite and beeswax, further obscuring the image while at the same physically and symbolically embedding an artistic ancestry in the signature geometry of his work.

Printmaking is one of the principle ways Chang expresses his interest in elaborate technique and layered mediums and the ultimate mystery of their interaction. He embraces the vagaries of chance operations both in the studio and in life, where he assimilates people and opportunities that come his way. In the series entitled Folds, for example, Chang recuperates scraps of lovely Somerset paper leftover from the prints he made at San Franciscos reknowned Crown Point Press into a series of bas reliefs made by folding the paper, from six down to one time, and displaying them unfolded. Irregularly shaped with deckled or torn edges, some are a just a sliver at 1/2 by 12, reminiscent of an archeological fragment. The last reproduction in the catalogue is the single fold, Irregular Shape folded once, and as Chang pointed out, then you close the catalogue which is a little folding as well.

Melissa E. Feldman
Piedmont, California, 2011

Links

2011 The Journeyman, ISBN 978-87-992964-4-6 (Udstillingskatalog PDF)

The Journeyman (2011), 1 min. 6 sek. (VIDEO)

Michael B. Chang, Y, (2010), 2 min. (VIDEO)

Infinity Loop 2012

Mette Ussing (Skulptur)
Michael Chang (Monoprint og tempera)

Gruppeudstilling

2012 May 7 June 30, Infinity Loop and Images of Eggs, Cath Alexandrine Danneskiold-Samse Gallery, Copenhagen

michael baastrup chang monoprint

michael baastrup chang installation view

2012 May 7 June 30, Infinity Loop and Images of Eggs, Cath Alexandrine Danneskiold-Samse Gallery, Copenhagen.

Kunstneren som gartner

Katalog tekst
Trine Ross

Der er et gammelt kinesisk ordsprog, som siger, at den, der vil være lykkelig en enkelt dag, drikker sig fuld. Den der vil være lykkelig en uge, slagter et svin og den, der vil være lykkelig et år, bliver gift. Men den, der vil være lykkelig hele livet, bliver gartner.
Og netop gartnergerningen er omdrejningspunktet for Michael Chang, som ganske vist er kunstner, men alligevel ser sig selv som den omsorgsfulde gartner, der hjælper sine vækster på vej. Alt hvad de skal bruge, og alt, hvad de vil blive til, ligger allerede latent i frøet og derfor er det udelukkende hans opgave, at give disse frø de bedste betingelser for vækst.
Changs frø skal dog ikke i jorden. I stedet findes de gemt inde i materialerne og i den tankevirksomhed, han bruger til at bearbejde sine værker både fysisk og mentalt.

Men sådan har det ikke altid været: Indtil 2007 arbejdede Chang på en meget anderledes måde og med andre udtryk og mål. Den gang handlede det om figuration, teknisk kunnen og det, man traditionelt betegner som talent. Man kunne også kalde det dygtighed, og selvom en kunstner må mestre sine materialer, er den udtalte dygtighed ikke altid en fordel.
Derfor tog Changs kunstneriske produktion en markant drejning, der førte ham væk fra de genkendelige figurer og, mere vigtigt, hen imod en kunstnerisk praksis, der handler om at undersøge maleriet, materialerne og hvad de gør ved ham og os. Væk er også det hektiske og tidstypiske krav om at skabe fornyelse, hvilket har givet ham roen til at genopdage gamle teknikker som temperaen. Og derved opstår der, ganske forunderligt, en helt utvungen fornyelse af billedsproget, for selvom teknikken har tusindvis af år på bagen, så har vi aldrig før set den brugt med de resultater, som Chang skaber.

Også rent teknisk har Chang fundet sine egne veje, der begynder med en grundering af det rå lærred. Her bruger han læsket kalk, hvilket vil sige knuste knogler fra diverse dyr, der levede omkring Stevns Klint for flere millioner år siden. Dette mildest talt historiske fundament bygger han videre på ved hjælp af æg, der har ligeså vidtrækkende filosofiske, symbolske og helt lavpraktiske betydninger. For ægget er jo, som frøet, begyndelsen, der bærer al fremtiden i sig som en fuldendt helhed, samtidig med at hviderne klistrer og binder sammen, mens blommens indhold af lecitin får olie og vand til at blandes i fuld fordragelighed.
Teknikken kræver tålmodighed, for selvom de første fire lag af skiftevis kalk og æggehvider tørrer på et par dage per påføring, så tager det en hel del længere tid for temperaen af oxidere og dermed også forbinde sig selv til underlaget. Tempera er en blanding af vand, linolie og æggeblommer, tilsat udvalgte pigmenter, og for at undgå krakeleringer må man lade lærredet stå urørt i omkring syv uger, før endnu et lag farveholdig tempera påføres.

De mange lag, der udgør hvert eneste værk, tager ikke bare tid, de giver også store mængder af erfaring fra sig. Chang eksperimenterer med sine penselstrøg, der er som et materiale i sig selv i hans hænder. På samme måde undersøger han sine farver, som ofte fremkommer ved en kombination af komplimentærfarver, der ellers ligger i hver sin ende af farvespektret. Alligevel (eller måske: derfor) er resultatet harmonisk, samtidig med at han opnår en stor dybde og nedtonet intensitet i farverne. Det er således en undersøgende, nærmest intuitiv videnskabelig arbejdsmetode, Chang har fundet frem til, hvor kunstnerselvet ikke længere er i spil. I stedet giver Chang plads til processen, hvor værket fungerer som sig selv og som dokumentation for sin egen tilblivelse.

