1986–2013An Artist Collecting Art

The project 1986–2013 / An Artist Collecting Art was a presentation of the collection of artist and Director of Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Morten Viskum.

Viskum bought his first art work in 1986 when he was 21 years old. He has collected art ever since and in the exhibition the visitor could read the way his interests have shifted and his economic situation has altered.

In 2013 the collection consisted of some 500 works by 200 artists, and was shown in its entirety. It embraced renowned and unknown names, both Norwegian and international, and every conceivable artistic technique. The prime motivation for the exhibition was not, however, to show a collection per se, but rather to create a total installation made up of the works of other artists. This act of appropriation could be seen as a testament to one artist's fascination with art, and to his fascination with the concept of the ultimate art work.

The possibility of creating the ultimate art work is something that has captivated many artists, art historians, and art theorists. The cultural debate is constantly pervaded by the question of whether one can determine objective criteria for evaluating art; it is a question that exercises all sorts of authorities, public and private, who have the power to award grants to artists and art institutions. An important part of this battle for qualitative criteria is the issue of what function art should have, and what function the building that houses it should perform. In other words, must art have a political nuance to be considered good? Or has an art work merely by being expressed in a particular medium already made a political statement? Should art speak directly to us, or rather compel us, by the force of its own impenetrability, to think for ourselves? Should it be dangerous, provocative, or beautiful? And what makes an art project dangerous, provocative, or beautiful? If the role of art is to provide a radical sideways glance at the established order of society, who and what are the appropriate targets of its criticism? Is there room for disagreement with the institutions that draw up the framework of our art definitions?

All of these questions are pertinent to today's arts and culture debates, and all are questions asked of artists and art educators. This Vestfossen project can stand as one response to these questions, for it forwarded the proposal that it is not in the individual art work that the possibility of "perfection" resides, but rather in the confluence of many artists' work. It is in the meeting of ideas and the conflicting discussions concerning a wide spectrum of works and projects, that art's ability to generate meaning is to be found. Our project must assume that these questions are currently active in the field of art, that the art world is constantly meeting their challenge and coming up with new questions about art and society and the relationships between them. The purpose of this exhibition is to illuminate this potential. Equally we wish to illuminate the function an institution like Vestfossen ought to perform, in opening up an arena for discussion of, and reflection on, the role and nature of art.

Participating artists:
Diana Al-Hadid / Kenneth Alme / Morten Andenæs / Paola Angelini / Stefan Anger / Nicola Aramu / Nestor Arenas / Arman / Amir Amadeus Asgharnejad / Unni Askeland / Enrico Baj / John Baldessari / Thora Dolven Balke / Jack Bangerter / Javier Barrios / Herman Bendixen / Margareta Bergman / Joseph Beuys / Helene Billgren / Bjørn Bjarre / Sverre Bjertnes / Cecilia Jiménez Ojeda / Peter Blake / Eivind Blaker / Carlos Blanco / Are Blytt / Maj-Britt Boa / Tiago Bom / Peter Bonde / Trond Botnen / Børge Bredenbekk / Markus Brendmoe / Jes Brinch / Jemima Brown / Per Christian Brown / Geir M. Brungot / Andrea Büttner / Åsmund Bøe / Borden Capalino / Troels Carlsen / Anja Carr / Marte Hodne Haugen / Nicolas Ceccaldi / Marc Chagall / Rony Chandra / Chen Qiji / Jan Christensen / Ursula Reuter Christiansen / Larry Clark / Dan Colen / Richard Colman / Nicola Costantino/ Joachim Cossais / Lena Cronqvist / D.O.R / Jonas T. Daatland / Kristian Øverland Dahl / Salvador Dali / Martin Denker / Leander Djønne / Jørgen Dobloug / John Duncan / Per Dypvig / Jorid Lekve Eide / Anders Eiebakke / Gardar Eide Einarsson / Ida Ekblad / Johan Eldrot / Olafur Eliasson / Erik Johan Worsøe Eriksen & Yngvar Larsen / Marco Evaristti / Matias Faldbakken / Matteo Fato / Duvier del Dago Fernández / Lillebeth Foss / Beata Fransson & Ylva Westerlund / Ernst Fuchs / Victoria Marie Fuhr / Ivan Galuzin / Gao Xiang / Andrea Geyer / Patrick Goddard / Nan Goldin / René Guiette / Rune Guneriussen / Gisle Harr / Bjørn Erik Haugen / Annika von Hausswolff / He Libin / Espen Henningsen / Eiliv Henschien / Sophie Hesselholdt & Vibeke Mejlvang / Hiroto Kitagawa / Halvdan Holbø / Emil Holmer / Hilde Honerud / HuskMitNavn / Tommy Høvik / Institutt for degenerert kunst / Uwe Max Jensen / Olav Christopher Jenssen / Ottar Helge Johannessen / Rune Johansen / Kaare Espolin Johnson / Tone Wolff Karlstad / Alex Katz / Kcho / Kebbene – Mette Hellenes & Vanessa Baird / Lars Kjemphol / Viktor Kopp / Andrei Koschmieder / Steinar Haga Kristensen / Lars-Andreas Tovey Kristiansen / Aleksandra Kucharska / Kumi Sugai / Kunstner ukjent (x 4) / Gabriel Kuri / Thomas Kvam / Abigail Lane / Leigh Ledare / Kaja Haugen Leijon / Mona Sjo Leirkjær / Erik Length / Ida Lennartsson / Per-Oskar Leu / Linn Lindström / Anni Lippert / Ann Lislegaard / Lou Fei / João Louro / Sarah Lucas / Oddvar Løkse / Solveig Lønseth / Sally Mann / Frankie Martin / Annebeth Meldal / Bjarne Melgaard / Aleksandra Mir / Slava Mogutin / Anders Dahl Monsen / Lars Morell / Bjørn-Willy Mortensen / Oscar Murillo / Morten Nilsson / Hermann Nitsch / Marius Notvik / Johannes Nyholm / Albert Oehlen / Tommy Olsson / Mari Opsahl / Tarmo Paunu / Piyatat Hemmatat / Tim Porter / Kim Ramberghaug / Bjørn Ransve / Dan Rees / Pipilotti Rist / Alex Rodriguez / Viktor Rosdahl / Pascal Rousson / Christoph Ruckhäberle / Knut Rumohr / Kalle Runeson / Torbjørn Rødland / Sa Veasna / Sten Are Sandbeck / Olve Sande / Valentina Schulte / Markus Selg / Andres Serrano / Ryan Siegan-Smith / Andreas Skjelde / Kristian Skylstad / Mari Slaattelid / Kjartan Slettemark / Anders Smebye / Dash Snow / Sopheap Pich / Vee Speers / Dan Starling / Christian Stenersen / Markus Li Stensrud / Elise Storsveen / Fredrik Strid / Marie Svindt / Svay Ken / Jim Særnblom / Inga S. Søreide / Henrik Sørensen / Vibeke Tandberg / Karen Tang / Knut Tiberg / Théo Tobiasse / Zoran Todorovic / Tommi Toija / Sissel Tolaas / Endre Tveitan / Hallgeir Tveitan / Uten navn / Vann Nath / Victor Vasarely / Rinus Van de Velde / Ronald Versloot / Luis Vidal / Lars Vilks / Wirg / Morten Viskum / Fredrik Værslev / Andy Warhol / Andrew Weatherall / Sigri Welhaven / Arja Wiik-Hansen / Kaare Wildhagen / Jessica Williams / Per Wizén / Rose Wylie / Yan Renkui / Aaron Young / Snorre Ytterstad

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Installation photos: Vegard Kleven