J&K / Janne Schäfer and Kristine Agergaard / Museum of O.O.O.
Museum of O.O.O. [Objecting Outcast Objects] is a kaleidoscopic installation based on the museum's permanent art collection.
The Danish-German artist duo, J&K / Janne Schäfer and Kristine Agergaard have detached carefully selected museum items from their normal setting and placed them in unfamiliar contexts. Amongst the individual objects, the artists have positioned some of their own works and added found objects such as sticks, stones, junk and exotic finds from travels round the world.
J&K assault our rational perception of reality, spotlight the way cultural values are created and how we as human beings categorise and systematise our surroundings. By juxtaposing artworks from the museum with found, everyday objects and bizarre objects, the artists nullify familiar categories such as trash, consumer goods and art.
In this humorous, playful installation, all the objects exhibited undergo a transformation. A paper maché sculpture has been given a porcelain hand, while an orange tent peeps out from a huge pile of wool. As a consequence of the objects’ incorporation into new contexts, they assume new analogies and alternative meanings. Museum of O.O.O. also plays with the notion that everyday objects can suddenly take on lives of their own and fight against the values we have given them. Each individual object rebels against its assigned status as an object. It will no longer act like “a compliant servant”.
The artist duo, J&K / Janne Schäfer and Kristine Agergaard have been working together since 1999 and are based in Berlin and Copenhagen. They have exhibited in Denmark and abroad with solo presentations at venues, which include: the National Gallery of Denmark; Copenhagen Art Festival; Århus Kunstbygning; Overgaden – Institute of Contemporary Art; and the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. Currently J&K are working on a large art-in-architecture commission for the new Goethe Institute in Cairo, Egypt.
Accompanying the show J&K are presenting the publication Museum of O.O.O. with a text piece by writer and art critic Pablo Larios, in collaboration with Antypirine Distribution.
For more information see J&K's website here.