Taking place monthly during spring, winter and late autumn, The Magazine Sessions is a new series of experimental and immersive events taking place in The Magazine at the Serpentine North Gallery, presented in collaboration with Fiorucci Art Trust. On Monday 21 March, Karl Holmqvist presented PPPPJJHAAARRRRVEY together with artists and collaborators AA Bronson, Marcus Chang, Nhu Duong, Klara Lidén, Ebe Oke, Mundi Vondi and more.
A flickering, dark space, evoking a cold, wide steppe at nightfall, replete with sound loops, repeated phrases, fabrics, scents and rituals: PPPPJJHAAARRRRVEY transformed the environment of the Serpentine North Gallery into a hypnotic, unfamiliar place, where order, disorder, disturbance and pleasure became increasingly more confused with one another…
As part of the evening, Ebe Oke presented AA Bronson’s Artemesia for my Great Grandfather, previously performed at the Gwanguju Biennale (2014) and in the exhibition AA Bronson’s Garden of Earthly Delights, Salzburger Kunstverein (2015). PPPPJJHAAARRRRVEY also featured screenings of Tony Conrad’s 16mm film, The Flicker (1966) and Karl Holmqvist’s and Klara Lidén’s Nhite Woise (2015), as well as the sound piece, PPPPJJHAAARRRRVEY, by Karl Holmqvist, Ville Haimala, et al. Blankets designed by Holmqvist and Mundi Vondi; Clothes designed by Holmqvist and Nhu Duong.
AA Bronson lives in Berlin. Bronson, along with Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal, co-founded the group General Idea in 1969. They were known for their wry, highly ironic approach to performance, media appropriation, sexuality and AIDS activism. That, combined with their early involvement in punk, artist-driven culture and self-publishing/distribution, through FILE Megazine and Art Metropole, brought them to the forefront of contemporary art and activism. As director of Printed Matter, Inc. from 2004 to 2010, Bronson founded the NY Art Book Fair and the LA Art Book Fair. Since 1999, he has worked as a healer, an identity that he has also incorporated into his own artwork, which focuses on spirituality and ritual. Throughout his career, the politics of collaboration and communal decision-making have played a key role and this commitment continues to drive his multi-faceted practice.
Karl Holmqvist is an artist living and working in Berlin. His work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and at the 2003 and 2011 Venice Biennials. He has been a frequent participant in the Performa arts festival in New York and for the annual Serpentine Marathons. This spring he is exhibiting at Camden Art Centre, London and at The Power Station in Dallas, Texas.
Klara Lidén is an artist based in Berlin. Solo exhibitions include WIELS, Brussels; Le Consortium, Dijon and Galerie Neu, Berlin (all 2015); Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen and Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York (both 2014); Museion, Bolzano and Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2013); New Museum, New York (2012); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2011); Serpentine Gallery, London; Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn and Jeu de Paume, Paris (all 2010); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2009); Hayward Gallery, London (2007). More information on Lidén’s Serpentine exhibition may be found here.
The 2016 Magazine Sessions are:
Monday 15 February: Matt Copson, A Woodland Truce, with music by Felicita and vocal performances by Musarc
Monday 21 March: Karl Holmqvist, PPPPJJHAAARRRRVEY with AA Bronson, Marcus Chang, Nhu Duong, Klara Lidén, Ebe Oke, Mundi Vondi and other friends and collaborators
Monday 18 April: Emily Sundblad, Dictherliebe / Divine Bitches Part Two with Juliana Huxtable and Ken Okiishi
Monday 16 May: Celia Hempton, Tor
Monday 21 November: Christian Holstad
Monday 12 December: Anthea Hamilton
