Works

INSTALLATION 

Status Quo: Act I—IV


2019
Hand printed cretonne, glazed ceramics, vintage postcard, glass prism, copies of archive material (exchangeable and ongoing).
—Dramatic Opera in 4 acts. 12 Scenes. Kaleidoscopic happenings. Time: Present. Background: Screen, picturing starsystems, our globe, different continents … Music: All existing musical systems according to stage and screen.
The hand-printed textile backdrop Status Quo: Act I—IV uses a sheet of stage and scene descriptions from Johanna M. Beyer’s unrealized political opera Status Quo as a starting point. A rough outline of the opera in which she imagines the movements distributed over four acts, in a simple structure divided into countries and continents. The four “flags” applies deconstructed forms and shapes, as a way to dismantle the political symbolism of the nations. They create an abstract “neutral” and suggest—according to Beyer’s holistic approach—a semblance of a whole. Besides the textiles, there are additional interchangeable objects presented on plinths that reference notations and comments from the outline.

In 1938 the Leipzig-born and NY-based ultra-modernist composer Johanna M. Beyer (1888—1944) composed two fragments of music, intended as part of her visionary unrealized political opera Status Quo—the prelude Music of the Spheres and the final movement Dance (for a full Orchestra). 
The compositions use collages as form and blend compositional styles and musical themes. Beyer wrote them during the interwar period; she touches utopian ideas and her engagement in social rights movements and uprisings is visible. She addresses political turbulence reminiscent of what we experience today, with the rise of fascists parties and traces of postcolonial conflicts. You can sense her holistic approach and interest in a spherical form of time in her compositional work. The same year she embarked on this project she was diagnosed with ALS. Johanna M. Beyer was scarcely recognized and almost faded into obscurity, and these pieces were not performed during her lifetime. Although, in recent years a new interest has emerged, with scholars, composers, musicians, and artists rediscovering her body of work—and at a slow pace her compositions come to life.

Status Quo: Act I—I: Screen: U.S.A, The Kremlin, Rome–Berlin, Geneva. Installation view, LIA: Leipzig International Art Programme, 2019.
Status Quo: Act I—I: Screen: Geneva, Davos. Vintage postcard, glass prism.
Status Quo: Act I—I: Screen: U.S.A, The Kremlin, Rome–Berlin, Geneva. Detail. Hand printed cretonne.
Status Quo: Act I—I: Screen: Geneva, Tell. Glazed ceramics.
Installation view, LIA: Leipzig International Art Programme, 2019  Status Quo: Dance for Full Orchestra in the back.
Status Quo: Narrative Outline of the Opera, Music of The Spheres, Announcer’s Voice, Act IV Geneva, Dance for Full Orchestra. Riso prints.

ABOUT Status Quo: ACT I—IV is part of The Johanna Series, an ongoing body of work and collaborations in dialogue with Johanna M. Beyer’s legacy. 
The piece was produced during the Nordic Leipzig residency at LIA: Leipzig International Art Programme, in collaboration with Goethe Institut and Iaspis. Other projects in The Johanna Series include The Spheres (2015), Status Quo: Dance (for full Orchestra), and Clusters (2019).EXHIBITIONS LIA Gallery, Spinnerei, Leipzig DE.

 ©MMXV Conny Karlsson Lundgren