Reportage fra Statens Museum for Kunst om Alberto Giacometti

Netop hjemkommet fra Cape Town, hvor vi endnu engang havde haft samtaler om, hvordan tekstil indtager en mere central plads i samtidskunsten, besøgte vi Statens Museum for Kunst i København, som lige nu viser den overbevisende udstilling "Hvad øjet ser" med Alberto Giacomettis skulpturer og tegninger.

Her eksploderer rummene. De slanke, ranglede fremadskridende væsener bevæger sig gennem landskabet som beslutsomme masai krigere på savanne i det nordlige Tanzania. Det udmagrede udtryk med indsunkne øjne gør indtryk. Afstanden er lige meget, ligegyldig om vi befinder os tæt på eller skjuler os i det fjerneste hjørne ser vi det samme.

Billedkreditering: Alberto Giacometti. Tall Thin Head. 1954. Painted plaster, 65.6 x 39.1 x 24.9 cm. Fondation Giacometti © Succession Alberto Giacometti / Adagp, Paris, 2024.

Udgivet af Foreignness and Friendship, Fredag 29.marts, 2024.

Season VI, 1 - Episode 29

Content: 00:00 Intro 00:55 Abstract 03:55 Ghosts of Demolition and Contemporary Art 38:38 Outro

We are in Cape Town to attend Cape Town Art Fair. It is the missing link in a longer chain of larger art exhibitions around the world – without Cape Town we cannot really discuss contemporary art from a South African perspective.

But in Cape Town we are also revisiting previous experiences. In September last year Morten Ranum was hijacked by an ancestral nightmare and swallowed by the past – brought back in time to a February day in the 1960es where District Six was demolished and the community torn apart and spread in the periphery of the City –all orchestrated by the cruel logistic of The Apartheid Regime.

Our journey to South Africa is also connected to a love story and young girl separating from her mother to go to University in Pretoria. The love story, ancestral nightmares and contemporary art don't necessarily have anything in common, but they are interrelated because of geographical circumstance.

Without a love story with a woman in South Africa, we would never have arrived to South Africa in the first place. If we had not been going, coming and leaving South Africa many times, going, seeing and experiencing the same places then we would never have been able to listen to the ancestral pain, and we would have heard nothing.

In the center will always be two women and their lives, a woman and her daughter, to whom we will be dedicated forever as predicted seven years no matter how radically our lives will change.

Quote by Belinda Blignaut, South African clay artist, represented in Cape Town Art Fair by the Capetonian gallery Art Formes: https://www.artformes.com

Episode published by Foreignness and Friendship Tuesday 5th of March 2024.

Conversations with Art Formes (Cape Town) and No Man's Art Gallerry (Amsterdam)

In Cape Town, South Africa we once again encountered textile - but also clay. In two separate conversaations with two very different galleries we exchange ideas about two materials and their specific tactility.

The conversations took place on the last day of Cape Town Art Fair - February 18th, 2024. Both encounters are influenced by background noise and the exhaustion of four days of exhibition activity.

Photo credit: Art Formes and No Man's Art Gallery.

Published by Foreignness and Friendship, Sunday 25th of February, 2024.

Conversation between Laura Vincenti and Morten Ranum

We have been in Cape Twon, South Africa to participate in Cape Town Art Fair.

The conversation took place a couple of days before the art fair on February 13th, 2024. We met her in Cape Town International Convention Center for a conversation about what to expect of this years edition of the art fair.

Laura Vincenti is an architect, originally from Italy, but been living in South Africa for the last 10 years.

Photo credit: Artthrob.

Published by Foreignness and Friendship, Tuesday 20th of February, 2024.

