98,84,0,0 Press Conference

The proposal named; 98,84,0,0 is reffering to the CMYK.

On behalf of Sune Rieper, Anders Krogdal & Jakob Ingemansson
from now on referred to as; RAI

Dear friends and members of Überspass.
Friday was held a press conference at 2300 Superior Studios, about the Überspass 3rd subMaterial Congress 2010.

As our workshop in London is approaching, we felt that a common denominator was needed; A umbrella structure that could host and kick-start a range of investigations as well as a theoretical fond.

Since we are 6 people in a very small room during 10 days (/m2/day), we will have to take into consideration that its hard for all of us to be in the room and work at the same time. However we find it most interesting to use the gallery in- and exterior as our main territory. By this meaning to take advantage of the gallery and center the experience of what we do in this place.

Our main idea is not braking news; its about finding a frame in which we will be able to work all of us at the same time with the same main goal, but still retain the possibilities to group up in different constellations and collaborations during the stint. Lets call it THE UMBRELLA STRUCTURE!

As Yves Klein had been discussed on the blog, he came to center a discussion between RAI, on how to frame the investigations. Also since we all are more or less aware of his work, but none of us being an expert, it would also frame a study of his work. On one hand its as simple as blue, on the other hand its dealing with tendencies in the post war/modern society in the 60s. There is a lot of stuff to study.

YK was a part of Nouveau Realisme, a group that he founded with 8 other french artists 2 years before he died (34yo) in 1962. The group was dissolved in 1970. Is there a some group dynamics that we also are a part of there?

Picking up YK, we will have to read some stuff all of us, and maybe even start every morning with introductions prepared individually - nothing like a few well chosen words and a juice to quicken the blood and start the day!

98,84,0,0 is the CMYK code for a color similar to Yves Klein Blue, however YKB is outside the gamut of computer displays (and printers...?). Hereby, already the title of the pressconference is implying that it's not a matter of revisiting Yves Klein, rather to use his work as a starting point of a number of detours referring back and forth.



Yves Klein did through sketches, photography and sculpture investigate what he called Air Architecture, an architecture of the meeting of the elements. Further more he investigated The Void.



Klein's Void is a nirvana-like state that is void of worldly influences; a neutral zone where one is inspired to pay attention to ones own sensibilities, and to "reality" as opposed to "representation". Klein presented his work in forms that were recognized as art—paintings, a book, a musical composition—but then would take away the expected content of that form (paintings without pictures, a book without words, a musical composition without in fact composition) leaving only a shell, as it were. In this way he tried to create for the audience his "Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility". Instead of representing objects in a subjective, artistic way, Klein wanted his subjects to be represented by their imprint: the image of their absence. Klein's work strongly refers to a theoretical/arthistorical context as well as to philosophy/metaphysics and with his work he aimed to combine these. He tried to make his audience experience a state where an idea could simultaneously be "felt" as well as "understood" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Klein.

We feel that it is a lot of material and potential for an umbrella structure within this. One example:

The Malmö Experiments
During a few sunny days in Malmö AI developed a tiny first relationship to the YKB. The first prototypes made in Malmö circles around an idea of a bleeding building, and was not from the beginning meant to be related to Yves Klein but rather rather to a kind of Andy Goldsworthy gone URBAN. Later conversations on YK made the link to one of his happenings in an empty gallery - only serving drinks. People were wondering what it was all about, but realized the day after, when discovering their blue urine, that they were porters of the artwork.

“I had left the visible, physical blue at the door, outside, in the street. The real blue was inside, the blue of the profundity of space, the blue of my kingdom, of our kingdom! ... the immaterialisation of blue, the coloured space that cannot be seen but which we impregnate ourselves with ... A space of blue sensibility within the frame of the white walls of the gallery.” - YK



Can we exhibit an empty gallery, but load the rain gutters with blue color that will be released when the first rain hits London? Just like the next day urine that the drinks caused. This is just one idea, and we are sure that we will have many more great ideas, and that we will be able to turn many of the prev posted ideas into a beautiful brick in the 98,84,0,0 framework.

We hope you like the ideas. We believe that it will give us a good possibility to bring our 10-days group dynamic into something interesting. LET’S HAVE FUN!

Thursday 13 March 1952
A day is space
and so is a year
and an hour
and a second and a life.
Should we live by the year?
or the hour? or the day?
or the second?
I love space
and I feel immense
when I dream
of the infinitely great
and the infinitely small.
Equilibrium doesn’t exist in space
and yet it isn’t chaos!
That’s right,
I feel it,
it’s right
I want space.
- YK

chicken salad on rye untoasted with a side of potatosalad and a cup of tea

Towards a non-iconic multi-hierarchical society


First, an introductory remark; Due to some business in the far east (I have found myself quite locked-up actually) I´ve been rather absent from the project discussed on the blog, but is thrilled about the same and I hope from now on to be a part of it.































