A.Gerner, M.Nerland, L.Soares ‘Notes on Utopia’

Installation by Alexander Gerner, Marie Nerland and Lígia Soares, between 15 and 18 August.

”Notes on Utopia” is a installation and continuous performance, building a space for reflecting on contemporary utopia, on public space and on utopian thoughts in art. The first stage of this on-going work was presented in Lisbon and the second stage in Bergen, Norway.

Alexander Gerner is an artist, theatre director based in Lisbon and a member of the Centre of Philosophy of Science at the University of Lisbon. His research is on topics of aesthetic experience in science, cinema and art. He is co-­‐editor of the interdisciplinary ”Studies in Diagrammatology and Diagram Praxis” (London 2010). In 2010 he presented a performance related to the topic of utopia: “He who does not work shall not eat”. He writes on art, politics and science on his blog.

Marie Nerland is an artist and curator based in Bergen, Norway. She has been working with performance since 1999 in different collaborative projects. In 2008, she founded Volt, a curatorial project for contemporary art based in Bergen. She is co-­‐editor of the Norwegian Art Year Book 2011 and editor of the anthology 25 with essays on contemporary art. She was co-­‐editor of the Norwegian journal for performance and contemporary art 3t from 1997-­‐2007.

Lígia Soares is a Portuguese artist working in the fields of dance, theatre and performance. Since 2001 she is developing her work at Máquina Agradável which she co-­‐founded. Her work has been presented in several venues and festivals in Portugal and Europe. In 2008 she was recipient of DanceWeb Scholarship programe for contemporary dance. She likes to investigate on the creation of characters fragmented by the inconsistencies of discourse towards action. They have previously collaborated on the performances ”Endings for Berlin” in a cafe in Berlin (2006), ”Let´s Do Endings Again” taking place at the Lydgalleriet in Bergen (2007) and “Endings for Oslo” at Black Box Theater/UKS in Oslo (2007).

Project supported by: Arts Council Norway and City of Bergen.