olof olsson
I am a product of the emerging charter tourism of the 1960s: my Dutch mother and Swedish father met in Mallorca. I have been living and working in the Danish capital Copenhagen since 1995.
In Webster’s Third New International Dictionary there are 8 chief definitions of the word ‘image’. In my art practice I try to think about all of them.
Slightly in Denmark / 1992
The life story about American photographer Joseph Slightly and his sufferings from photomania.
modern action / 1993
An attempt to become a classic ’modern’ action artist.
ready-mades on wheels / 1993
An attempt to make ‘classic’ modern sculpture.
mondriananalysis /1994
An attempt to make Mondrian more popular. In a consultation clients have their personalities analysed through birthdate-generated Mondrian pictures.
anthropoiconology /1995
Clients are asked to draw stickfigures and get their personalities presented in a fill-in form.
samförståndspartiet / 1995
with Christer Engström
We investigated the important Swedish 20th century concept of consensus (samförstånd), by launching a consensus party.
arthelp /1996
A consultancy for artists in crisis.
New ideas for art were produced using an associative method.
chapel / 1997
with Christer Engström
An exhibition-hall was turned into a chapel by the simplest possible means. In spite of its ‘modern’ look, it had an old testament feel to it.
democratic forest / 1998 and 2000
with Tanja Rau
The trees represented various cultural forces that seemed important to us at the time.
new concepts / 2000
with Daniel Salomon
Ideal working conditions were created for two collaborating artists who worked for 8 days.
Rooseum sale / 2001
In a contemporary art space with no store I established a place for aesthetic debriefing by putting my collection of 20th century antiques for sale.
Sweden welcome center / 2001
An encyclopaedia on 20th century Sweden was written for Americans with no prior knowledge of Sweden.
A Welcome Center was established in Chicago, the American city that received the most Swedish immigrants.
conversation service / 2002
After graduating from the academy, I tried to earn a living by selling conversation.
market realist archive / 2003
My original art education was in photography, but in 1992 I gave it up. In 2000, I started to use a camera again, as a notebook. And in 2002 I organised my photographic notes into an archive.
Now I have more than 5000 Kodachrome slides with photographs of the world as I see it.
In 2003, at Trafo in Budapest, 6 slide projectors showed 480 slides on a 15 m wall.
sport democrats / 2005
with Fellow Designers
In the 1960s the Swedish Social Democratic Party adopted a corporate style logo in the form of an S with an arrow. After losing the election in 1976 - having been in power since 1932, someone pointed out that the arrow was pointing towards the right, and the logo was dropped for a red rose. I decided to adopt the S-arrow for a nostalgia style sneaker brand. The arrow will point backwards or forwards depending on which side of the shoe it is placed.
curriculum vitae
Born 1965.
A product of the 1960s emerging charter tourism; Swedish father and Dutch
mother met in Mallorca. Born and raised in Helsingborg, Sweden.
Lives in Copehagen, Denmark.
EDUCATION
Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, Copenhagen, 1995 - 2002
Akademin för Fotografi, Konstfack, Stockholm, 1993 - 1995
Fatamorgana, Danmarks Kunsteriske Fotoskole, Copenhagen, 1991
Theoretical Philosophy, Lund University, 1988 - 1990
English, Lund University; Göteborg University; Sussex University, 1986 - 1987
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
La Loko c/o Gefährlich (office w Daniel Salomon), Gefährlich, Copenhagen, [Mar], 2005
OVO, Esperanto Fastfood (w Daniel Salomon), Apendiks, Frederiksberg, [May - June], 2005
Market Realist Archive, Galleri Asbæk, (w Javier Tapia), Copenhagen [Aug] ], 2005
Esperanto Sitcom, (w Daniel Salomon), Overgaden, Copenhagen, [Oct] ], 2005
Esperanto – Thai Friendship Festival (w Daniel Salomon), Plan B, Bangkok [Dec] ], 2005
La Loko c/o Vo (w Daniel Salomon; exhibition and events in apartment), Copenhagen, 2004
Market Realist Archive, (480 slides were shown with 6 projectors), Trafo, Budapest, 2003
Old Optimism, (silkscreens of Yugoslavian Money portraits), Røde Kors, Copenhagen, 2002
Sweden Welcome Center, (office for migration to Sweden), The Suburban, Chicago, 2001
Mondriananalyse, (consultation of personality analysis), Rum46, Århus, 2000
New Concepts (w Daniel Salomon; gallery was turned to workspace), Q, Copenhagen, 2000
Vänskap (sister city slideshow project w Christer Engström), KA, Copenhagen, 1999
Democratic Forest, (w Tanja Rau; GDR Christmas trees), Q, Copenhagen, 1998
Artbar (I established a bar in for artists but no art), Copenhagen, 1997
Kapell (w Christer Engström; a white cube was turned into chapel) Service, Stockholm, 1996
Swedish Conensus Party EU parliament election campaign (w Christer Engström), Stockholm , 1995
Mondriananalyse, Campbells Occasionally, Copenhagen, 1995
Slightly in Denmark, (installation on photomania), CPH Photo Month, Copenhagen, 1994
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
Whatever Happened to Social Democracy?, Rooseum, Malmö [Jan - April], 2005
W... Wir Wissen, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Wien [March - April], 2005