Sæson V, 4 - Episode 28

Indhold: 00:00 Intro 02:36 Abstrakt 06:31 Lagos, uge 1 26:29 Aké Art and Book Festival 52:47 Outro

Vi befinder os nu i midten af den kontinentale fornuft. Her i Lagos bliver vi mindet om Kampala in the old days, selvom vi bestræber os på ikke at sammenligne. Alligevel slår den tanke ned i os, at der måske er en mere direkte forbindelse mellem øst og vest, end der er mellem nord og syd. Vi er ankommet en uge tidligt til Lagos for at kunne opleve den urbane kontekst for Aké Arts and Book Festival. Det er også et ædelt forsøg på at overholde, hvad vi har lovet – aldrig at rejse på tværs af verden kun for at deltage i en festival eller en anden isoleret begivenhed, uden også at afsætte tid til det sted vi befinder os. Hensigten er selvfølgelig ikke kun at opleve det karismatiske, men også lade vores egen hverdag flytte med og lokalisere sig det nye sted.

Udsendelsen er publiceret af Foreignness and Friendship tirsdag den 12. december 2023.

Conversation between Lola Shoneyin and Morten Ranum

We are in Lagos, Nigeria to participate in Aké Arts and Book Festival. Prior to the festival we have a conversation with the festival director Lola Shoneyin, Nigerian poet and author.

The conversation begins with snaopshots from the press conference, thereafter we are having a one by one with Lola Shoneyin in her office in a more relaxed atmosphere and environment.

To the press meeting Lola Shoneyin introduces the festival, tells about the ten years of experience and presents the main sponsor of the festival sitting next to her from Sterling Bank.

During the press session she is asked by a Lagos based journalist how she is doing it without the government, and her answer is not very surprising, but also somewhat depressing.

We – for our own part – ask her, how it influences the festival that she actually is an active poet and writer herself. Before she gives an answer, she makes sure the room gives us a round of applause to welcome us and she explains that is actually very important that people from far away come and show interests in what they are doing here in Lagos.

Photo credit: Ouida Books.

Published by Foreignness and Friendship, Thursday 30th of November, 2023.

Sæson V, 3 - Episode 27

Indhold: 00:00 Intro 02:38 Abstrakt 05:40 Improvisationer over Hald Sø 40:30 Homeage to Palestine (English) 47:30 Improvisationer (fortsat) 87:25 Outro

I denne meget lange podcast serverer vi en række improvisationer opstået under vandringer langs Hald Sø. Ind imellem forsøger vi at give historisk kontekst til, hvor vi befinder os, og hvad som måske, måske ikke foregik her i tidligere tider.

Midtvejs kommer en hyldest til Palestina - på engelsk.

Formålet med inprovisationerne er vores taknemmelighed over for endnu engang at have fået lov til at få regugiets DNA på Hald Hovedgaard at føle.

Udsendelsen er publiceret af Foreignness and Friendship mandag den 6. november 2023.

Season V, 3 - Episode 27

Content: 00:00 Intro 02:38 Abstract 05:40 Improvisations over Hald Lake 40:30 Homeage to Palestine (English) 47:30 Improvisations (continued) 87:25 Outro

In this very long podcast we prseent a series of improvisations developed during walks along Hald Lake. In between we try to give historical contexrt to where we are, and what might have, might not have happened here in earlier times.

Half-way through is a homage til Palestine - in English.

The purpose with these improvisations is our gratitude towards once again being allowed to experience the DNA of the refuge (the residency) at Hald Hovedgaard.

The episode are published by Foreignness and Friendship Monday, November 6th, 2023.

Mapping Literary Cities - or the return of geography

During Open Book Festival in September 2023 in Cape Town we had a conversation about the cross disciplinary "African Literary Cities Project" with Polo Moji and Laura Nkola-Wenz from African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town.

For a general reportage from the festival in Cape Town we recommend listening to a previous episode of our radio show.

In the conversation they are referring to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and questioning the network critically. After the conversation with Laura and Polo we introduce Thando Mgqolozana (founder of the Abantu Book Festival in Durban), who has a slightly different perspective on the UNESCO Network.

Laura Nkoal-Wenz is a human geographer and lecturer in Critical Urbanism, while Polo Moji arrives from the literary field and is a senior lecturer in English Literature.

