Kristina Matousch – Bake

We are pleased to kick off the autumn season with Kristina Matousch's first solo exhibition at the gallery. In the project Bake, Matousch continues to investigate the complex relationship between the body, the space and the viewer. The gallery has been transformed to enhance the physical experience of the work which consists of a performance where the installation is used as a baking tray.

In this process, Matousch uses chance and control in a manner characteristic of her artistic practice. As in previous projects, her work triggers contradictory and complex feelings; control and submission, clinical sharpness and tenderness, deadpan humour and seriousness. The viewer's physical encounter with the work becomes an essential part of the overall experience. In this sense, Bake follows the inner logic of her earlier projects. In Meat Balls (2014), All around (2014) and Take it in your hand (2000), Matousch uses food as a means of communicating with the viewer. The exposed body is also a recurring theme in her art; in Subject inside Object (2006) a thumb sticks out from a hole in a cardboard cylinder. The Muse (2011) presents a naked man sitting inside a perforated steel box suspended from the gallery ceiling. Small glimpses of flesh are visible through the holes.

With a strong integrity, Kristina Matousch manages to intertwine slick surfaces, sharp edges and perfectly cut-out openings with aspects which may be perceived as bodily and messy. Her process is intense and physical, leaving traces of the actual performance in the making.

Thank you to the participants in the performance Bake: Malin Arnell, Philip Berlin, Mario Fjell, Lo River Lööf and Karina Sarkissova.