With Jakobs post about a process led by some obstructions in mind, I can´t but bring up the american artist Richard Serra and his "verblist method".

"When I first started, what was very, very important to me was dealing with the nature of process. So what I had done is I'd written a verb list: to roll, to fold, to cut, to dangle, to twist...and I really just worked out pieces in relation to the verb list physically in a space. Now, what happens when you do that is you don't become involved with the psychology of what you're making, nor do you become involved with the after image of what it's going to look like. So, basically it gives you a way of proceeding with material in relation to body movement, in relation to making, that divorces from any notion of metaphor, any notion of easy imagery."

It could litterary be one of the obstructions or an inspiration to one. Working with these kind of actions leads to a a non-iconic process where the outcome is more likely to be a finding in some sort. A finding derived from the media, place in relation to the actions or in the method itself.

I think a process like this could fit well with our agenda of a non-iconic multi-hierarchical society.



More of Richard Serra in the documetary:`Thinking on your Feet´ directed by Maria Anna Tappeiner

The chronic uncertainty vs. The perpetual order

It is a bit unclear what this image is doing here, but I like the graphics.

I have an idea, of how to collective formulate a framework. All of us could write one or two obstructions for the working process. This could be done without knowing what the others are proposing, so we collect 5-10 obstructions that create a set of rules on how to work. I would like to emphasize that the obstructions preferably should be process- rather than goal-orientated.

If we do like this I encorrage everyone to think open and wide, the obstructions could involve anything from sleeping hours, what and how to eat, how to commute, dynamic responsability distribution formula, materials/tools to use (or not to use), how (not) to communicate or who and in which way decisions are taken.

This text (I guess it will be a text, right?) could be written in advance, maybe on a specific date/time which will save us time to work while in London. Also, what is interesting is that we will know before we start exactly what we are doing, but in the same way not having any idea at all.

An additional idea is that someone is collecting the obstructions and putting them together in a travel/work_guide.pdf (also including useful adresses and stuff) that everyone can print just before the trip starts. In this way we will not reflect collectivly on the obstructions before we come to London. I like that. The chronic uncertainty vs. The perpetual order.

There are two rather obvious references : Dogme 95 and The Five Obstructions.

DOGME 95.

1. Optagelserne skal ske on location, kulisser og rekvisitter skal forefindes fra starten og må ikke placeres på stedet til optagelserne.

2. Lyden må aldrig produceres adskilt fra optagelserne. Musik er kun tilladt, hvis det spilles direkte under optagelserne, f.eks. i form af et bånd eller en plade, der kører mens scenen skydes.

3. Kameraet skal være håndholdt.

4. Filmen skal være i farver. Speciel lyssætning er forbudt, men hvis der er for lidt lys til optagelserne kan man sætte en enkelt lampe på kameraet.

5. Optiske filtre er forbudt.

6. Filmen må ikke indeholde overfladisk action, f.eks. er mord og våben forbudt.

7. Tidsmæssigt og geografisk må filmen ikke afvige i forhold til virkeligheden. Filmen skal ske her og nu.

8. Genrefilm er forbudt.

9. Filmformatet skal være Academy 35mm film.

10. Instruktøren må ikke krediteres.

The five obstructions

1. Leth must remake the film in Cuba (but with no set) with no shot longer than 12 frames, and he must answer the questions posed in the original film; Leth successfully completes this task.

2. Leth must remake the film in the worst place in the world but not show that place onscreen; additionally, Leth must play the role of "the man". The meal must be included but the woman is not to be included. Leth remakes the film in the red light district of Bombay, only partially hiding it behind a translucent screen.

3. Because Leth failed to complete task 2 perfectly, von Trier punishes him, telling him to either remake the film in any way he chooses, or redo obstruction 2 in Bombay again. Leth chooses the first option and remakes it in Brussels using split-screen effects.

4. Leth must remake the film as an animation. He does so with the aid of Bob Sabiston, a specialist in rotoscoping, who creates animated versions of shots from the previous films.

5. The fifth obstruction is that von Trier has already made the fifth version, but it must be credited as Leth's, and Leth must read a voice-over narration ostensibly from his own perspective but in fact written by von Trier.

Post-post thoughts: The obstructions could also be assembled for the first time when we meet on site.