The Teenage Runner

2018/2019/2022—

Performance ca 20 mins, plant (Sensitiva Mimosa Pudica), print on cotton voile, print on cotton paper, birch plywood, steel, glass.

—Touch is the first sense that develops in the embryo. Touch is the last sense leaving the body as we age.

The Teenage Runner departs from a meeting between Conny Karlsson Lundgren and Åke, a collector of mainly photographic art. The collection is especially focused on works with queer motifs—a somewhat surprising find in a rural area. The installation and the performance elaborate upon a specific work in the collection, using the sense of touch to create parallels between hazy memories, erotic sensations and science, poetry and philosophy. All these lines of thought lead back to a photograph by the American artist Arthur Tress, Teenage Runners (Band-Aid Fantasy) from 1976. The installation consists of four parts: The Collector, The Glade, The Stairs and Sensitiva. Together they form the scenography of the performance The Teenage Runner, where a young actor runs through the galleries and moves within the installation following memory fragments using the sense of touch, while performing a monologue.

The work’s polyphony of voices—those of the artist, the performer, the collector, the photographer and others—becomes a way of reconstructing and re-visiting particular memories and experiences. The sense of touch is understood here as our soul, because it develops in the embryo and is the last thing to leave our body when we die. The installation is an examination of how collecting can be an intimate act of desire and an identity-forming process, but also of how it is primarily a means of creating a ‘room of one’s own’. By presenting a selection from Åke’s collection at Bonniers Konsthall, the installation and performance reach back to their point of departure. This curatorial gesture allows The Teenage Runner, as well as other works throughout the exhibition, to enter into dialogue with an extended community of earlier queer artists.

The Teenage Runner (The Stairs, The Glade). Installation view, Bonniers Konsthall, 2024. Photo: Jean–Baptiste Béranger.

The Teenage Runner (Oscar), performance with Oscar Bergsten, Bonniers Konsthall, 2024. Photo: Ida Sjödin/Bonniers Konsthall.

The Teenage Runner (Sensitiva) and excerpts from Åke’s collection. Installation view, Bonniers Konsthall, 2024. Photo: Jean–Baptiste Béranger.

Performance documentation with Oscar Bergsten. Cinematography: Henrik Hellström.

The Teenage Runner (Oscar), performance with Oscar Bergsten, Bonniers Konsthall, 2024. Teenage Runners (Band-Aid Phantasy), Arthur Tress, 1976 and The Teenage Runner (The Collector), Conny Karlsson Lundgren, 2018. Photo: Ida Sjödin/Bonniers Konsthall.

The Teenage Runner (The Collector), 2018. Pigment print on cotton paper.

The Teenage Runner (The Glade) and excerpts from Åke’s collection. Installation view, Bonniers Konsthall, 2024. Photo: Jean–Baptiste Béranger.

The Teenage Runner (Oscar)

2022

The Teenage Runner (Oscar), installation view, Ystad Art Museum, 2022. Photo: Olof Nimar/YKM.

The Teenage Runner (Oscar), performance with Oscar Bergsten, Ystad Art Museum, 2022. Photo: Olof Nimar/YKM.

The Teenage Runner (Oscar), performance with Oscar Bergsten, Ystad Art Museum, 2022. Cinematography: Henrik Hellström.

Der jugendliche Läufer (Tim)

2019

Der jugendliche Läufer (Tim), performance with Tim Habe, Neue Galerie, 2019. Photo: Daniel Jarosch.

Der jugendliche Läufer (Tim), installation view, Neue Galerie, 2019. The Teenage Runner (Ali) and The Teenage Runner (The Collector), 2018. Photo: Conny Karlsson Lundgren.

Der jugendliche Läufer (Tim), performance with Tim Habe, Neue Galerie, 2019. Cinematography: Daniel Jarosch.

The Teenage Runner (Ali)

2018

The Teenage Runner (Ali), performance with Ali Qasemi, Sandviken Konsthall, 2018. Photo: Mike Karlsson Lundgren.

The Teenage Runner (Ali), pigment print on cotton paper.

The Teenage Runner (Ali), performance with Ali Qasemi, Sandviken Konsthall, 2018. Cinematography: Michael Tebinka.

Performers: Oscar Bergsten, Tim Habe, Ali Qasemi. Director and Script: Conny Karlsson Lundgren. English translation: Conny Karlsson Lundgren and Benny Nemer. German translation: Cornelia Reinisch-Hofmann: Wood structures: hangmen, Johan Ågren, et al.

The Teenage Runner (Ali) was initially created for the exhibition Traces, Glimmers, Residues & Specks of Things at Sandvikens konsthall, 2018. In 2019, Der jugendliche Läufer (Tim), was presented at Neue Galerie in Innsbruck and in 2022, The Teenage Runner (Oscar) was part of the exhibition Traces of Desire at Ystad Art Museum and in 2024, I Kiss Your Eyes at Bonniers Konsthall.

Exhibitions and Performances: Sandviken Konsthall, Sandviken SE. Neue Galerie, Innsbruck AT. Ystad Art Museum, Ystad SE. Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm SE

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