Introduction of the artist:

Sofa HULTEN (Sweden)

Born in 1972, Stockholm, Sweden. Lives and works in Berlin.
Selected solo exhibitions: 2012 Statik Elastik, Langen Foundation, Neuss, Germany; 2011 Pressure Drop, Raebervon Stenglin, Zurich;2010 Past Particles, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin; 2008 Aufl?sung, Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum, Berlin; 2007 Familiars, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK; 2006 Possessions, Kunstverein G?ttingen, Germany;
Selected group exhibitions: 2012 How To Make, Kunsthaus Dresden, Germany; 2010 The Moderna Exhibition, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; 2010 Documents 10, Today Art Museum, Beijing; 2008 Betwixt: Sofia Hultén between Kendell Geers, Gabriel Orozco, Jonathan Monk, Cosima Von Bonin, Paul Chan and Mona Hatoum, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall; 2006 Homework, Gagosian Gallery,
Berlin.

Work by Swedish artist Sofia Hultén (b. 1972) is at once rigorously produced and modestly homemade – a combination of meticulousness and makeshift ingenuity. It is engaging both through its familiarity and its suspense. Her videos often document her undertaking a series of seemingly futile or absurd tasks, such as repeatedly destroying and repairing objects, finding hiding places within an office and disguising herself amongst street furniture. They exemplify her preoccupation with the relationship between human beings and the material world they are doomed to inhabit.
A recent video series features Hultén staring at large single rocks with an idea that somehow her concentration will result in their levitation, a miracle whereby these heavy objects will defy gravity and float in front of her.
The situations are ordinary. The rocks are roadside, in parks, stumbled upon in very everyday ways, absolutely part of our world, and yet the artist transforms them in her eyes – through her look. Nothing happens to the rocks that we can see, but we identify with her being rapt in possibility. She is reminding us of the Chinese tradition of “scholars’ rocks”, ostensibly found natural objects that are appreciated like rare masterpieces, thus calling into question any difference that is supposed to exist between art and (non-art) life. In short, a difference that is literally unseen.

Introduction of works:

Work by Swedish artist Sofia Hultén (b. 1972) is at once rigorously produced and modestly homemade – a combination of meticulousness and makeshift ingenuity. It is engaging through its familiarity and suspense. Her videos often document herself undertaking a series of seemingly futile or absurd tasks such as repeatedly destroying and repairing objects, finding hiding places within an office and disguising herself amongst street furniture. They exemplify her preoccupation with the relationship between human beings and the material world they are doomed to inhabit.

A recent video series features Hultén staring at large single rocks with an idea that somehow her concentration will result in their levitation, a miracle whereby these heavy objects will somehow defy gravity and float in front of her. The situations are ordinary. The rocks are roadside, in parks, stumbled upon in very everyday ways, absolutely part of our world, and yet the artist transforms them in her eyes – through her look. Nothing happens to the rocks that we can see, but we identify with her being rapt in possibility. She is reminding us of the Chinese tradition of “scholars’ rocks”, ostensibly found natural objects that are appreciated like rare masterpieces, thus calling into question any difference that is supposed to exist between art and (non-art) life. In short, a difference that is literally unseen.