CODE OF SILENCE

The narrative modules of Code of Silence explore distinct forms of public and private environments that create the universal experiences of having the right to form a place that one considers home. The void of this right is often thought of as an issue occurring in counties that one might refer to as third world states. By focusing on one specific small farm in Sweden, telling the story of the journey from farm- to class society onwards to the information age and risk-society. It is told via the siblings that were raised on a small lot with living quarters and a barn. The farm provided what the family needed as two world wars spelled out the warning signs of poverty, the family always had just barely enough. The land was evacuated from rocks and turned into fields for growing the crops; all was done by man labor prior to the invention of engines or dynamite to help with the heavy work. It survived two reforms of land that was dictated by the state of Sweden. In the 70s the family farm was expropriated, the city claimed the land. The property was no longer solid and the core of the family identity started to fall apart.

Bengt Karlsson , Code of Silence
(Work in progress)

Proper Distance 2, View 2 (Installation view)
Will be shown together with with Code of Silence

Installation Code of Silence is work in progress and entails new work as well as the two seen above; Proper Distance 2 and View 2 (Grimmered) (Digital prints, 200 x 150 cm, 221 digital prints 11,5 x 15 cm, laminated matte mounted on aluminum), Official and personal records of the farm 1839 - 2004. In addition to this super-8 and video footage.

Code of Silence is the third installation collaboration between Karlsson Rixon and Hallberg and it is a continuation of Proper Distance 2 by Annica Karlsson Rixon. Both works focus on a small family farm just out side Gothenburg/Göteborg, Sweden.

Work in Progress

Code of Silence is built on
The family archive 1839-2004 consisting of
official records, maps, fotographs, s-8 film etc
Interior views
Interviews with the siblings
footage from the site of the former house

Production funding from
County Administration of Västra Götaland, Cultural Heritage Section

Other projects by Karlsson Rixon and Hallberg
Resonance
State of Mind
State of Mind - Prologue
Leaving Your Traces/Lezzie Think Tank
Aview Nomad Gallery
Public Projections - Gothenburg

Annica Karlsson Rixon and Anna Viola Hallberg are lens based artist
working with conceptual art and installations. They are collaborating
on a an installation trilogy Resonance, State of Mind and Code
of Silence dealing with socially and culturally constructed identity-
based groups in contemporary society. >>>

Karlsson Rixon & Hallberg collaborate in art installations, curatorial
projects and lectures/workshops among them the LTT Project
and Public Projections Gothenburg, often in the constellation
Aview Nomad Gallery >>>

More about the artists
Annica Karlsson Rixon and Anna Viola Hallberg

(browser support: firefox/safari)