Cranbrook Art Museum - Exhibitions - In Focus: Annika Larsson


In Focus: Annika Larsson CRANBROOK ART MUSEUM September 22- November 17, 2002 Swedish artist Annika Larsson offers up a dark yet humorous view of male social relations. Her stylishly composed videos and photographs explore the complex codes of political power and sexual gratification in the postmodern era. These wordless scenarios, enacted like enigmatic rituals, often leave viewers with more questions than answers about situations to which they have become witnesses. This exhibition, the artist’s first solo museum presentation in the United States, features Larsson’s award-winning video DOG along with several photographic works from her haunting new POLIISI series.
::click thumbnail image to see more::			^ANNIKA LARSSON
			Video still from DOG, 2001 DVD, 16 min. loop Courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York © Annika Larsson, 2001
ABOUT THE ARTIST >>
Annika Larsson was born in Sweden in 1972. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm in 2000 and has since worked in Stockholm, Berlin and New York. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally, including the Institute for Contemporary Art in London and 49th Venice Biennale in 2002. In 2001 she was a recipient of the prestigious Baloise Art Prize for her video DOG.
TAKE A CLOSER LOOK >>
What’s going on in "DOG"? Two men are walking on a platz in Berlin (we get a glimpse of the famous Berlin’s landmark, the slender TV tower with a sphere at the top). One of them is walking with a dog, a pedigreed Weimaraner. As the men approach each other, strange things start to happen. The younger man gets down on his knee, a position that remotely reminds of the medieval ritual of knighting. The owner of the dog keeps pacing around him, tense and watchful. They look like two combatants, measuring up each other before starting a fight. The music, composed by Tobias Bernstrup, builds up our expectation that the resolution of this mysterious confrontation is coming up soon. However, the tension dissolves without reaching an apparent climax. No violent action, no harsh words to bring to a conclusion this duel that never happened. Like a writer of detective stories, Larsson provides various clues that can help viewers to come up with an explanation of what’s going on. Here are some clues to consider when you are watching the interaction between the two men in DOG: - glances: are they defiant, domineering, submissive, seductive, nervous, relaxed? - the men’s clothes and accessories: why would anyone dress up like that for a casual walk? - the brushed coat of the dog and lavish canine accouterments - collar, leash and whistle: are they a symbol of the owner’s high social status or a concealed reference to the owner’s male prowess? - the younger man’s tilted chin: does it mean a challenge or submission? - the lips circling the dog’s whistle: is it an erotic or a derisive gesture? A critic described DOG as an act of loyalty and commitment between two men, with the dog serving to channel emotions between them. Do you agree?
CREDITS >>
Cranbrook Art Museum thanks Annika Larsson and Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York for choosing us as the venue for the artist’s the first solo museum exhibition in the United States.