Nogle gange sker der naturligvis det, at noget vokser forkert. Der skulle være frugter på planten, men det er der ikke, og så må gartneren gøre noget og gøre noget andet end det, han har gjort hidtil, da det jo tydeligvis ikke virker efter hensigten. Og så lærer man noget nyt. Andre gange lykkes det hele lidt lettere, men selv da er et værk ikke sikret sin overlevelse, for ind imellem må også velfungerende værker lade livet, så der bliver plads til at noget nyt kan spire frem. Hvad det er og hvad det kan blive til, ved Chang ikke, men han sørger for rent vand og gode lysforhold.
Det kan føre til store temperamalerier, der veksler mellem at manifestere sig i rummet og forsvinde for øjnene af en, eller det kan blive til en serie kobbertryk, der kombinerer flere generationers opskrifter med æg og dertilhørende børnetegninger. I helt ekseptionelt lykkelige situationer kan Chang endda genkende sine egne vækster i andre kunstneres arbejde, sådan som det er tilfældet med Mette Ussing. Her er opstået en kommunikation, ikke bare mellem to kunstnere fra hver sin generation og med hvert sit udgangspunkt, men også mellem værkerne, der må være vokset frem i væksthuse, der minder om hinanden. Tilsammen skaber disse vækstværker en ny hybrid, hvis stiklinger man kun kan glæde sig til at følge fremover.

Trine Ross
Copenhagen, 2012

michael baastrup chang monoprint

Links

2012 Infinity Loop and Images of Eggs, ISBN 978-87-992964-6-0 (Udstillingskatalog PDF)

Infinity Loop and Images of Eggs (2012), 1 min. 35 sek. (VIDEO)

Images of Eggs - Making a Print (2011), 3 min. 48 sek. (VIDEO)

Images of Eggs - 1st, 2nd & 3rd layer (2011), 3 min. 24 sek. (VIDEO)

Michael B. Chang & Hans Manner-Jacobsen, Images of Eggs, podcast, 34 min. 8 sek., Copenhagen, 2011. (AUDIO)

Statens Værksteder for Kunst

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Farver hentet fra en barndom 2020

Michael Baastrup Chang (DK)

Separatudstilling

2020, 14. - 29. november, Farver hentet fra en barndom, Galleri Weinberger Schandorff, Frederiksberg.

michael baastrup chang artwork

michael baastrup chang installation view - dansk billedkunstner (1973). Copenhagen.

michael baastrup chang installation view

2020, 14. - 29. november, Farver hentet fra en barndom, Galleri Weinberger Schandorff, Frederiksberg.
(Foto: Thomas Thorgaard Iversen, Stol: MBADV Studio).

Farver hentet fra en barndom

Katalog tekst
Trine Ross
København, 2020

SELVOM DE FÆRRESTE har læst ‘På sporet af den tabte tid’, så ved de fleste, at det er en madeleinekage, der sender Proust på rejse gennem minderne. Og vi kender alle sammen fornemmelsen: At en duft, et lysindfald eller en særlig farve pludselig folder minder ud for os, som vi knap nok kunne huske at vi havde.

I sin nye serie af kobbertryk har Michael Chang taget sit udgangspunkt netop i erindringen, men hvor minder er omskiftelige og ofte uldne i kanten, har han fundet en nærmest videnskabelig vej, idet han isolerer farver fra gamle familiefotografier, flytter dem ud af deres oprindelige kontekst og overføre de frisatte farver til grafiske værker. Væk er således selve billedet af en mor i haven, et barn i et kirsebærtræ eller poserende i en gul rapsmark. Tilbage er til gengæld følelsen, fornemmelsen og essensen af selve det at huske.

Men én ting er at huske, en anden er, hvad det er, vi vælger at tage med os.

Vores erindringer er således langt mere plastiske og føjelige end vi forestiller os, for vi går tilsyneladende og laver lidt om på fortiden hele tiden, så den passer bedre til den nutid, vi gerne vil befinde os i. Det opdager man, hvis man sammenligner sine egne minder fra en given situation med andre, der også var til stede. For så viser det sig meget ofte (og meget overraskende), at man husker samme situation fuldstændig forskelligt.

Selv fotografier forandrer sig med tiden, ikke mindst de analoge, håndgribelige af slagsen, som er dem, der bærer den del af vores fortid, der ligger før alting blev digitalt. De forfalder, farverne forandres og ridses ved gentagen brug. Og lysbillederne blev flittigt brugt i Changs familie, præcis som i så mange andre. Duften af det knitrende lærred, vi i min familie så dem på, sidder stadig et sted i min næse, parat til at blive aktiveret ved genkendelse. Lyden, når lysbilledfremviseren skiftede dias, ka-klonk!, og man så endnu et billede og begejstret delte oplevelsen endnu en gang og ganske højlydt med hinanden.

Sådan skaber man fælles minder og overensstemmelse i erindringerne mennesker imellem. Og sådan påvirker man gensidigt hinanden, præcis som farverne gør, når de kommer hinanden nær. Hvad der sker har kunstnere altid undersøgt, men i 1800-tallet blev farverne også underkastet en mere videnskabelig analyse, der igen inspirerede de impressionistiske og i særdeleshed de pointalistiske kunstnerne sidst i århundredet. Interessen fortsatte i det følgende århundrede, hvor kunstretninger som Orfismen viderebearbejdede teorierne i abstrakt retning.

Allerede i 1910’erne udførte Kazimir Malevich det formegentlig første fuldstændig monokrome maleri, ‘Sort Firkant’, og i de mere end hundrede år, der er gået, er samtidskunsten igen og igen vendt tilbage til dette tema. Ofte er der dog ikke tale om fuldstændig ensfarvede billedflader. Barnett Newman tilsætter således sine centrale og vibrerende røde to smalle striber kontrast fra de resterende grundfarver i de fire variationer af ‘Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue’ fra sidst i 1960’erne. Men det er nu nok Newmans ven og kollega, Mark Rothko, der med sine horisontale striber af pulserende kolorit, står som den mest oplagte inspirationskilde eller kunstneriske forfader for Changs seneste værkserie. Men det er overfladiske sammenhænge og ligheder. For Changs værker er ude i helt deres eget ærinde, et sted mellem amerikansk abstrakt ekspressionisme, minimalisme og østens filosofi. Intet mindre.

Til dette har Chang udviklet sin egen begrænsningernes kunst, som består af et reglesæt eller dogmer, hans værker skabes indenfor. Alle mål tager således udgangspunkt i hans egen fysik, mens et andet mantra lyder, at han skal gøre brug af de farver, han rent faktisk har til rådighed. Det er således både lavpraktisk og pragmatisk, samt økonomisk og økologisk forsvarligt, men det er mere end det: Reglerne eliminerer en lang række overflødige overvejelser og sætter Chang fri til at fokusere på andre aspekter af værkskabelsen.

