Bauhaus mutations from Norwegian artist Are Mokkelbost

Welcome to a guided tour for the press at the Henie Onstad Art Centre on 13^th June at 11 am, when the artist and curator will be present. Please register at gv@hok.no

- What is fascinating about Mokkelbost's works is that, even though their mindset is characterised by rigorous systems (a field that could easily be the research subject of innumerable PhDs and an almost obsessive insistence on technique), the result is nevertheless accessible, both visually and musically. Are Mokkelbost has created a magnificent and ingenious experience here at Høvikodden, says Lars Mørch Finborud, the curator of the exhibition at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter.

Though the exhibition at first glance may appear to be a playfully abstract labyrinth, it is based on Mokkelbost's formal graphic and sound system OK. Mokkelbost is an artist who employs many different methods. This time, he has used the system OK, whereby he has defined his own rules for how sounds and images are constructed and relate to one another. By cultivating this set of rules, images and sounds of great variety are generated, in spite of the few parameters in play. By giving himself over to the stringency of the rules, he opens the way to something unexpected and alien – the system's actual objectives.

The idea of OK came to Mokkelbost while he was making music for children in collaboration with the Norwegian artist, musician and composer Ravi. This experience, coupled with his fascination for the connection between Modernism and children's visual culture, initiated the process that has led to what he calls a "visual creative mythology for children, based on a mutated Bauhus DNA".

Are Mokkelbost (born 1976) is a Norwegian artist, musician and composer who lives and works in Oslo. Mokkelbost's interdisciplinary art embraces collage, drawing, data graphics, scenography, graphic design and music – as a member of the experimental bands KILLL, ARM and Juv and the solo project Single Unit. During the last ten years, he has released albums, toured with his various different musical projects and participated at joint exhibitions in Europe and the USA. This exhibition at the Henie Onstad Art Centre is his first solo exhibition.

To accompany the exhibition, two catalogues (in Norwegian/English) have been produced containing essays and interviews written by Kåre Bulie and Lars Mørch Finborud. The exhibition is part of Kunstgaven, a project for the promotion of art supported by the savings bank foundation Sparebankstiftelsen DNB NOR.