Changing places

Changing places

Norwegian Artist Tone Leksbø Solo Exhibition

Opening: 30/ Jul/ 2011, 8pm
Duration: 30/ Jul – 3/ Sept
Gallery Opening Time: 11am – 10pm, Close on Sunday
Place: TCG Nordica, Xiba Road NO.101/LOFT
Tel: 4114692

Norwegian artist Tone Leksbø, TCG Nordica’s artist in residency from 9th of Jul 2011 to 13th of Sept 2011, will have her solo exhibition ”Changing Places” on 30th of Jul 2011 at TCG Nordica gallery. This exhibition is composed of various art forms including installation, photography and video, etc. Tone travels a lot and tries to express inspirations that collected from the changing of places and spaces. Tone had joined TCG Nordica’s Chinese culture course in Kunming from 2006 to 2007, some of the work were made at that time, and means a lot to her.

Tone Leksbø’s residence supported by Oslo city council.

Changing places
A contemporary art exhibition by Norwegian artist Tone Leksbø

As an artist who has spent much time travelling the world, Norwegian contemporary artist Tone Leksbø is interested in the concept of changing places. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraklit said that you can’t step twice into the same river. Likewise, you can’t come back a second time to the same place. Both you and the place itself have changed since last time you were there.
This is a truth especially true regarding China, including Kunming, where old buildings are tore down and new ones erected every second. Kunming is changing, as China is changing from day to day. The rapidly growing Chinese economy, which is about to turn China into the world’s greatest superpower, is also a symbol for a growing worldwide consumer culture. Almost all countries in the world buy goods from China, ranging from food and electronics to clothes and toys.
As the growing economy is good for China, the worldwide consumer culture is still questionable. In one of the main works in her exhibition, Tone Leksbø asks what will happen to all the toys after they’ve been played with a couple of times. The changing process from new and colorful toy to filthy garbage is often very fast. The dumped doll and thrown away teddy bear symbolize a lost generation, to which happiness and innocence fades all too quickly.
In her work, Leksbø also plays with materiality. The lost objects, once so familiar, are found and presented not in the children’s room, but in the art gallery. The changed place makes us see the objects in a changed light. To some extent, Leksbø draws inspiration from the Afro-American artist Marita Dingus and here transformations of thrash into art.
In another work, Leksbø also combines a playful and an existential view, making the audience interact with her art. Photographs taken in different places such as Mali (Africa), Norway (Europe) and China (Asia) covering big «dices», make us think about the shifting nature of progress. Europe has had it’s time of economical and political dominance. Asia is just about to take over. Could there once be a time also for Africa? It is up to each visitor to «roll the dice», or mount the boxes according to the visitor’s own preferences.
The work also reflects on the fact that the artist’s homeland, Norway, fifty years ago was one of the poorest in Europe. Then Norway found oil, which changed it into the richest country in the world. Fifty years from now, the oil will probably be gone. Will Norway once again be thrown back in poverty?
Another work, a collage of photographs showing photographers, discusses the idea of fixing a person, a situation or a place into a two-dimensional representation. Still playful, with a humorous meta-aspect, Leksbø shows us amateur photographers from all over the world, taking pictures of whatever may have awakened their interest. Focusing on the act of photography itself, Leksbø adds a new thought to what establishes a picture. Herein also lies a hidden critique of her self. What do the artist really do when she takes a photo?
Like her other interactive work, Leksbø also invites the audience to take part in the act of photography. In a separate work, «Changing faces», anonymous face shapes cover the wall. By using a polaroid camera, the spectator is encouraged to take a photo of his own face and put it up on the wall, covering one the face shapes.
Beside other interesting photography works, the artist also exhibits three videos. One shows the changing conditions for the animals in Kunming Zoo. Another gives time to what Kunming is especially renowned for – the flowers. In the shortest of them, Leksbø brings the voice of a minority Chinese woman from Yunnan back to Norway – as we can hear the woman’s spellbinding singing overdubbing an airport express ride into Oslo. With the video now being shown in Kunming, Leksbø finds yet another way to the exhibition’s main theme, changing places.
Step into the gallery now. As Heraklit told us: It will never be the same ever again.

Written by Alf Walgermo

photos from the opening

Artist CV

Tone Leksbø
Oslo, Norway
Female artist, born 1981
Blog: http://toneleksboe.posterous.com/

Exhibitions
08-09.11 «Changing places», solo exhibition, TCG Nordica, Kunming, China

10.09 «Herremenn», exhibition and video installation, cooperation with Maria Sundby, UKS (Young artists’ association), Oslo, Norway

10.08-11.08 «The Wealth and Poverty of Nations», solo exhibition, Lyngdal Kultursenter, Lyngdal, Norway

07.08 Outdoor project «Liket på kaia», cooperation with Maria Sundby, Svolvær, Norway

11.07 «Blendverk», solo exhibition, Galleri Kiellands Fabrikker, Tøyen, Oslo, Norway

06.05 Bachelor exhibition, The National College of Art and Design, Seilduken, Oslo, Norway

Bibliography
Mona Larsen, «Byoriginaler i fredete hus», Dagsavisen 23.10.09: http://www.dagsavisen.no/kultur/article447479.ece
Maren Thorsen Blekestad, «Halléns hemmelighet», Østkantavisa 23.10.09: http://www.ostkantavisa.no/kultur/hallens-hemmelighet-1.4989386
Morten Michelsen Berg, «Liket var ikke dødt», TV2 Nyhetene, 22.07.08: http://www.tv2nyhetene.no/innenriks/liket-var-ikke-doedt-2083469.html

Gabrielle Graatrud, «Kulturkanal fra opera til Skrik», Aftenposten 30.11.07; http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/oslo/article2115911.ece

Studies
08.08-06.09 Pedagogics (art), art teacher, adjunct, Telemark College University
08.07-12.07 Spanish, University of Oslo
08.06-06.07 «Culture course in China», Hyllie Park FHS, TCG Nordica, Kunming, China
01.06-06.06 Psychology (1 year course), University of Oslo
08.02-06.05 Bachelor in Fine Arts, The National College of Art and Design
01.02-06.02 Philosophy and methodic, University of Oslo

Work
08.09-07.11 Art teacher, Øraker skole, Oslo
08.06-06.07 Voluntary work at the gallery of TCG Nordica, Kunming

Scholarships
2010 Oslo city’s cultural exchange scholarship
2008 Bildende kunstneres vederlagsfond, Maria Sundby and
Tone Leksbø
2005 Lyngdal city’s cultural scholarship
2003 Margit og Karl Kvaviks legat, Lyngdal