Video: Stages Speaker Series | Toril Johannessen
As part of our Stages Speaker Series, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art presented an artist talk by Norwegian artist Toril Johannessen. Working in a range of media including photography, text, drawing and installation, Johannessen’s practice borders on the scientific in her research into natural phenomenon from the collection of Icelandic Spar to the colour of the moon’s light. She focuses her research on perception, often building disorienting installations. For her talk, Johannessen presented an introduction to her work, with specific emphasis on Unlearning Optical Illusions (I), (II), & (III].
Toril Johannessen’s practice often engages in methods and source material from the domains of science. Thematically her work spans a wide range of interests, from visual perception to linguistics; impossible energy cycles, alternative methods for time measurement; optical illusions and spatial disorientation. By combining scientific fact and the history of science with her own investigations, she applies a critical and subjective view on the impact of modern science on the production of knowledge. She received her MA from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design. In addition, she spent a year studying at Mountain School of Art, and took part in the artist-in-residence program at WIELS, Brussels. She has exhibited widely, at venues and biennales including dOCUMENTA 13; the Istanbul Biennial; deAppel, Amsterdam; Witte de With, Rotterdam; the Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Johannessen is a member of the Flaggfabrikken Centre for Photography and Visual Arts, a Bergen based artist collective.
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Plug In ICA gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts New Chapters Fund, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We thank the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for their support of our 2016 and 2017 program, as well as Investors Group and Wawanesa Insurance for the direct support of our youth programs.