Et hovedfokus er således farverne, for når et værk udelukkende består af farve, er farven af uvurderlig betydning. Chang blander sig frem til disse farver fra pigmenter og han har igennem årene opbygget et helt bibliotek med fortegnelser over blandingsforhold og farveprøver. Men selvom Chang således kunne se ud som om han har sat alting på formel, udfordrer han konstant sig selv som kunstner. I denne sammenhæng skete det ved at vælge kobbertrykket som metode, idet han her både skulle arbejde sammen med professionelle trykkere, i stedet for alene, sådan som han plejer, og samtidig skulle overføre sit farvebibliotek til grafiske tryk.

Begge dele er lykkedes over al forventning. Men selv hvis det håndgribelige resultat, værkerne, skulle have vist sig at være mislykkede, havde Chang ikke fejlet. Det er nemlig processen, og i dette tilfælde også samtalerne undervejs, der er det vigtigste for ham. Og det er dette ’vigtigste’ værkerne på sin vis er et bevis på har fundet sted. Lidt ligesom minder, afsat i vores sind af begivenheder, men også formet som sten i vandkanten af vores fortsatte fantasier og forestillinger, unikke, men sammenhængende, skrøbelige som os selv og livsnødvendige for vores fremtid.

Trine Ross

Magister i kunsthistorie, kunstanmelder- og skribent ved Politiken, foredragsholder, forfatter og (kunst)debattør.

michael baastrup chang - dansk billedkunstner (1973). Copenhagen.

Links

Galleri Weinberger Schandorff, (Instagram)

Printers Proof, (Instagram)

MBADV Studio, (Instagram)

Trine Ross, (www.trineross.com)

photo of michael baastrup chang and his father

SHORT BIO

I grew up in the 70s on my grandparents farm in Denmark. My father was born and raised in Korea and my mother is Danish. Two gifted draughtspersons, my parents encouraged me to draw from an early age and my decision to become a painter was thus a natural one. My earliest artistic endeavors were the sketches I did from tv-shows, cartoons and art-history books in my childhood home in the Danish countryside.
I studied visual arts at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London in the mid-1990s, making my debut as a painter in Copenhagen in 2008.
Throughout my career I have initiated, arranged and participated in collaborations with other artists. These have included work in the theater and multi- and single channel video projects, screened at various venues and spaces in the United States, South America, Canada, Europe, South Africa and Australia.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I feel that if we want to know our history and look at the development of our culture the information provided by art and arts history is of the essence. I strive to create works of art, which are independent of me as an individual, yet, intimate and felt. I am particularly interested in monochromes. Eastern and Western art are culturally disparate; Western monochromes originally point out a reactionary response to the dominance of naturalism in fine arts in the 19th Century, while painters in Korea have sought access to spiritual equilibrium with nature through their monochromatic brush strokes. My bicultural heritage is reflected in my work.

LEGATER

2011 Projektlegat, The New York State Council on the Arts
2010 Rejselegat, Statens Kunstfond
2009 Rejselegat, Statens Kunstfond
1994 Studielegat, City of Westminster, The London Borough

ARBEJDSOPHOLD

2020 Studie i monotypi, 3 uger, Printers Proof, Copenhagen
2013 Studie i fotogravure, 2 uger, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, USA
2012 Grafik værkstedet, 3 uger, Statens Værksteder for Kunst, Copenhagen
2011 Grafik værkstedet, 4 uger, Statens Værksteder for Kunst, Copenhagen
2011 Eksperiment med multimedie installation, 1 uge, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira New York, USA
2010 Scenografiske undersøgelser og opførelse af dansestykke, 2 uger, Stringdance+Media, Brooklyn New York, USA
2009 Koreografiske undersøgelser, 2 uger, Stringdance+Media, Brooklyn New York, USA
2009 Studie i akvatinte, hård- og blødgrund, 2 uger, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, USA
2006 Studie i anatomi, 4 uger, Det sundhedsvidenskabelige Fakultet, Panum Instituttet, Makroskopisk afd., Copenhagen
2005 Studie i anatomi, 4 uger, Det sundhedsvidenskabelige Fakultet, Panum Instituttet, Makroskopisk afd., Copenhagen

SEPARATUDSTILLINGER

Upcoming 2022 Aug. 19 - Sep. 24, Graphite, Galleri Weinberger Schandorff, Esplanaden 8D, Copenhagen
2020 Nov. 14 - 29, Farver hentet fra en barndom - nye arbejder på papir, Galleri Weinberger Schandorff, Frederiksberg, DK
2016 Mar. 4 - Apr. 16, Livet efter halvfems, Galleri Weinberger, Valkendorfsgade 13, Copenhagen
2015 Dec. - Jan., The Journeyman (revisited), Kunstforeningen Det Kgl. Bib., Søren Kierkegaards Plads 1, Copenhagen
2011 Jun. 21 - Aug. 20, The Journeyman, Cath Alexandrine Danneskiold-Samse Gallery, Copenhagen
2010 Feb. 1 - Apr. 30, The Man Without Qualities, CDS Art & Visibility - Gallery for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen
2009 Aug. 29 - Sep. 26, Pictures of Nothing, Formverk Art Zone, Eskilstuna, Sweden
2009 Apr. 1 - Maj 30, Rejected, Strandgade 10, Copenhagen
2008 Nov. 3 - 26, Monochromes & Short Wave Paintings, Frederiksgade 2, Aarhus, DK
2008 Maj 1, Four Grades of Reality, Vandkunsten 3, Copenhagen

