KRISTOFFER MYSKJA (Trondheim, 1985)

KRISTOFFER MYSKJA (Trondheim, 1985)

Kristoffer Myskja Kristoffer Myskja creates kinetic sculptures of tremendous technical complexity. His intent, however, is not that of producing brute exercises of technical dexterity, but rather that of delivering an acute social message. Indeed, Myskja s work might be read as a reminder of the fact that the machine is still there, a way of making us think about our increasingly machine-dependent existence. In a way Myskja is a kind of Bertold Brecht of technological experience: he breaks the illusion of the theatre of our everyday life. Behind our activities, he says, the machines are running. He also underlines this by leaving the contemporary smooth, miniature, technology, and opting for a retro-style, full-sized. While computers and cell-phones tend to shrink, Myskja s machines are not diminished in size. He also opts for a brass design, which might have been made 300 years ago. Myskja s objects operate in a time-span, one is inclined to think, which transcends both contemporary machines and art. Myskja moves in a machinic tradition in art that starts with the kinetic sculptures of Marcel Duchamp, like the Bicycle Wheel (1913) and continues with the self-destructive sculptures of Yves Tanguy and the gravity- or wind-driven sculptures by Alexander Calder. But while kinetic artists usually work in abstract terms, Myskja tends to isolate human activities and integrate them in a machinic time and logic, like smoking insmoking machine and ageing in Machine that use a thousand years to turn itself down. While an artist like Rebecca Horn prolongs the human body, to investigate it, Myskja severs it from itself producing autonomous, or semi autonomous, structures. The idea of the machine is one of the most human metaphors imaginable but through his projects it becomes an aggregate for analyzing sequences of human actions. www.kristoffermyskja.com

Selected Solo Exhibitions 2014 Nilas Aas Kunstverksted, Inderoy Hedmark Kunstsenter, Hamar 2013 Galerie Mario Mazzoli, Berlin 2012 Gallery K, Oslo 2011 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 2010 Gallery F15 (Project Room), Moss 2007 Gallery 7011, Trondheim Selected Group Exhibitions and commissions 2015 Belle Haleine Der Duft der Kunst, Museum Tinguely Basel Commission: Åsveien skole og ressurssenter, Trondheim l 2014 National grant for artists, 5-year working grant 2013 Go With the Flø 2013 - Damien Hirst/Kristoffer Myskja, Studio Hugo Opdal, Flø Kristoffer Myskja / Kristine Roald Sandøy, Kunstnersenteret Møre og Romsdal LEIK - Sommarutstillinga '13, Seljord kunstforening, Seljord NOR 13 - Lydbasert kunst, Akershus kunstsenter, Lillestrøm Commission: Kuben yrkesarena, Oslo Commission: Osterøy VGS (Highschool), Osterøy 2012 Game of Life, Kristiansand Kunsthall, Kristiansand The Unseen - The Fourth Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou -denied paticipation by the Chinese Government Billedkunstnernes vederlagsfond, 2 year grant 2011 AUTOMATA A CAPPELLA, Galerie Mario Mazzoli, Berlin I Walk the Line - ULTIMA festival, The Norwegian Opera & Ballet / KHiO, Oslo Vi prøver å planlegge det helt perfekt, Ingensteds, Oslo Give me Your Eyes, Kunstverein Køln Mulheim, Köln Measure for Measure, CENTRAL BOOKING (Gallery II), New York Ingrid Lindbäck Langaards grant 2010 In your Face!,Gallery 7011, Trondheim META.MORF 2010 - New.Brave.World! - Gråmølna, Trondheim Tegnebiennale 2010 - Lines on the Move, Momentum Kunsthall, Moss Wenche Gulbransen og Kristoffer Myskja, Galleri Kunst1, Sandvika Commission: Det norske oljeselskap ASA, Trondheim VIDA 13.0 Art Award, Honorary Mention

2009 Sonic Sunrises - Nordic Contemporary Art, Titanik Gallery, Turku, Finland Sparebankstiftelsen DnB NOR grant show 2009, Oslo Kunstforening, Oslo Young & Sound, Ciant Gallery, Praha, Czech Republic The Norwegian State Exhibition 09, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo Residency: SUMU - Turku, Finland Anne and Jacob Weidemanns grant National grant for artists, 3-year working grant for younger/newly established artists 2008 Electrohype, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden Magiske systemer, Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø Kunstakademiets avgangsutstilling, Stenersenmuseet, Oslo Hør, Akershus Kunstnersenter, Lillestrøm Ingrid Lindbäck Langaards grant The Governments Miscellaneous grant 2007 Juleutstilling, Lydgalleriet, Bergen Obergeschoss Dritter Finger Rechts, Norwegen Show - Ballhaus Ost 3. Etage, Berlin, Germany The Norwegian State Exhibition 07 - Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo Ingrid Lindbäck Langaards grant 2006 FIGUR!, Trøndelag senter for samtidskunst, Trondheim 7011 avd. Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfossen The Norwegian State Exhibition 06 - Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo The Norwegian Shipowners Association prize, The Norwegian State Exhibition Intravision prize for best electronic artwork, The Norwegian State Exhibition 2005 Turbulence, Galleri KIT, Trondheim The Annual Trøndelag Exhibition 2005 - Trøndelag Senter for Samtidskunst, Trondheim

Kristoffer Myskja, Splitting the mercury drop in order to find balance, 2013 mercury, glass, plastics, motor, magnet, steel, 45 h x 22 x 26 cm, Ed. 3

Kristoffer Myskja, Governors, 2013 various metals, rubber belts, motor, 24 h x 30 x 10 cm, Ed.6+AP

Kristoffer Myskja, Covering Up Gold, 2012 gold, cotton strings, various other materials, 65 x 128 x 50 cm

Kristoffer Myskja, Volubilis, 2011 Commissioned by Det norske oljeselskap for their headquarters in Trondheim

Kristoffer Myskja, Giving back to Reservoir, 2010 mixed media, size variable

Kristoffer Myskja, Interference Machine, 2009 water, various metals, cotton, motor, 30 x 30 x 28 cm + pedestal 120 cm

Kristoffer Myskja, Machine that uses a thousand years to shut itself down, 2009 brass, drive belts, motor, steel, solar panel, MDF base 37,5 x 24,5 x 25 cm

Kristoffer Myskja, Smoking Machine, 2007 cigarettes, various metals, filament, motor, 23 x 15 x 20 cm, Ed.6+AP

Kristoffer Myskja, The sound of...(the sound of Cotton, The sound of coffee, The sound of Gold), 2006 various mechanical parts, size variable