Self Contained, 2010
Containers, caravan, tractor, Volvo, pallets, refrigerators, etc.
Proving that his organizational abilities know no bounds except the ones he sets, artist Michael Johansson has also done site-specific pieces where he cleans out, say, the back storage room of a museum and uses the contents to create a tower of stuff.
Recapturing a Contemporary Past, 2011
Furniture and objects from Bologna's city deposits.
Cake Lift, 2009
Objects from the storage room at Ã…rhus Kunstbygning.
Objects gain their value through the situations in which they are placed, in other words what defines the value of an object is not the material it is made from or the function it serves but is defined by its position in a context. It might be that an originally worthless object becomes invaluable due to its unique status or that a costly mass-produced article is considered worthless almost immediately after being purchased. But it might also be that by reconstructing the settings for an item you change its context and therefore its value, setting it back to zero.
In a series of site-specific works, I used the material found in the backrooms of the exhibition spaces where the works were put on display. The objects that were used in the construction of the installations were morphed into the works as their elements and therefore part of the usual activities of the exhibition space was set to zero.
Tetris - Ystads konstmuseum, 2011
Objects from the storage room at Ystads Konstmuseum.
Tetris - FACT Liverpool, 2009
Objects from the storage room at FACT Liverpool.
Be sure to check out Johansson's full body of work here.
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