Malin Pettersson Öberg

On Friday 26 September Malin Pettersson Öberg participated in the performance event Nattklubben, an evening with performances and readings by eight artists at the nightclub Slakthuset in Stockholm. Nattklubben was organized by artists Petra Axelsson and Tobias Sjöberg as part of their exhibition Larger Than Life – Absorbing Light at Konstnärshuset (13/9 – 1/10). Participating artists: Lukas Sålby, Petra Axelsson, Tobias Sjöberg, Anna Wignell, Liv Strand, Franziska Koch, Malin Pettersson Öberg and Iris Smeds. After 10 pm the evening continued with clubbing and London-based Stray.

For the occasion, Malin Pettersson Öberg developed the performance Kronologi II (2014) based on the previous pieces Stereoskopisk scenografi (2011) and Kronologi (2012). Kronologi II comprises of a 7 min. reading of texts in relation to a flag with the motif a solar eclipse. In the piece, the artist pursues her enquiry on the theme of vision and knowledge, and reactivates outmoded language- and image cultures from old science books. Through the use of descriptions of images in Charles-Albert Reichen’s handbook of astronomy from 1965, Pettersson Öberg directs our attention to how our view on the world is dependent on knowledge, which in its turn is situated in a specific time. She wants to emphasize how different world views and conceptions of the universe have replaced each other through the ages; how, for instance, astronomy and astrology were long considered closely linked. She wants to highlight the often futile strive and longing for a secure and objective knowledge. To know more about the artist’s work, please see the text ”To extend the gaze” by Camilla Larsson (SE, published in the book ”Platser, samlingar, namn” 2013).