On the Absurd Drama That Is Also Life

On the Absurd Drama That Is Also Life invites the viewer to approach the absurd, farcical and theatrical with an open mind. Here we meet artists that transport us to situations and states beyond sense and logic, and at the same time reflect our times. Together they draw attention to the theatre of life’s incomprehensibility on the stage of the everyday that surrounds it and combine a subtle resistance with a quest for freedom. Apart from presenting newly produced and recent artworks by contemporary artists like Monster Chetwynd, Kris Lemsalu and Pope L., the publication also includes artists from the Moderna Museet collection, such as Francis Picabia, Ralph Eugene Meatyard and Greta Knutson-Tzara. The exhibition thus presents a range of artistic media, techniques and periods, bringing together works that have a close kinship with theatre and drama. The artists share an approach and attitude in which humour, provocation, playfulness and seriousness are interwoven – spontaneously, intentionally or perhaps coincidentally.

Text: Andreas Nilsson.

Participating artists: Monster Chetwynd, Karl Dunér, Jenny Kalliokulju, Samson Kambalu, Laura Kaminskaitė, Pope.L, Kris Lemsalu & Johanna Ulfsak, Kira Nova & Ignas Krunglevičius, Filip Vest

From the Moderna Museets Collection: Eva Aeppli, Enrico Baj, Marcel Broodthaers, René Clair, Karl Dunér & Peder Freiij, Joan Jonas, Robert Gober, Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Greta Knutson-Tzara, Tetsumi Kudo, Kris Lemsalu, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Francis Picabia, Man Ray, Marion Scemama, Dorothéa Tanning and documentation by Hugo Ball, Tetsumi Kudo, Sophie Taeuber-Arp