Press release

Kirkhoff is proud to present the artist duo AVPD’s first soloexhibition in the gallery from May 27th to July 3rd. AVPD consists of Aslak Vibæk and Peter Døssing, both graduated from the Royal Danish Art Academy in 2003. At Kirkhoff they present the installation M. In addition, three other projects are exhibited in the gallery’s Reading Room, which gives an insightful presentation of their artistic works.

The exhibition ”M” carries the same signature as the German filmdirector Fritz Lang’s epos about the metropol (1931), which describes a crime mystery in Berlin. According to Fritz Lang’s terminology ”M” is identical to murder and murderer. AVPD draws on the ambiguity of the capital letter’s meanings, which means Metropolis, meter and M’s architectural potential. ”M” blocks up the whole entrance to the gallery reflecting the colours of the frontdoor. An opening leads the spectator into a sluice to the exhibition.M’ investigates the relation between mental preconceived expectations to art versus the following concrete experienced reality. The project discusses on a concrete level the conventional subject-object-context relation.

The inspiration to the installation ’M’ comes from structures of computergames, e.g. 1st-shooter but also filmic spaces, eg. THX 1138 by George Lucas and David Lynch's psychological spatial constructions. AVPD are also inspired by science fiction literature, eg. R.A. Heinlein, Stanislav Lem and J.G.Ballard.

AVPD work within a cultural interdisciplinary field where they unite artistic, architectural, scientific, sociological and urban knowledge of the topics: “Man-Machine-Space”. AVPD create meta-architectures where the perception of the spectator is twisted and a new experience of space occurs. In their works, AVPD try to rethink the triangle constellation of the human being, the artwork and the room in between. They are interested in how space affects the spectator’s perception and psychological emotions and how s/he motivates her/himself to grasp the space in a cognitive or emotional way.

PolySpatialStructure_VerticalDisplay
Besides the project ”M”, AVPD also shows a serie of edited photographs from the underground’s corridors, diagrams and map of computer animated architectures. The project is AVPD’s graduation project, which was shown at Kunstforeningen Gl. Strand in Copenhagen, 2003. The presented displays are three different types: maps from the pioneer computer game Wolfenstein (operating with a three-dimensional and approximately a real architecture); photographs from the metro in Copenhagen (reflecting the short distance between virtual and real archictures) which look like passages from the design of computer games; plus  AVPD’s own reflections about the relation between the human being-machine-space. PSS_VD is shown in the gallery’s Reading Room.

PSS_ReadingRoom
Reading Room is a permanent installation in the gallery designed by AVPD. The Room is an expansion of the above-mentioned project ’PSS_VD´ but is also inspired by Gerrit Rietveld’s architecture, El Lissitzsky’s Proun room and the first 3D computer game Wolfenstein. The Reading Room approaches the borderline towards a virtual architecture, where the point of departure is a pixel of 44x44 cm. The pixels cover walls, floor and ceiling in a structure of a grid with space between each pixel. Reading Room is a multifunctional transformable room. In the spaces in-between, shelves, benches, stools, tables and interior walls can be installed according to the needs and cultural activities. The room can therefore be expanded and reduced. Reading Room contain a library and a videotec, which likewise can be adjusted to videoscreenings, seminars and performative séances. (see Reading Room).


PSS_SyntetiskSpatialOrganisme / Socle Du Monde, Herning Kunstmuseum
In the Reading Room AVPD presents a model of their actual project at the Biennual Socle du Monde in Herning, Denmark. In  Herning they show a big installation measuring 8x8x8 m, which is a synthesis of virtual and real architectures. The Biennual is a cooperation with Herning Kunstmuseum and local companies, and other artist such as Maurizio Cattalan, Simon Starling, Alexandra Mir og Superflex participate. The exhibition opens June the 4th 2004 (see www.socledumonde.dk).