GRUPPEUDSTILLINGER

2020 Mar. - 20 Apr. 18, The Postal-Collage Project No. 9, The Shuman Block, Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA, USA
2016 Feb. - Mar., Anonymous Drawings 2015, Kunstverein Rüsselsheim, Germany
2015 Nov. 11 - Dec. 12, Anonymous Drawings 2015, Galerie GEYSO20, Braunschweig, Germany
2015 Okt. 9 - 11, Anonymous Drawings 2015, Galerie ARTQ13, Rome/Italy
2015 Aug. 19 - Okt. 4, Pairings: Collaborative Works by Two or More Artists, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, 130 Plaza Street, Healdsburg, CA, USA
2015 Aug. 2 - 29, Anonymous Drawings 2015, Kunstverein Tiergarten | Galerie Nord , Berlin, Germany
2015 Mar. 27 - Apr. 12, The Postal-Collage Project No. 4, The Shuman Block, Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA, USA
2014 Apr. 19 - Maj 31, The Postal-Collage Project No. 3, Ramon's Tailor, 628 Jones St., San Francisco, CA, USA
2014 Mar. 21 - Apr. 12 + Jun. 6-28, The Postal-Collage Project No. 3, The Shuman Block, Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA, USA
2013 Apr. 20 - Maj 31, The Postal-Collage Project No. 2, Ramon's Tailor, 628 Jones Street, San Francisco, Californien, USA
2013 Mar. 30 - Apr. 13, The Postal-Collage Project No. 2, The Shuman Block, 2571 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, Californien, USA
2012 Maj 7 - June 30, Infinity Loop, med Mette Ussing (skulptur), Cath Alexandrine Danneskiold-Samse Gallery, Copenhagen
2012 Mar. 16 - 18, The Postal-Collage Project No. 1, Ramon's Tailor, 628 Jones Street, San Francisco, Californien, USA
2012 Feb. 25 - 26, The Postal-Collage Project No. 1, The Shuman Block, 2571 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, Californien, USA
2011 Apr. 5 - 8, Fragments, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira New York, USA
2010 Okt. 16, Stories of the Sun God, Valerie Green Dance Entropy, Queens New York, USA
2010 Sep. 26, Stories of the Sun God, Triskelion's Collaborations in Dance Festival, Brooklyn New York, USA
2009/2010 Dec. 12 - Jan. 17, Anonymous Drawings No. 10, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Bethanien, Berlin, Tyskland
2009 Dec. 14 - 22, The Vitruvian Woman, Video Dia Loghi, Velan Gallery for Contemporary Art, Torino, Italien
2009 Okt. 7 - 14, At the Zenith, Magacin Gallery, Belgrade, Serbien
2009 Aug. 29 - Sep. 26, The Vitruvian Woman, Formverk Art Zone, Eskilstuna, Sverige
2009 July 25, Fragments, Berkeley Commonplace, The Shuman Block, 2571 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley Californien, USA
2009 Mar. 6 - Apr. 3, Water Preserves, DMA Gallery, State College, Alfred New York, USA
2009 Feb. 4 - Mar. 1, Water Preserves, State of the Art Gallery, Ithaca New York, USA

BIBLIOGRAFI

Kataloger
2012 Infinity Loop and Images of Eggs, ISBN 978-87-992964-6-0
2011 The Journeyman, ISBN 978-87-992964-4-6
2009 The Man Without Qualities and Symposium, ISBN 978-87-992964-2-2
2009 Afvist/Rejected, zine i 12 eksemplarer
2008 Monochromes and Short Wave Paintings, ISBN 978-87-992844-0-5
2008 Four Grades of Reality, www.bibliotek.dk

Andre publikationer
Michael B. Chang & Thorbjørn Wulf, Samtale i Anatomisk Studiesal på Panum Instituttet, lydfil, 2 timer 25 min., Copenhagen, 2015
Michael B. Chang edited by Justina Joy Bartoli-Miller, A Collection of Essays on Art, Forlaget Uden Titel, www.bibliotek.dk, 2008-2014
Peter Lewis, 'Kirstine Autzen and Michael Chang - Untitled', /seconds. Issue 14, www.slashseconds.co.uk, England, 2014
Kastanje Chang-Vejsnæs & Michael B. Chang, Rævene og de fire bananer, iTunes eBog, Forlaget Uden Titel ApS, Kbh., 2013
Yvon Bonenfant, Will Edmondes & Micah Silver, Cries from the Guts, University of Winchester, UK, 2012, ISBN 978-1-906113-05-6
Kirstine Autzen & Mette Marie Kallehauge, 6. SaLns #BLå, Frederiksberg, 2012
Michael B. Chang & Hans Manner-Jacobsen, Images of Eggs, podcast, 34 min. 8 sek., Copenhagen, 2011
Michael B. Chang, Interferens : interaktion med Jens Jørgens Thorsens film "Lys" 1988, Forlaget Uden Titel ApS, Copenhagen, 2011
Michael B. Chang, Steder, farver og strukturer, Berkeley, Chico, Ithaca, Elmira, Brooklyn, Torino, Belgrade, Copenhagen, 2009
Willy Darko & Di Giovanni Cordero, Video Dia Loghi [9] Festival di Video d'Arte e Video d'Artista, Torino, Italien, 2009
Tom Jørgensen, 101 Danske Kunstnere, Forlaget JA ApS, ISBN 87-982877-9-6, Holbæk, 2009
Felberbaum, Kather & Nicolela, Exquisite Corpse Video Project Vol.1 Int. Artists Collaboration, www.blurb.com, 2009
Roger Walton, Alphabook Typeface Design & Application, Duncan Baird Publishers, London, England, 1997

Anden omtale
Mona Pahle Bjerke, De 7 mest spennende verkene på Höstutstillingen, www.nrk.no, Oslo, Sep. 26, 2017
Trine Ross, Dansk krop overmaler Munch, Warhol og Bacon med sort, Politiken.dk, Copenhagen, Jun. 24, 2011
Ray Finger, Fragments on display at Arnot museum, Star-Gazette, Elmira NY, USA, Apr. 5, 2011
Claudia Corrieri, Exquisite Corpse Video Project: a Network first, ArtReview.com, London, England, Mar. 22, 2010
Tita Nordlund-Hessler, Nu vill han göra bilder av tomrum, Eskilstuna-kuriren, Eskilstuna, Sverige, Aug. 29, 2009

