Art locally
Young Norwegian artist Kowalski Hansen (b. 1979, works Berlin) seems to know a thing or two about the power of business and advertising. For his upcoming project in the group show opening at MOT in London later this week, Hansen will try to raise money for a local fruit and veg store facing closure by selling his designated wall space at the gallery, which he's divided up in small pieces hoping different businesses, artists, etc will display their logo or name. The spaces are going like hot cakes. The aim of his community-based project is to support Spirit (the name of the local store owner, based in nearby Broadway Market) at least until October, when Hackney Council will revise the case. Perhaps the project will be able to save the store from being demolished and its owner evicted, the result of foul play by local politicians and foreign investors. Tomorrow, 8 August is deadline for submitting material. Please contact the gallery for more details, info@motinternational.org (pricing details at the bottom of this page).
Image made by Kowalski Hansen for MOT wall project, 2006. Courtesy the artist and the gallery.
Hansen was selected in Contemporary magazine's recent list of emerging artist to look out for. His most well-known previous project is permeated with activist instinct too - one that isn't shy to encompass a business plan into the formula. In a very original reverse reading of Naomi Klein's 'No Logo', far from the one adopted by business-cursing anti-globalisation activists, Hansen set up a company in the dying small factory town of Ljungaverk, Sweden, HÃ¥kkiTM, wholly for the purpose of creating a certain measurable positivity as a result of the business' success. Tapping into the real day to day needs of the community via a local resident, some of the Haaki-sponsored activities have included a free professional haircut day, selling quirky Swedish-designed t-shirts to raise money for the local sauna and setting up a new ping-pong table at the youthclub among many other good deeds, which also have included creating jobs (such as webmaster for the site). There's more than a touch of the ironic, and pragmatic, about his project selection, which is big hearted enough to take the motto 'think globally, act locally' to microscopic levels, without forgetting that art can be the most important act of all. Here's an artist trying to react to a frequency most of us can't hear - reality - and using the tools of the entrepreneur to question and change things around a little.
Images from Kowalski Hansen's Haaki Project.
AND YET IT MOVES!, curated by Hans Askheim
12 August - 16 September
Private View Friday 11 August 18.00 - 21.00
John Heartfield, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Bjørn-Kowalski Hansen, Lisa Kirk, Mark Titchner
MOT
Wall space pricing information
80 cm x 25 cm : € 50
130 cm x 50 cm : € 100
Format
.eps /.ai
.pdf /.jpg
Installment
You can use any font and logo, but it should not include more than 25 characters.
Your logo can only include one colour.
MOT International and its staff will paint the advertisements on the wall.
Contact
All inquiries and files are to be sent to the following address by 8TH OF AUGUST mot.international@googlemail.com
+ 44 (0)7886423792
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