NINA JAN BEIER AND MARIE JAN LUND
NINA JAN BEIER AND MARIE JAN LUND
You us or you me
Nina Jan Beier and Marie Jan Lund create situations with their own sets of rules and document the consequences that ensue for the people they get involved. They set tasks that focus on the space between the individual and group. Their work is not media-specific but is tied together by their personal fascination with group dynamics and a study of identity.
“The exhibition title ‘You us or you me’, refers to the situation where you aren’t sure if the ‘You’ includes only you or you and your partner/group. We are interested in this field where the individual ends and the group begins.”
The staged photographs and video clips show how Nina and Marie set up different abstract games for groups of people to play out. The artists are spending two weeks at SPACEX, initiating activities with people from the local area, which will be filmed and shown alongside their previous work. This will then tour internationally to Ljubljana and M+R Gallery, London.
‘Sing like we sing’ has been made during the artists’ stay. Nina and Marie worked with Songlines, a local choir, who were asked to follow the artists singing a song written specifically for them by the artists. The choir divided themselves into two groups and without rehearsal mimicked the two artists each tentatively singing their part in a harmony.
The exhibition showcases a newly commissioned series of photographs where the artists have asked the subjects to position themselves ‘in the order of who is most outstanding’. Each photograph is supported with a narrative of their experiences and an insight into the different ways that the groups reacted.
Nina and Marie have made a collection of ‘common objects’ for everyone to interact with. The objects, made in leather or ceramics, invite two people to use them together. They reference functional objects, but once taken into use they become dysfunctional. The objects initiate situations in the gallery space which create tension between the users.
Playing with social customs, the artists manipulate their subjects with the authority of the camera. The situations both lean against and detach themselves from everyday life and the artists let us observe instinctive human reactions and relations as they play out in the simplest forms.
Nina and Marie, both from Denmark, met studying at the Royal College of Art. They are founders of Janfamily, a collaborative artist’s group based in London. Janfamily is a platform for individual artists who take on the middle name ‘Jan’ to signal a relation. They have recently shown at Blackblock in Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Queensnailsannex, San Fransisco; and M+R Gallery London. Following the award of a Danish Arts Council ‘Talent Grant’, Nina and Marie will be launching a DVD publication at SPACEX. Further information is available at: www.ninajanbeier-mariejanlund.com.
This exhibition is supported by M+R Gallery, London and Habitat, 21-22 Queen St, Exeter, www.habitat.net
http://www.spacex.co.uk/