ANDRE PROFESSIONELLE AKTIVITETER

Workshops, talks, foredrag oa.
2020 Okt./Nov. Danmarks Radio, DR1 Drama, 'Ulven kommer', malerier, tegninger og kobbertryk som rekvisitter
2014 Jun. 28, Åbent atelier og live koncert med Slowness', Kunstnerkollektivet Tietgensgade, Copenhagen
2013 Aug. 8 +9, Aktiv Sommer', hul-kamera workshop, Kulturskolerne, Gentofte Kommune, Hellerup
2012 Dec. 16-18, Video Dia Loghi ', kurator LOOP, Velan Gallery for Contemporary Art, Torino, Italien
2011 Okt. 14, Culture Night Open Workshops, Statens Værksteder for Kunst, Copenhagen
2011 Apr. 7, Meeting in the Middle, talk, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira New York, USA
2009 Dec. 14, The Vitruvian Woman, talk, Video Dia Loghi, Cinema Massimo, Torino, Italien
2009 Aug. 7, In the Morning, talk, To Let Arts Program Ithaca Commons Amphitheater, Ithaca New York, USA
2009 Aug. 6, ExLibris, talk, Steele Memorial Library, Elmira New York, USA
2009 Mar. 14, Vitruvian Woman & Exquisite Corpse, talk, Formverk, Eskilstuna, Sverige
2009 Dec. 14-16, Video Dia Loghi, co-kurator, Velan Gallery for Contemporary Art, Torino, Italien
2001 Apr. 15, Om kunst og design, foredrag, Copenhagen Tekniske Skole, Copenhagen
1999 Sep. 24, Om typografi, foredrag med Eric Mourier, HK Grafisk, Aarhus
1998 Feb. 4, Om kunst og design', foredrag, Krabbesholm Højskole, Skive
1997 Aug. 16, Vektorgrafik', workshop, Designskolen Kolding, Kolding
1997 - 2001 Om kunst og design', årligt foredrag, Aarhus Daghøjskole, Aarhus

Arbejdsfælleskaber og kunstneriske samarbejder
2014-2016 Kunstnerkollektivet Tietgensgade, initiativtager, medstifter og medlem
2012-2013 Kirstine Autzen (DK), udstillingssamarbejde og audio/visuelt samarbejde
2011-2014 Geoffrey Scott (US) & Julie Lynn (US) aka Slowness, audio/visuelt og performativt samarbejde
2010-2017 Ulf Kristiansen (NO), audio/visuelt samarbejde
2009-2011 Christy Walsh (US), audio/visuelt, scenografisk og performativt samarbejde
2009/2012 Willy Darko (IT) & Irina Gabiani (IT), udstillingssamarbejde og audio/visuelt samarbejde
2009 Stina Pehrsdotter (SE) & Niclas Hallberg (SE), udstillingssamarbejde og audio/visuelt samarbejde
2009-2011 Jan Kather (US), udstillingssamarbejde, audio/visuelt og visuelt samarbejde
2009-2022 Marty McCutcheon (US), udstillingssamarbejde, audio/visuelt og visuelt samarbejde
2009-2011 Melanie Chilianis (AU), audio/visuelt samarbejde
2009-2015 Justina Joy Bartoli-Miller (US/IT), samarbejde om tekst, redigering og oversættelse

VIDEOGRAFI

Udvalgte video-dokumentar fra perioden 2008-2016
Livet Efter Halvfems (2016), 7 min. 13 sek.
Studio Visit III (2013), 6 min. 37 sek.
Studio Visit II (2013), 9 min. 25 sek.
Studio Visit I (2013), 7 min. 2 sek.
Eksperiment med acetonetryk og chine-coll (2012), 2 min. 27 sek.
Infinity Loop and Images of Eggs (2012), 1 min. 35 sek.
Billeder af æg - 6th layer (2012), 13 min. 56 sek.
Billeder af æg - 4th & 5th layer (2011), 15 min.
Billeder af æg - 1st, 2nd & 3rd layer (2011), 3 min. 24 sek.
Billeder af æg - Making a Print (2011), 3 min. 48 sek.
Fragments (2011), 37 min. 29 sek.
The Journeyman (2011), 1 min. 6 sek.
The Man Without Qualities (2010), 6 min. 10 sek.
Stories of the Sun God, Part One (2009), 10 min.

Udvalgte audio/visuelle arbejder fra perioden 2007-2017
Michael B. Chang (Audio) & Ulf Kristiansen (Video), Gimme Shelter, (2017), 3 min. 24 sek.
Michael B. Chang (Audio) & Ulf Kristiansen (Video), Jealous Guy, (2014), 4 min. 42 sek.
Michael B. Chang (Audio) & Ulf Kristiansen (Video), 1916, (2013), 3 min. 41 sek.
Michael B. Chang (Audio) & Ulf Kristiansen (Video), I feel you, (2012), 5 min. 16 sek.
Michael B. Chang & Kirstine Autzen, Autzen+Chang, (2012), 52 sek.
Michael B. Chang, Two hands in the air, (2011), 3 min. 4 sek.
Michael B. Chang, One hand in the air, (2011), 3 min. 41 sek.
Michael B. Chang, No Manifesto, (2011), 1 min. 38 sek.
Michael B. Chang & Slowness, Little King, (2011), 9 min. 33 sek.
Michael B. Chang & Slowness, Black and White, (2011), 5 min.
Michael B. Chang, Y, (2010), 1 time 38 min.
Michael B. Chang, In The Morning, (2009), 1 min. 01 sek.
Michael B. Chang, Transformation, (2009), 1 min. 59 sek.
Michael B. Chang, Interfaces, (2009), 2 min. 03 sek.
Michael B. Chang, On Silence, (2008), 3 min. 56 sek.
Michael B. Chang & Slowness, Concerto Azzurro, (2008), 6 min. 10 sek.
Michael B. Chang, Espresso, (2008), 3 min.
Michael B. Chang, Pregnant, (2007), 1 min. 22 sek.

Udvalgte video-fremvisninger i perioden 2008-2017
2017 Sep 16 - Okt. 15, Gimme Shelter, Höstutstillingen 2017 Statens 130. kunstutstilling, Kunstnernes Hus, Wergelandsveien 17, Olso
2014 Nov. 17-23, Jealous Guy, L'Alternativa 21st Festival de Cinema Independent de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spanien
2014 Okt. 17-19, Jealous Guy, Northern 7th Northern Wave Film Festival, Grundarfjrur, Island
2014 Sep. 25 Nov. 1, Jealous Guy, Fourth wall film festival, Cardiff, England
2014 Sep. 10, Jealous Guy, Cologne Off X, Dsseldorf, Tyskland
2014 Aug. 30-Okt. 5, I feel you, Music Poetry Motion, Gislaveds konsthall, Gislaveds, Sverige
2014 Jealous Guy, UAMO Festival: Maj 17-18, San Francisco, USA; Jun. 6-9, Firenze, Italien; Jun. 13 Jul. 5, Linz, strig; Jun. 27 Jul. 4, Zrich, Schweiz; Jun. 30 Jul. 3, Accra, Ghana; Sep. 26-28, Berlin, Tyskland; Okt. 2-5, Leuven, Belgien; Okt. 16-19, Mnchen, Tyskland
2014 Aug. 29-31, I feel you, Okse Filmfestival, Fjordvejen 57, Snderhav, Danmark
2014 Aug. 1-3, Jealous Guy, Hackney Wicked Festival, Swan Wharf, 60 Dace Road, London, E3 2NQ, London, England
2014 Jul. 25, Jealous Guy, The Flixation Cinema Club, The Hob 7 Devonshire Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 3HE, England
2014 Jun. 28, Jealous Guy, Wayfinding film festival, Wassaic NY, USA
2014 Maj 31-Jun. 8, Jealous Guy, Transborda - Overflow, udendrsfremvisning i det historiske centrum, Alcobaa, Portugal
2014 Maj 31-Jun. 8, Y, Transborda - Overflow, udendrsfremvisning i det historiske centrum, Alcobaa, Portugal
2014 Maj 28 - 31,I feel you, AIVA International Video Art Festival 2014, Finspng, Sverige
2014 Apr. 3, I feel you, Alchemy Film and Moving Images Festival, Heart of Hawick Tower Mill, Kirkstile, Hawick, Skotland
2014 Mar. 6-9, I feel you, Oslo Screen Festival, Oslo, Norge
2014 Feb. 13-Mar. 13, Y, (3 min. version), online fremvisning, http://www.visualcontainer.net
2014 Jan. 14-, Untitled, online fremvisning, /second. edition 14, http://www.slashseconds.co.uk
2013 Dec. 24-31, 1916, Galeria Chartier, 35 Elizabeth Street, Derby Connecticut, USA
2013 Dec. 13-14, 1916, #Tag Temporary Gallery, via Roma 179, Vigodarzere, Padua, Italien
2013 Dec. 3-6, 1916, The Format Contemporary Culture Gallery, Via G.E. Pestalozzi 10, interno 32, Milano, Italien
2013 Dec. 2-7, 1916, Artur Fidalgo Galeria, Rua Siqueira Campos 143, lojas147/150, 2piso, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilien
2013 Nov. 30, 1916, Galeria Santa Clara, Rua Antnio Augusto Gonalves 67, Coimbra, Portugal
2013 Nov. 30, 1916, Espacio Miscellaneous C, Nueve, 7. El Escorial, Madrid, Spanien
2013 Nov. 23-30 + Dec. 1-10, 1916, Visiva, Via Assisi 117, Rom, Italien
2013 Nov. 15-24, I Feel You, Exground Filmfest, Wiesbaden, Tyskland
2013 Nov. 7, 1916, Galleria Civica d'arte Contemporanea, via Emilio De Gennaro, Casacalenda, Italien
2013 Nov. 3-5, 1916, 5th Base Gallery, 23 Heneage Street, London, England
2013 Nov. 2-24, 1916, 500x Gallery, 500 Exposition Ave, Dallas, Texas, USA
2013 Nov. 2-3, 1916, Webster Uni. Film Series, Winifred Moore Aud., 470 E. Lockwood, Webster Gr., St. Louis, Missouri, USA
2013 Nov. 1-23, 1916, Krowswork Gallery, 480 23rd Street - side entrance, Oakland, Californien, USA
2013 Okt. 5 +6, 1916, LVIII Premio Termoli Galleria, Civica d'Arte Contemporanea Piazza S. Antonio, 2 Termoli, Italien
2013 Okt. 3 +10 +17 +24, 1916, The Hub, Newham NDP, Newham, London, England
2013 Okt. 5-6 +19-20, 1916, XX.9.12 FABRIKArte Villa Farsetti Santa Maria di Sala, via Roma 1, Venedig, Italien
2013 Okt. 18-20, I feel you, danubeVIDEOARTfestival, Stadtkino Grein, Grein, strig
2013 Okt. 13-27, 1916, Porta Degli Angeli (The Scientist) Porta degli Angeli, Rampari di Belfiore, Ferrara, Italien
2013 Okt. 5-24, 1916, Muratcentoventidue Artecontemporanea, via G. Murat 122, Bari, Italien
2013 Okt. 23-25, 1916, Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti, Piazza Giacomo Carrara 82/d, Bergamo, Italien
2013 Sep. 13-15, 1916, Toldi Art Cinema (Crosstalk Video Art Festival), Bajcsy-Zsilinszky t 3638, Budapest, Ungarn
2013 Sep. 25-27, 1916, Peras De Olmo - Ars Continua (Videoplay), Niceto Vega 4678, Palermo Caba, Argentina
2013 Aug. 1-25, 1916, Holdudvar Gallery, Margaret Island, Budapest, Ungarn
2013 Aug. 9 +10, 1916, Centre3 for Print & Media Arts, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
2013 Aug. 3 +5 +12 +19 +26, 1916, Seedspace, 427 Chestnut St., Nashville, Tennessee, USA
2013 Aug. 21 +22 +28 +29, 1916, Digital Arts Entertainment Laboratory, One Park Place South, Atlanta, USA
2013 Jul. 7, 1916, Institut fr Alles Mgliche, Ackerstr. 18 - Berlin Mitte, Tyskland
2013 Jul. 8 +15 +22 +29, 1916, Seedspace, 427 Chestnut St., Nashville, Tennessee, USA
2013 Jul. 14, 1916, Platforme, 73 rue des Halles, Paris, Frankrig
2013 Jul. 23-25 +29-30 +31-august 1, 1916, Galleria Fuorizona Arte Contemporanea, P. Matteo Ricci 74/76, Macerata, Italien
2013 Jul. 18-31, 1916, Holdudvar Gallery, Margaret Island, Budapest, Ungarn
2013 Jun. 15-30 +Jul. 1-31 +Aug. 1-31 +Sep. 1-30 +Okt. 1-10, 1916, Torrance Art Museum, 3320 Civic Center, Torrance, USA
