Magnus Bärtås: Experiments

Experiments Materialized thought-figures and experiments for spatial and temporal conditions made by the means of photography, video, film, text, drawing, embroidery and objects. The works are here grouped in loose categories: “Biographies and Storytelling”, “Buildings and Places (Socio-materia)”, “Commissions” and “Collaborative Works”, although many of the aspects of these works naturally overlap each other.
	Madame & Little Boy 2009 In 1978 the legendary South Korean actress Choi Eun-Hee was kidnapped in Hong Kong by North Korean agents and brought to Pyongyang... Read More

	Kumiko, Johnnie Walker & The Cute 2006-2007 The video essay is commenting on the act of reading and storytelling by referring to the threatening self-loss when the reader/narrator has to subordinate to the text... Read More

	Who is…? 1998– In 1998 I began this (ongoing) project by using a kind of mnemonic observation technique whenever I met people for short periods of time, most often on trips connected to art events... Read More

	The Disappointed and Offended (Tribute to the Tribune) 1994– The faces of Disappointed and Offended People which I collect from daily newspapers create a sort of ‘home-made’ taxonomic system. The work collects and documents complains in Sweden since 1994... Read More

	Anna, Where is Paulina Today? 1999-2005 The film (I min) Anna Where is Paulina Today was made 1998 under auspices of the project “Art at the Movies”, where seven artist were allotted one minute of screen time during the commercials in every movie theater owned by Swedish Film Industry in Sweden... Read More

	Mummy 1995 My mother was often complaining about my decision of being an artist. In the exhibition Mummy (1995) I wanted to involve her in the conceptual process and at the same time stage a relation of power, control end dependence... Read More

	The Magic Mountain (Zauberberg) 1992-1993 The work was inspired by a specific event: a friend left home in 1987 and has not been heard of since. When I realized I could not understand much about his disappearance from private photo albums, I began to... Read More

	Satellites 2000– Since 1998 I’ve been photographing a certain type of kiosks, which I’ve found in many of the Balkan and East European countries: Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Serbia, Poland, Hungary and Belarussia... Read More

	AMUland/The Predicament 1996– AMUland is built up of photographs of sheds, cottages, small workshops and barns. They are very simple buildings whose appearance emphasizes the fundamental functions of protection, privacy or enclosure... Read More

	Neighbours 1992 The series Neighbours are black and white photographs coloured by hand with gouache, tempera, crayons and charcoil, originally made for the exhibition Rooms in-between Rooms at Moderna Museet, Stockholm 1992... Read More

	Cities 1999- The series Cities is an ongoing work based on collecting. In every new city I visit I try to find coloured A4 plastic folders. I’ve realized that they can be bought almost everywhere, so far I haven't been to any larger city in Europe, Africa or Asia (Japan) where they cannot be found... Read More

	Kröningen (The Coronation) Ekonomikum Uppsala 2000 (commissioned by The Governments Arts Council, Uppehållsrum 445, 446) Den konstnärliga gestaltningen på Ekonomikum har en speciell förutsättning – att utgå från Uppsala Universitets konstsamling. Redan på ett tidigt stadium i projektet ansåg jag att denna utgångspunkt innebar att gestaltningens mest självklara grund borde handla om bilden/tavlan på väggen... Read More

	Kvarteret Fältöversten (The Quarter Fältöversten) Stockholm 2005 Together with Front The quarter Fältöversten in Stockholm, built in 1973, was created as a social and political project. The vision was to create “little Sweden” – Sweden in miniature for a representative part of the population, placed in the heart of the wealthy part of Stockholm... Read More

	Konst på bio (Art at the Movies) 1997-1998 Together with Martin Petéus The idea of giving several visual artists each a slot during the pre-movie commercials at the cinema originates from an earlier project which one of us, Martin Petéus, did at a cinema in Trondheim, Norway... Read More

	The Resort of Homeless Ideas 2002- Together with Zdenko Buzek Ideas are not created by people, but given to them. That’s why the same ideas are found in different places at the same time (particularly in places with the same level of technical degree of development and similar social and political conditions)... Read More

	Herons vs Elephants 2004 Together with Dmitri Plax A ‘TV-heron’ is a carved wooden figure, which held a great popularity during the 50’s and 60’s in Sweden. It became a widespread folk art, and was created by pupils in public schools or as a hobby work at home... Read More

	Do You Know What it Means to Love Someone 1999 Together with Leif Lindell The video is a documentary of Leif's visit to the psychiatrist and hypnotist Ture Arvidsson who has a little clinic on Lidingö (Stockholm). Leif wanted an answer to certain questions about the past, the present and the future... Read More

	Stories about Danielle Tjajkovskij 2006 Together with Petra Bauer, Kajsa Dahlberg, Sara Lundén, Matti Kallioinen and Karolina Pahlén En morgon 1997 hittade jag en bunt lappar på barnsadeln på min cykel. Det händer att människor använder barnsadeln som en sorts papperskorg... Read More

	Other collaborative works "Bosse Dynamit and Olle Granath". Together with Peter Andersson. Collage with texts on conspiracies and theories of conspiracy. Together with Andreas Gedin, C M von Hausswolff, Leif Elggren and Annika Eriksson. ”Var inte rädda” (”Have no fear”). Together with Andreas Gedin. "All over the world". Together with Anders K. Johansson. Read More