Radikale Positionierung, (w Ralo Mayer & Philippe Haupt), Pavelhaus, Radkersburg, 2004
Society of Young Artists, Budapest, (Metapolitcal collaboration w Tamas Kaszas), 2003
Fika! (cibachromes of coffee rituals), Dalslands Museum och Konsthall, Åsensbruk, 2003
Fluxus und die Folgen, (did Conversation Service during whole show) Wiesbaden, 2003
Retur, (fabricated univesrsal Danish beer bottle), Copenhagen, 2003
Brøl, (put my old Fjällräven tent up on Zoo lawn), Zoo, Copenhagen, 2003
Parade, (did democratic sculpture system, w Engström and Rau), Copenhagen, 2003
Radar, (w Tarje Gullaksen; launch of website for idea distribution), Vega, Copenhagen, 2003
Exit, (a gallery for my niece Humle), Kunstforeningen Copenhagen, 2003
Kosmos, (ran a store selling my collection of 20th century antiques), Rooseum, Malmö, 2001
9 fra det Kongelige Danske, (participated with Mondriananalys), UKS, Oslo, 2000
Rewritable, (participated with The Democratic Forest w Tanja Rau), BSA, Copenhagen, 2000
Projekt S-tog, (gave Jacob Fabricius my Ulysses to distribute on seats), Copenhagen, 1999
Kunstart, (participated with Antropoiconology consultation), Copenhagen, 1998
Se Botkyrka!, (siter city slideshow project w Christer Engström), Botkyrka Konsthall, 1998
Stockholm Artfair, Mondriananalys, (represented Konstfack w Jon Brunberg), 1995
Antropoiconology, (personality analysis consultation through stick figures), Konstfack, 1995
PUBLISHED/PERFORMED WRITING
The Social Comedy, (encyclopedia on 20th cent Sweden), The Welfare Show, Berlin, 2005
What Brands Do With Our Brains (manuscript for embedded actor), Supershow, Basel, 2005
The Trial, (novelette on art world sociology), Fall 04, Kunstverein München, 2004
La Loko and Capital, (w Daniel Salomon), Scale Magazine, Bangkok, 2004
The Chicago School and the Welfare State, The Suburban, The Early Years, Chicago, 2004
POSTER PROJECTS
Cocaine and Rat poster (w Daniel Salomon), Suburban Election Poster Project
—Spacemakers, Lothringer 13, München , 2004
—A more Perfect Union, Max Fish, New York, 2004
—The Suburban, Chicago, 2004
Golden Volkswagen (fr Market Realist Archive), Utopia Station Poster Project
—World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, 2005
—Venice Biennale, 2003
—Haus der Kunst, München, 2003
Samförståndspartiet, (w Christer Engström, 1000 posters of 2 different motifs were
posted in the Stockholm and Skåne area between February and September 1995)
VIDEOS
Esperantists (w Daniel Salomon; portraits from congress in Russia), 14 min, 2004
My Deceiving Heart, (a story about the images of love), 31 min, 2002
Slightly in Denmark, (videoversion of Slightly in Denmark from 1992), 6 min, 2002
TEACHING
Hede Gymnasium, w Janine Sack. Archiving and art. Students made their own archives, 2004
Krabbesholm Højskole, w Tarje Gullaksen. Consultations; students made group show, 2002
The School of the Arts Institute of Chicago. Studio visits, 2001
ACTING
Gothenburg N B, (as Konstant), by Ralo Mayer and Philippe Haupt, Vienna, 2003
For Esthetical Resons (as Arne Jacobsen expert), by Markko Raat, Tallinn, 2000
SELECTED LECTURES (on own works, if not otherwise indicated)
Conference on public museums and archives, Länskulturen Jämtland, Östersund, 2005
Hede Library, 2004
A background to La Loko, La Loko c/o Vo, Copenhagen, 2004
The Hungarian Academy of Arts, Budapest, 2004
Society of Young Artists, Budapest, 2003
Manoa Free University, Vienna, 2003
The Cultural History of Drinking Coffee, Rooseum, Malmö, 2001
The School of the Arts Institute of Chicago, 2001
The Hungarian Acedmy of Arts, Budapest, 2001
The History of Paper Size Standardization, New Open Academy, Copenhagen, 2000
WORKSHOPS, SEMINARS AND CONGRESSES
Rirkritospective, (on Rirkrit Tiravanija, arranged by Maria Lind), Kunstverein München, 2004
World Kongress for Young Esperantists, Kovrov, 2004
Remix, workshop arranged by Bert Theis and Paul de Felice, Casino Luxembourg, 1999
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
TV Lorry, (on Ovo at Appendiks), Copenhagen, 23 May, 2005
Rheinischer Merkur, Möbel, Mode und Musik für Alle (on La Loko), 19 May, 2005
Öresundsmagasinet (on Ovo at Appendiks), Sveriges Television, Malmö, 20 May, 2005
Sonntagsblick, (on La Loko’s furniture design), Zürich, 15 May, 2005
Kunsten at Servere et Æg, (on Ovo) MetroXPress & Metro, Köpenhamn & Malmö, 3 May, 2005
Weekendavisen (on Esperanto and La Loko’s way to market the language), 15 April, 2005
Steps, en Bild av en Tid och en Plats (on archive teaching project), Östersund, 2005
Rooseum Provisorium 1:2005 (on Sports Democrats), Malmö, 2005
Politiken, (recepies in Sunday Supplement on Esperanto dishes), Copenhagen, 2004
Copenhagen Post, (’Esperanto is the world’s coolest language’), Copenhagen, 2004
Charlie Magazine, (ed by Maurizio Cattelan and Bettina Funcke), New York, 2002
Letzenburger Land, (on Mondriananalysis and Conensus Party), Luxembourg, 1999
Är din själ liten och röd?, (three pages on Mondriananalysis), Amelia, Stockholm, 1995
GRANTS, ETC
Akademie Schloß Solitude, studio grant, 2007
Danish Art Council, talent development grant, 2005
Akademiraadets Understøttelsesfond for Billedkunstnere, 2004
Danish Art Fund work grant, 2003
contact
olof olsson
Østerbrogade 19, 5. mf
2100 Copenhagen Ø
Denmark
+45 33 25 55 26