2013 Maj 24, I Feel You, Experimental Film Festival Portland, The Clinton Street Theatre, Portland, Oregon, USA
2013 Maj 7 +14 +21 +28, 1916, MEM, 19 h. Dohain Gratis. Pulimentos del Norte. Cortes 29-31. 6E. Bilbao, Spanien
2013 Maj 9 +16 +23 +30, 1916, Espacio AVAart, Calle San Bernardo 73, Gijn, Spanien
2013 Apr. 15-19, 1916, Richland College, Multimedia Department, Dallas, Texas, USA
2013 Apr. 18-19, 1916, Nuovo Cinema Aquila, via LAquila 68 00176, Rom, Italien
2013 Nov. 15-24, I feel you, Exground Film Festival, Wiesbaden, Tyskland
2013 Nov. 19, I feel you, Human Emotion Project "HEP2013 Love & Hate", Artreview, 1 Honduras Street, London, England
2013 Feb. 1, I feel you, 17 Days (vol.6), Frostic School of Art, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
2013 Okt. 18-20, I feel you, danubeVIDEOARTfestival 2013, Stadtkino, Grein, strig
2013 Maj 28-Jun. 1, I feel you, Experimental Film Festival Portland, Portland, USA
2012 Dec. 10-16, I feel you, MADATAC 04, http://madatac.es, Spanien
2012 Apr. 9, No Manifesto, KULTER. Gallery, Sanderijnstraat 21, Amsterdam, Holland
2012 Apr. 1, No Manifesto, ZET Foundation, Amstelpark, Amsterdam, Holland
2012 Mar. 24, No Manifesto, Galerie Octobre, Paris, Frankrig
2012 Feb. 17, No Manifesto, Rich Mix Foundation, London, England
2012 Feb. 3, No Manifesto, Expressive Arts Institute, San Diego, USA
2012 Jan. 14, No Manifesto, Savvy Contemporay, Berlin, Tyskland
2012 Jan. 10-30, No Manifesto, Box Space, Milano, Italien
2010 Dec. 10, Pregnant & Espresso, ECVP Vol.1, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, Rhode Island, USA
2010 Okt. 15, Interfaces & Transformation, ECVP Vol.2, Blueprint, High Holborn, London, England
2010 Jul. 22-23, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Galerie Younique, Paris, Frankrig
2010 Jul. 1-30, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Culture Center Laaksola, Toijala Akaa, Finland
2010 Maj 6, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Parakino Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Polen
2010 Mar. 11, Pregnant & Espresso, ECVP Vol.1, 16MM Caf, London, England
2010 Nov. 17-20, Interfaces & Transformation, ECVP Vol.2, Optica, Galerie Carla Magna, Paris, Frankrig
2010 Nov. 4-6, Interfaces & Transformation, ECVP Vol.2, Experimenta!, Campinas, So Paulo, Brasilien
2010 Mar. 10-13, Interfaces & Transformation, ECVP Vol.2, Videoformes, Clermont-Ferrand, Frankrig
2010 Jan. 19, Interfaces & Transformation, ECVP Vol.2, Manipulated Image #10, Santa Fe, USA
2009 Okt. 22, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Malhoa Museum, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
2009 Okt. 14-15, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Valby Kulturhus, Valby, Copenhagen
2009 Sep. 18 Okt. 30th, Pregnant, Artists Television Access, San Francisco, USA
2009 Aug. 5-30, A Video Collab.@SOAG, State of the Art Members Gallery, Ithaca, New York, USA
2009 Aug. 3-30, In The Morning, Ithaca Commons Amphitheater, Ithaca, New York, USA
2009 Jun. 6, Pregnant & Espresso, ECVP Vol.1, AS220, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
2009 Maj 16, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Museu Da Cermica, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal
2009 Apr. 17-25, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, La Sala Exposiciones Galeria, Ciguela Valladolid, Spanien
2009 Apr. 4, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Club Brancaleone, Rom, Italien
2009 Mar. 14-Apr. 19, Vitruvian Woman Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Formverk Art Zone, Eskilstuna, Sverige
2009 Dec. 14-23, The Vitruvian Woman, Video Dia Loghi Festival, Torino, Italien
2009 Nov. 23-28, Pregnant & Espresso, ECVP Vol.1, Saturno Int. Film Festival, Alatri, Italien
2009 Nov. 19, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Kulturpalast Wedding International, Berlin, Tyskland
2009 Nov. 14-22, Pregnant & Espresso, ECVP Vol.1, VideoDanza Int. Festival, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2009 Nov. 6-Dec. 31, Concerto Azzurro, HEP, Sguardi Sonori Festival of Media & Time Based Art, Rom & Benevento, Italien
2009 Aug. 20-Okt. 31, Pregnant & Espresso, ECVP Vol.1, Optica Fest., Buenos Aires, Paris, Crdoba, Gijn, Madrid, La Paz, Bolivia
2009 Mar. 5-28, Pregnant, Muestra Int. de Video GEN XY, Veracruz, Mexico
2008 Okt. 1-Nov. 14, Pregnant, ECVP Vol.1, Rural Research Laboratories, Elmira, New York, USA
2008 Aug. 18, Pregnant & Espresso, ECVP Vol.1, Monkey Town, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, USA
2008 Jun. 4-7, Pregnant & Espresso, ECVP Vol.1, Formverk Art Zone, Eskilstuna, Sverige
2008 Nov. 20-29, Pregnant, ECVP Vol.1, Alucine Toronto Media Festival, Toronto, Canada
2008 Nov. 7-13, Pregnant, ECVP Vol.1, Indie (Mostra de Cinema Mundial), Belo Horizonte, Brasilien
2008 Okt. 30, Pregnant, ECVP Vol.1, Vansa Visual Arts Network South Africa, Cape Town, Sydafrika
2008 Sep. 26-28, Pregnant, ECVP Vol.1, Aza Digital Cinema Festival, Thessaloniki, Finland

