Aleksa & The Others
2013
HD video 12 mins colour/sound, 12 archival pigment prints, vitrine and custom made lighting. Made in collaboration with Aleksa Lundberg. The work is part of the Gothenburg Art Museum collection.
—But how many have truly experienced the magnificent? Magnificence is really just a longing for the magnificent!
As part of the Gothenburg Art Museum’s series In Dialogue with the Collections, a site-specific work was created based on private correspondence between a group of Swedish women artists. This community of artists, active in the late 19th century, is only marginally represented in the museum’s collections. The script addresses issues of labour conditions, emancipation and discusses the roles of being both artist and woman.
In an attempt to bring out the suppressed frustration and rage that can be read between the lines of the various documents, the script is written as an open letter, performed by actress and trans activist Aleksa Lundberg. By integrating fragments from her own private experiences, a contemporary voice is introduced that interlinks narratives across time—a voice that questions a structural order that is still most present.
Aleksa & The Others Staged and Light), installation view, Gothenburg Art Museum, 2013. In the back Light with Artist Venny Soldan-Brofeldt by Hanna Pauli. Photo: Hossein Sehatlou. Aleksa & The Others (Staged), excerpt 3. mins (full length 12.15 mins). Cinematography: Minka Jakerson.Aleksa & The Others (Staged), film still. Cinematography: Minka Jakerson.Aleksa & The Others, installation view, Gothenburg Art Museum, 2013. In the back Light, a custom-made lighting of the exhibition space. Photo: Conny Karlsson Lundgren. Aleksa & The Others (Source and Light), installation view, Gothenburg Art Museum, 2013. In the back Light with Portraiture study by Mina Carlson-Bredberg. Photo: Conny Karlsson Lundgren. Source: letter from Ellen Key (detail), archival pigment print.Source: letter from Eva Bonnier, archival pigment print.
Text: Aleksa Lundberg, Hanna Hirsch (Pauli), Eva Bonnier, Mina Bredberg (Carlson), Ida Ericsson (Molard), Karin Bergöö (Larsson), Ann Charlotte Leffler and Ellen Key. Starring: Aleksa Lundberg. Director, Editor, Grading and Text Editing: Conny Karlsson Lundgren. Cinematography:
Minka Jakerson. Sound recordist: Felix Aneer. Sound: Jesper Norda. Scripta: Mike Karlsson Lundgren. Research Assistant: Lisa Svensson. English Translation: Mike Karlsson Lundgren & Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay.Special Thanks: Gothenburg Art Museum, Margareta Gynning, Agneta Pauli, Annika Öhrner, Monica Lauritzen, the staff at the Royal Library, Uppsala University and The Bonnier Archives.Aleksa & The Others was commissioned by Gothenburg Art Museum and is part of their collection. The work consists of three parts: Staged, film 12 min, Sources, 12 prints in various sizes and Light, a custom-made lighting of the exhibition space.Exhibitions: 2 x Gothenburg Art Museum, Gothenburg SE. Screenings: Gothenburg Art Museum, Gothenburg SE. Villa Neukölln, Berlin DE.