Toward the very end of the podcast there is a section on saying thank you, which is NOT part of or connected to the above mentioned conversation on literary cities. In this section we also reflect on race and the future - by mentioning Thandiwe Ntshinga's book about South Africas Unfinished Work on Race. It has been brought to our attention that the fact we air out the title of her book has been interpreted as offensive language - altthough it is NOT our language, but a reference to a title of a book published in South Africa. It has never been our intention to offend anyone or cause damage, therefor this paragraph has been added to the podcast description as clarification on November 14th, 2023, after the publication of the original podcast.

WARNING: The section in question is from minute 36:00 - 38:30.

Published by Foreignness and Friendship, Sunday 29th of October, 2023

Sæson V, 2 - Episode 26

Indhold: 00:00 Intro 02:41 Abstrakt 05:51 Open Book 23:17 Reading by Uhuru Phalafala from "Mine Mine Mine" in The Book Lounge (English) 26:17 Interview with Mervyn Sloman, founder of Open Book Festival (English) 43:24 Lyset i maleriet (Anna Ancher) 45:34 Outro

Vi har været I Cape Town i Sydafrika til bogfestival, men der skete noget den sidste formiddag før vi skulle tage flyveren til East London længere mod nord, som overskygger alt andet som ellers hændte, men måske handler det alt sammen om det samme – om at føle sig fremmed og forsøge at gøre sig bekendt med det sted vi befinder os, og når det sker, kommer det som et bagholdsangreb.

Mere lakonisk og prosaisk handler udsendelsen om en bogfestival der fylder 10 år, som vi meget sent under pandemien opdagede, fordi vi ledte efter nyheder om South African Book Fair. De to har i øvrigt intet med hinanden at gøre.

Vi afslutter med at køre i taxa på tværs af Johannesburg i den efterfølgende weekend. Enhver rejse både slutter og begynder i "The City of Gold". Den congolesisk fødte digter Sarah Lubala slutter sit digt New Braamfortein med verselinjerne: "If you hate Johannesburg / you've never been in love".

Slutningen er en underlig størrelse. Hvor ofte har Morten Ranum ikke udtalt, at det ikke slutter her – og i selskab med InMyFootstep vil de altid ankomme til et nyt sted, hvor der opstår en situation og tilfældet indtræffer. Efter en lang rejse fra syd til nord vil tilfældet, at de ved en indskydelse beslutter sig for at tage til pressevisning af udstilling med Anna og Michael Ancher på Ordrupgaard - her ser de lyset, Anna Anchers lys.

Udsendelsen er publiceret af Foreignness and Friendship tirsdag den 3. oktober 2023.

Sæson V, 1 - Episode 25

Indhold: 00:00 Intro 02:46 Abstrakt 06:19 Litteratur på museet 23:59 Billedkunst set i københavnsk perspektiv 35:00 Outro

Vi indleder en ny sæson. På overfladen fortsætter vi med at lave anmeldelser og reportage. I denne udsendelse forsøger vi at anskue billedkunsten fra en københavnsk synsvinkel. Vi har besøgt CHART og Enter Art, men litteraturen på kunstmuseet Louisiana blander sig også. Litteraturen har altid haft sine egne problemer, hvilket vi vil komme tilbage til. Langt vigtigere er den underliggende musik. Det vil være forkert at sige at vi laver et kulturprogram. For at ødelægge forestillingen om kulturjournalistisk har Morty Mort tilbudt sin assistance. Han mener for øvrigt heller ikke at han blev helt færdig i sidste sæson. Derfor fortsætter han sine improvisationer over bjerget Bokul. En ny sæson skulle gerne bringe noget nyt med sig og ikke bare fortsætte hvor vi slap – især ikke når det gælder en podcast, der stædigt fastholder at beskæftige sig med den anden

Foto: Kunstværk af Anna Retulainen.

Udsendelsen er publiceret af Foreignness and Friendship tirsdag den 5. september 2023.