EXCERPT from A Collection of Essays on Art by Michael Baastrup Chang, 2008-2014 Edited by Justina Joy Bartoli-Miller

michael baastrup chang drawing

michael baastrup chang monoprint

michael baastrup chang prop wheel painting

On grids

Published: Østerbro, December 2, 2011

When I first began working with grids, I found that I had discovered a modality that was independent of imparting a specific message, and yet still allowed me to produce work that was very meaningful to me. What grids lack in societal critique and emotionally-charged subject matter, they recompensate for with their structure and their subconsious interplay, which makes them an interesting subject for reflection.

Grids are all around us. The grid plan (Hippodamian plan) has been implemented in urban planning for millenia, from ancient Greece and Pakistan to New York and Portland, Oregon. They are also relevant for the written language. Take ancient Egyptian scrolls and sarcophagus engravings, for instance, or the organization of written languages on a page. In my childrens art, I have witnessed the strength that a grid structure provides for the creation of beautiful mandalas (mandala comes from the Sanskrit word for disk), a sacred symbol which represents the universe in Buddhism and Hinduism. Grid systems support the digital age, representing high or low-resolution images on a computer screen.

Grids can also be used to analyze gestures in space. Take for example the movements of a body. A grid gently lifted up from the picture plane and transformed to a three-dimensional mesh that surrounds the body can provide lines to record the bodys gestures. Grids are thus linked to brushstrokes and their direction in space, to abstract expressionism and even performance art and dance: While I was working with Christy Walsh on Stories of the Sun God, I learned that grids are used as an invisible structure for ballet and modern dance to provide anchor points for a dancers movements.

Grids are of course a valuable tool for sketching. Each line generates the foundation for the next line and before you know it, there are endless variations of intersecting lines and spaces, often produced without even thinking. Getting accustomed to working with grids (not to mention to working without thinking) can release the picture plane, as well as new ways of working with it. Drawing with a grid might even be likened a study of the nature of a plane and its possibilities, its challenges and likely constructions. This type of work directs attention to the nature of edges as well as the nature of a planes proportions and even what the physical presence of the painting as an object in a space can be about.

One of the central considerations of a painter is how the layers of a painting are constructed and how the plane reads visually, physically, sensually and conceptually. Since ancient times grids have been used to lay the foundation for compositions, and grids inspire mathematical compositions allied with sequencing and scale.

The fine arts are concerned with the definition, occupation, division and control of space. Grids are both two- and three-dimensional and can define cubes as well as planes, playing with the concept of where a work of art begins and ends. For example, a grid space can be created using as little as a string as a boundary and the result declared a sculpture of air. This conceptual work of art presents the viewer with a conundrum: is the string part of the work or not? Is it inside or outside the sculpture of air? Is the string itself the work of art, or merely a delineation?

So grids are not only powerful tools for the production of art but potent expressions in their own right. When I visited the ABEX exhibition at the MoMA in October, 2010, I encountered a painting by Robert Motherwell from 1941 entitled The Little Spanish Prison. The Little Spanish Prison was a divergence from the other Motherwell paintings on exhibit, as well as a departure from Motherwells signature black vertical and oval shapes against a white backdrop: it features instead six white and six yellow vertical stripes, several of which are linked together on the top left hand side by a short, horizontal red rectangle.

Both stripes and grids use lines, but their claim on space is different. In the visual arts, both stripes and grids serve as tools to mathematically define space and generate images. In a way, grids divide space, while stripes occupy space with their frequency. In The Little Spanish Prison, Motherwell achieved both effects by intersecting his twelve vertical stripes with a horizontal red rectangle on the top left hand side.

I remember suggesting to Jan [Kather], with whom I visited the exhibition, that the painting was more about Motherwells personal development as a painter than anything else; that it was a steppingstone as well as an arrival. I later read an exchange between Motherwell and Paul Cummings about that very painting that supported my suspicion. Cummings remarked that The Little Spanish Prison seemed to have been a key picture, and Motherwell replied that the painting had hit something that is deep in [his] character [] But what it is I don't know. What it stands for I don't know. [1]

[1] Paul Cummings, interview with Robert Motherwell, for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 24 November 1971, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.

The Little Spanish Prison did indeed refer to actual events, as I later learned, but the painting is as much about formal means in visual art as it is Motherwells experiences with the law enforcement of Francos fascist regime, his emotions and his personal growth as an artist. Despite its apparent simplicity, the grid painting can be about anything we bring to it and if we want, even more.

Grids are also inexorably linked to Albrecht Dürer, whose perspective device made out of wire strung in a frame was essentially a portable grid that aided him in capturing a plausible perspective of any type of scenery.

Contemporary artists still use grids to capture perspective, and they dont stop there. Post-modernist Drers investigate the perspective device itself as subject matter, directing attention to the structure/grid while the scenery beyond it remains coolly encapsulated in mesh.

Grids are of almost infinite potential and much more can be said about them. They are like skeletons, inviting us to rearrange their bones and hang flesh on them as we wish. The opportunities inherited in the grid are infinite, as the grid itself.

Links

Paul Cummings, interview with Robert Motherwell, for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 24 November 1971, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.

Steven Pinker and Stephen M. Kosslyn, "The Representation and Manipulation of Three-Dimensional Space in Mental Images", Journal of Mental Imagery, 1978, 2, 69-84, Harvard University. Link

Patricia Railing, From science to systems of art : on Russian abstract art and language 1910/1920, and other essays, Artists Bookworks, cop. 1989, ISBN: 09463 110 56. http://www.bibliotek.dk