The Collective Text

The shaman, the oracle, the exorcist and the double personality are figures whose projection surfaces are constantly expanding. They invoke thoughts to images of totem animals, dark forests, transparent faces and spells, unintelligible words and sounds, signs and objects loaded with a special power, something unintelligible, perhaps threatening, yet concurrently something to capture or approach.

To recognize and take into consideration overlooked or denied dimensions of the human being such as our connection to the animal, the capacity to be evil, irrational behaviors, is perhaps a will to communicate with what we don’t understand or can decipher from given norms and learned behaviors. A society whose values and behaviors are illogical invoke the will to find new ways, words and spaces. To act on the basis of compliance with this policy involves creating another sphere of thought and doing things on the basis of a different order: one which can only exist or come into existence through sharing. To lead and be lead, to turn, to wait, to listen and to devote hours and hours thinking about what you really want to express and why. To pose questions and, in the search for answers to these questions, constantly face new questions.

We create a situation we cannot fully control, a space generating more space. The artist embodies what is already settled, that is, what we don’t yet know.

Katarina Nitsch and Patrik Bengtsson
Göteborg, 21 november 2009