Annika Larsson Hockey/New Gravity
September 10 – October 9, 2004
Main Gallery

Andrea Rosen Gallery is delighted to announce Annika Larsson's second solo exhibition at the gallery. In the two new video works presented Larsson continues her interest in overt obsession and addresses the potency of aesthetic codes, imagery, and manipulation.

New Gravity (2003, 29.5 minutes) brings together hard minimal music and the aesthetic of the geek. Susceptible and socially stunted adolescent boys are guided by a thumping lullaby of synth music and roaming, sometimes pulsing, lights (music by New York based Tobias Bernstrup and Moravagine). Wide eyes and slack mouths are accentuated by Larsson's persistent close-up camera shots and lighting. The geek look, generally considered unlikable, is here heavily fetishized. Part way through the piece, a 3D animated man enters the mix. A software creation, this character interacts with one of the boys without the limitations and logic of gravity. Implications of sporadic fantasy and danger funnel toward the unreal; these manipulations reveal a world where the science of matter and energy disintegrate, disclosing alternate dimensions and experience. Tilting, then floating and hanging, the phantasm of weightlessness itself intermingles with desire.

Hockey (2004, 25 minutes) depicts a game between unnamed teams, directed and filmed by the artist in front of 13,000 empty seats at the Stockholm Globe Arena. Pushed to the fore is Larsson's preoccupation with the props and rituals of a game and the surrounding structure. A concentration of brand logos and symbols is embedded everywhere. Reinforcing and guiding Larsson's specific focus, the soundtrack incorporates synthetic hockey noises with synth pop music (conceived by Larsson, arranged by Larsson and Tobias Bernstrup, performed by Tobias Bernstrup). Although traditionally set in hierarchal terms, in this game penalty and triumph are held evenly. Similar to Larsson's earlier work, her interest here lies in control and suggestion, taking apart the real game with each movement and edit finely engineered.

Although Larsson is clearly obsessed with control, within her fetishistic nature lies a willingness to engage in unpredictable circumstances. The result is a visceral and disorienting experience for the viewer.

Annika Larsson was born in 1972 in Stockholm and graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm in 2000. She currently lives and works in New York. Upcoming exhibitions of her work include the Sevilla Biennial, Spain and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan.