Falling down

Kalmar konstmuseum is proud to present the first solo exhibition of the work of Bo Christian Larsson at an art institution in Sweden. Born in Kristinehamn in 1976, Larsson left home at the age of eighteen for the Dutch city of Enschede, where he studied at the Academy of Visual Arts. Since graduating in 1998, he has lived a more or less nomadic life—on a boat in the Mediterranean, back in Sweden, and in cities like Munich, Hamburg, and Berlin. Today Larsson lives and works primarily in Berlin. He is well known throughout Germany and has already shown his work at several museums there.  

Larsson has taken a general interest in the inexplicable: religion, mysticism and mythology, the function of symbols, and how an individual can make sense of the world—how people find explanatory models that can serve as points of reference and as compasses for interpreting the world around them, whether they be religions or conspiracy theories. Larsson’s work is full of symbols and references, which he uses to give form and expression to his world. That world can seem like a fiction, but just as Alice in Wonderland is not fairy tale in the common sense, Larsson’s fiction may be seen as depicting a reality with which modern man has lost contact—whether we interpret it as an alternative, parallel universe or a way of capturing the individual observer’s own subconscious. How do we distinguish reality from modern myth when even legitimate television channels broadcast “documentaries” about 9/11 conspiracy theories? Larsson’s art is a labyrinth of fact and fiction in which the more answers observers seek, the more deeply ensnared they become. 

The current exhibition, Falling Down, is a comprehensive installation made especially for Kalmar Konstmuseum. The exhibition may be said to make three clear references: the Hollywood film Falling Down (1993) starring Michael Douglas, Joseph Conrad’s book Heart of Darkness (on which the film Apocalypse Now is based), and August Strindberg’s Inferno. All three references are interlinked in the struggle for survival and the search for meaning. The exhibition can be seen as an occasionally humorous apocalyptic voyage of exploration into the issue of psychological survival and insight. 

Curator: Director of Exhibitions Martin Schibli

Opening: Saturday, March 17, 2 PM

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday, March 17
2 PM: Director of Exhibitions Martin Schibli opens the exhibition
3 PM: A conversation with the artist, Bo Christian Larsson

Sunday, March 18
1 PM: Curator Martin Schibli presents the exhibitions Falling Down and Paganism
2 – 4 PM: Workshop with Bo Christian Larsson in the Sunday Studio for children and young people

The exhibition continues through May 6, 2012.

This exhibition is produced in collaboration with Kristinehamns Konstmuseum, where it will be shown September 15 – November 11, 2012.

For further information, please contact:
Director of Exhibitions and curator Martin Schibli
martin.schibli@kalmarkonstmuseum.se, tel 0480 42 62 88