PP, Gymnastics A, B and C, KYYYYY-AH!
Creator of work: Hilmar Fredriksen (Norway)

The video film PP (10 ¾ min), takes its point of origin in a split consciousness: on one hand there is the fascination for “mass-ornaments”, we know them best from sports events in totalitarian regimes. The individual becomes a piece- in a computer technology a “bit”-in an exact drill, a monumental political decoration. By such means patterns are formed that can be joined together to create enormous pictorial signs. These mass-ornaments share great similarities with the variations over abstract repetitive patterns Fredriksen works with; moreover, they engage his interest in “visual tautologies”. On the other hand, the exceptions are what hold the artist’s sympathy. To be “in step” or “out of step” is PP leitmotif, a theme the artist has developed further in collaboration with the Danish choreographer Kjersti Engebrigtsen, in three dance-films, “Gymnastics A, B and C” (2004), and which woke great international attention.

PP begins with something looks like an advertisement for candy drops. Yet the abbreviation “pp” can stand for many things, also for the Latin “etc”, therefore it could also be an instruction to continue along a given trajectory. With the command:”Everybody!”, a gymnastics sequences begins, performed to a machine-like disco beat and the sound of trumpets or elephants. The figures are scanned from a book about group-gymnastics published in the 1920s, a striking example of egalitarian aesthetics. However, those who miss the beat, who dance out of turn, and the rebel who cannot tolerate being subjugated (and who eventually dons the persona of the artist), escape the group, chew PP, and then go their own way. Once again, this way literally leads into parallel worlds. We see up to 5 filmstrips simultaneously, with different rhythms and modes of movement in parallel horizontal bands rolling vertically across the screen: a man walking, an airplane, a creeping woman, a rustling baby elephants, death strolling along a derelict row of house…The motifs are developed are further, in that the strips are reshuffled and follow each other in succession. Now we see, among other things, a naked man literally running for his life in a race with a hearse; death looses the race and gnashes its teeth. The fine-tuned timing of repetition and variation with surprising thematic turns gives the film its own unique pictorial musicality, beyond the intimate play between sound –pictures. It is inventive in its combination of simple means, everyday finds strange…

FREDRIKSEN HILMAR (professor fra 1989)
født 21/10-53, i Trondheim
Adresse: Langgt. 1. 0566. Oslo.
 
SEPARATUTSTILLINGER:
1975 Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo
1979 Høvikodden Kunstsenter, Oslo
1981 Trondheim Kunstforening
1985 Unge Kunstneres Samfund Oslo
1988 The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik
1992 Trondheim Kunstforening
1993 Kunstnerenes Hus, Oslo
1999 List, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo (retrospektiv)
2000 Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo
2003 Tegnerforbundet, Oslo
2006 Retrospektiv Bergen Kunstmuseum, Henie-Onstad kunstsenter,
2007 Retrospektiv Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum Kritiansand.
        

KOLLEKTIVUTSTILLINGER
1976 Statens Høstutstilling (10 ganger siden)Oslo
1980 27 Unge Malere, Kunstnerenes Hus, Oslo
1983 UKS, Vårutstilling, Oslo
1984 Installasjon, Trondheim Kunstforening
1984 Ratatoskir, Leifsgade, København
1984 Uteksti, Wang Kunsthandel, Oslo
1985 UKS Vårutstilling Oslo
1985 Noraspekt, Galleri St.Agnes, Roskilde
1985 Bergen Kunstforening
1985 Sarenvalla, Land Art, Finland
1985 Sesjon, 85. Kunstnerenes Hus, Oslo
1986 Norealis, Daad Galleri, Berlin
1987 Kex, Oslo, København, Stokholm, Reykjavik
1988 Big Scale, Malmø
1989 Eurora (performance) Helsinki
1990 The Rostock Biennal, Rostock, Øst-Tyskland
1990 Terskel, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo
1990 The Biennal of Sydney, Australia
1992 World City Discovery, Manaus, Brasil
1992 Nordisk Skulptur, Gøteborg
1995 Arkipel, Museet for Samtidskunst
1998 The Biennal of Sao Paulo, Brasil
1999 Carnegie Art Award
2001 Kristus 2000, F15 video
2002 Fluxus und die Folgen, Wiesbaden
2004  Lhasa,Tibet

 

PERFORMANCE.
1980 Dusseldorf
1980 Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
1984 Trondheim Kunstforening
1985 Sarenvalla, Finland
1989 Aurora, Helsinki
1996 Kyoto, Tokyo, Japan
1997 Museet for Samtidskunst
1999 Museet for Samtidskunst DEL I
2000 Stavanger Kunstforening
2001 Trondheim kunstforening
2004 Universitetet i Lhasa, Tibet
2005 Kyss Fosken. Museet for samtidskunst
2006 Henie-Onstad senteret, Oslo
2007 Kokola, Finland

SCENOGRAFI

1987 Noren: Munchen-Aten, regi: Kai Johnsen, Black-box
1993 Cecilie Løveid:Rhindøtrene, regi: Johnsen, Nationale scene, Bergen, Black-box,          Oslo
1996 Jon Fosse: Barnet, regi; Johnsen, Nasjonalteateret, Oslo

VIDEO

1999 Innkjøp, Museet For Samtidskunst.  Titel: AH-HA. Telenor kunstsamling. ”Self          Portrait”
2001 Deltagelse på filmfestivalen i Grimstad med filmen Flip-over
2002 Innkjøp Museet For Samtidskunst.  Titel: PP.
2002 Deltagelse på Animerte Dager i Fredrikstad, med følgende titler: ZIP-ZAP ,I BOX,          KARMA
2003 Deltagelse på Dans For Film (Oslo) titel: KYYYYY-AH!
2005 Deltagelse Dance for Camera Festival (New York) Titel:GYMNASTICS
2007 Innkjøp Trondheim kunstforening. Titel:Dråper

UTSMYKKNING.
1992 Kommuneadministrasjonen, Tromsø
1994 Loftsrud videregående skole, Oslo
1996 Trondheim tekniske høyskole
1998 Hamar jernbanestasjon
2003 Storo T-banestasjon, Oslo
2005 St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim

 

BIBLIOGRAFI.
1988 AH-HA, Hong Kong Press, Artist Book, ISBN91 87144 05 0 Grimshei Trykkeri,          Oslo, Tekst. Gorge Morgenstern.
1993 Rotor, katalog, Kunstnerenes Hus, Intervju: Åsmund Thorkildsen Forord: Reidar          Kraugerud
1998 i, katalog, Grimshei Trykkeri, tekst, Audun Echoff.
1999 LIST. Skriftserie utgitt av Museet for Samtidskunst.Tekst: Audun Eckoff
2006 Katalog.  Retrospektiv tekst: Audun Eckoff, Jan Brockmann.