STATE OF MIND

State of Mind is an art installation by Annica Karlsson Rixon and Anna Viola Hallberg exploring the boundaries between ethics, legislation, prejudice and civic expectations in the LGBTQ life of Russia focusing on lesbians and bisexual women. It discusses subjects such as shortcomings vs. possibilities, belonging vs. alienation, appointed- vs. selected identity.

Annica Karlsson Rixon and Anna Viola Hallberg are visual artists 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.

State of Mind (Installation view)
Gothenburg Art Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2009
(11 c-prints)

State of Mind (Installation view)
Gallery K1, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden, 2008
(Projection hd, 7 monitors sd, sound)

Title: State of Mind
Artists: Annica Karlsson Rixon & Anna Viola Hallberg
Media: Installation, 11 color photographs (c-prints), seven monitors (sd) and one projection (hd) with sound (stereo).
Duration: 7 x 35 min of interviews, running independently (7 loops), 1 x 30 min backdrop (loop)
Voice: Russian, English, Swedish
Subtitles: English & Russian
Original installation: 65 square meters, black box video installation + wall space for 11 large format photographs.
Production year: 2008 (2006-2008)

State of Mind
The foundation of the work is captured in personal stories and group portraits. The artists have been collaborating with organizations, activists and select individuals in St Petersburg during returning visits 2006-2008.

State of Mind introduces a discussion of intercultural perspectives to identity politics. The stories are selected from documentary material collected in great trust between the artists and the interviewees in fieldwork. Leadership, democracy and human rights are central matters.

On seven monitors all together 39 people personally talk about life in St Petersburg addressing LGBTQ issues, East-West, private situations and confrontations, and the view of the future. They span in age from 17-67 and include students, journalists, psychologists, pole dancers, physicians, office workers, drivers, poets, lawyers, academics, business owners, rock stars, house wives etcetera. The video installation is constructed as a group portrait with a projection of the Neva River as a backdrop. In the large format photographs friends and families gather at different sites in St Petersburg. The audio is based on documentary elements shaped into a ambient sound piece of the city.

(Installation views, Art Arsenal/Gogol Fest 09, Kiev, Ukraine)

Lezzie Think Tank and Leaving Your Traces
State of Mind also travels with two formats carried out by the artist in addition to the traditional artist talks also performed at each venue. The other are two workshops done with the local activists and academic communities; Lezzie Think Tank a relay of questions pass on from one city to the next and Leaving Your Traces new video segments from each city based on a set of questions designed to give a notion of the everyday life for an LGBTQ person in that specific city.

Artwork/installation views
State of Mind view photographs >>>
Installation views, view slideshow >>>
Excerpts from the video installation>>>
Documentation videos of installation>>>
Documentation slideshow of installation in Kiev>>>
Sample installation sound, listen (mp3)>>>
List of works (pdf) >>>
Lezzie Think Tank/Leaving Your Traces>>>

Reviews
From Sweden, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine (print/video/radio/web) >>>

State of Mind at
Moderna Museet, The Moderna Exhibition 2010,
Stockholm, Sweden, October 2010 - January 2011
Y Gallery for Contemporary Art, Minsk, Belarus, March 2010
The Kharkov Municipal Art Gallery, Kharkiv, Ukraine, July-August 2009
Art Arsenal/Gogol Fest 09, Kiev, Ukraine, September 2009
Gothenburg Art Museum, Sweden September-November 2008
ROSPHOTO, St Petersburg, Russia, September-October 2008
Kulturhuset Stockholm, Sweden, July-August 2008

Selected folders, posters and press release
Rosphoto, St Petersburg, Russia, 2008>>>

Announcements
Annica Karlsson Rixon is visiting scholar at UC Berkeley 2009/10

Ukraine and Moldavia Lgbtq people may now assemble in
public space, April 2010 >>>

Karlsson Rixon and Hallberg in The Moderna Exhibition 2010, Moderna
Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2 October 2010 - 9 January 2011>>>

Aview Nomad Gallery is working with the campus gallery
on presenting State of Mind in Berkeley, Feb/March 2011.

Panel on Queer Curating at University of Santa Cruz,
Hallberg and Karlsson Rixon to present a paper on palpable
exhibitions focusing on State of Mind, May 2010

State of Mind exhibited in Minsk, Belarus, March 2010.
With support from The Swedish Institute.

More >>>

Documentation by Y Gallery of the opening day of State of Mind >>>

Essay by Annica Karlsson Rixon and Anna Viola Hallberg, (Pdf) >>>
Full exhibition catalog from Gothenburg Art Museum/Monitor
Reviews for State of Mind >>>
Video spot from the mulitmeda magazine 34 >>>

With support from
NIFCA/Nordic institiute of contemporary art, Helsinki, Finland
Pro Arte, St Petersburg, Russia
University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Stockholm, Sweden
Swedish Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Swedish General Consulate, St Petersburg, Russia
Swedish Embassy Kiev, Ukraine
Swedish Embassy in Minsk, Belarus
Stadsbudskontoret, Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm Pride/Europride 08, Stockholm, Sweden

Polina; Language Facilitator & translator (RU-ENG, ENG-RU)
Nadya; Language Facilitator (RU-ENG, ENG-RU)
Lilliana; Language Facilitator (RU-SWE, SWE-RU)
Tanja; Language Facilitator (RU-ENG, ENG-RU)
Irena; Language Supervision (RU)
Therese; Language Supervision (RU)

Other projects by Karlsson Rixon and Hallberg
Resonance
Code of Silence
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

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