The first-ever solo exhibition in Denmark to feature artist, writer and filmmaker Roee Rosen (b. in Rehovot, 1963) includes the work  Vladimir’s Night (2011–14): an album of thirty-nine gouaches and verse that evolves around fetishism and power in satirical fashion while inspired by e.g. the underground tradition of the unofficial Moscow artists of the 1960s and 1970ssuch as albums by Kabakov and Pivovarov.

Vladimir’s Night is a hybrid of a children book, a gory martyrdom and a twisted political treatise in which the protagonist Vladimir is both a young child and a political leader. He is surrounded by animated objects and absurd scenarios. It all starts as a cheerful visual fable, but slowly slips into a violent and grotesque narrative about power and torture. Vladimir’s Night was supposedly created by Maxim Komar-Myshkin, a pseudonym for Russian poet Efim Poplavsky (1978–2011) who emigrated to Tel Aviv in the early 2000s. His fiction extends to include the artists collective he supposedly founded, the Buried Alive Group, whose videos and manifesto are also featured in the exhibition.

The exhibition also features the film The Dust Channel (2016), which attracted a great deal of attention at Documenta 14. This film forms the final chapter in a series based on Komar-Myshkin’s artistic life. The film is an operetta with a Russian libretto about purification in all its forms taking place in a bourgeois Israeli family whose fear of dirt, dust and any foreign matter results in an almost perverted devotion to household appliances. Rosen plays on the connection between dust and sand by incorporating the Israeli desert, where political refugees are detained and the fear of foreigners flourishes. The prison is called Holot, the Hebrew word for sand. An absurd and politically incisive fiction, The Dust Channel creates a polemic space for addressing current societal issues.

Roee Rosen (b. 1963) is an artist, writer and filmmaker as well as a critical voice in his native Israel. His practice focuses on power, forms of desire, and structural violence. Rosen has created an artistic universe that undermines normative hegemonies, using fiction and satire as he merges Israeli and global politics with myths and historical references. Using a variety of fictional characters and iconographic motifs, Rosen draws on – and transforms – historical avant-garde and popular media, political propaganda and classic fairy tales for children. Roee Rosen is a professor at both HaMidrasha College of Art, Kfar-Saba and the Bezalel Art Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.

The exhibition is curated by Anne Mikél Jensen and supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, Grosserer L. F. Foght’s Foundation, Knud Højgaard’s Foundation, the Obel Family Foundation.

Hashtags to the exhibition: #roeerosen #kunsthalcharlottenborg

Danmarks første soloudstilling med kunstner, forfatter og instruktør Roee Rosen (Rehovot, 1963) viser bl.a. værkserien Vladimir’s Night (2011-2014); 39 gauches og vers, der på satirisk vis stiller skarpt på fetichisme og magt, inspireret af de såkaldt uofficielle Moskvakunstnere fra 60erne og 70erne som fx Kabakov og Pivovarov.

Vladimir’s Night er en hybrid af en børnebog, en martyrhistorie og en twisted politisk fortælling, hvor hovedpersonen Vladimir både er et lille barn og en politisk leder. Han er omgivet af animerede genstande og absurde scenarier. Det hele starter som en munter billedfabel, der langsomt glider over i voldsom og grotesk fortælling om magt og tortur. Vladimir’s Night er sandsynligvis skrevet af Maxim Komar-Myshkin, som er et pseudonym for den russiske poet Efim Poplavsky (1978-2011), der immigrerede til Tel Aviv i starten af 2000erne. Hans fiktioner inkluderede med stor sandsynlighed også grundlæggelsen af kunstnerkollektivet Buried Alive Group, hvis videoer og manifester også kan opleves i udstillingen.

Udstillingen præsenterer også The Dust Channel (2016), der fik stor opmærksomhed under documenta 14. Filmen er det sidste kapitel i den serie, der tager udgangspunkt i Komar-Myshkin’s kunstneriske liv. Filmen er en operette om alle former for renselse, der foregår i en borgerlig israelsk familie, hvis frygt for snavs, støv og enhver form for fremmedelementer udmunder i en nærmest perverteret hengivenhed til husholdningsapparater. Værket spiller på sammenhængen mellem støv og sand ved at inddrage den israelske ørken, hvor politiske flygtninge varetægtsfængsles og fremmedangsten blomstrer. Fængslet hedder Holot, der på hebraisk betyder sand. The Dust Channel er en absurd og politisk spiddende fiktion, der skaber et polemisk rum for aktuelle samfundsrelaterede spørgsmål.

Roee Rosen (1963) er billedkunstner, forfatter og filmskaber samt en kritisk stemme i sit hjemland Israel. Hans praksis omhandler især magt, begærsformer og strukturel vold, og Rosen har skabt et kunstnerisk univers, der undergraver det normative gennem brug af fiktion og satire, mens han sammenfletter israelsk og global politik med myter og historiske referencer. Ved hjælp af en mængde fiktive figurer og ikonografiske motiver trækker Rosen på, og transformerer, både historiske avantgarde samt populære medier, politisk propaganda og klassiske eventyr til børn. Roee Rosen er professor på både HaMidrasha College of Art, Kfar-Saba og Bezalel Art Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem.

Udstillingen er kurateret af Anne Mikél Jensen.

Udstillingen er støttet af Grosserer L. F. Foghts Fond, Knud Højgaards Fond, Det Obelske Familiefond, Statens Kunstfond.

Hashtags til udstillingen: #roeerosen #kunsthalcharlottenborg