GUSTAV HELLBERG

Born 1967 in Stockholm. Master of Fine Arts at Kungl. Konsthögskolan [Royal University College of Fine Arts], Stockholm, 1993-98. ERASMUS-student at Hochschule der Künste, Berlin 1995.

Hellberg lives and works in Berlin since 2000.

Public space art projects are Hellberg’s main field of activity and major public place interventions have been widely shown in Europe and USA. 2004 Hellberg participated in Momentum 4 with the work One Solution, an interactive sound installation inside a shopping mall. The project My Area, a poster project questioning ownership status, has been made in different versions shown in California, Germany and Turkey during 2003. The project Blinka Malmö stadsbibliotek, Malmö 2002, drew a lot of attention when Hellberg made the Malmö City Library’s inner lighting flash during its closing hours.

The public space installation Pulsing Path – ambiguous vision presented at Madrid Abierto, 2006, Guide at Umedalen Skulptur and Zone – out of vision I and II shown at Article in Stavanger, 2006 and Urban Interface|Berlin, 2007 mark out line of indirect and direct interactive projects where ordinary every day life situations are tilted. Streetlights perceive a behaviour out of the normal and urban sounds, as in the project Territory–communication, appear as a direct but involuntary interaction in unwanted and/or unexpected environs. With Revolving Beacon, Stockholm 2008, Hellberg made the Stockholm City Library appear as a lighthouse. In 2009 a third version of and Zone – out of vision was shown at Malmö Konstmuseum and at Dunkers Kulturhus [art centre] in Helsingborg Hellberg presented Current Information – open vision, where the art centre’s facade was turned into a statistic gauge.

Ongoing shows and projects
Hellberg is currently working with several commissioned, permanent, public artworks e.g. a permanent outdoor installation in new built residential area Gävle Strand, Gävle. A version of My Area participates in the group show Artnews Outdoor, in Samara, Russia. Three solo shows and projects are planned for the autumn of 2010 starting with an outdoor project in Malmö in October, Current Information – open vision is planned to be performed with Kulturhuset [centre of arts] in Stockholm. The year ends with a Solo exhibition at Hamish Morrison Gallery in December.

Artistic Statement
The foundation of my artistic practice lies in the public sphere, where I aim for an interaction between people, artwork and the public space. The intervention I seek will play on memories and perceptions of a certain setting, creating a visual and poetic argument that will draw people’s attention to a seemingly insignificant situation: the urban backdrop of everyday life. The basic function of the work placed in a public space is to change a detail of our everyday life, thus triggering our thoughts in new and different ways.

My working process primarily proceeds from my relationship with the world that surrounds me. My experiences work as filters for my observations, as well as creating the groundwork for aesthetical instigation. In one way this can be perceived as a personal, sometimes intense, struggle with values deriving from the first-world, suburban middle class background in which I grew up. Thus, as an artist, I’m able to offer a confrontational exploration of the universal ethics existing in today’s suburbanised middle-class society.

In works like Blinka Malmö Stadsbibliotek [Flash Malmö City Library], Current Information – open vision and Revolving Beacon I’ve altered the appearance of public cultural institutions, such as public art galleries and libraries, to challenge their meaning and existence, thereby questioning a general public’s interest in government-run institutions. Projects like Pulsing Path – ambiguous vision, Territory – communication and Zone – out of vision deal with more profane issues occurring in urban public spaces, and converging in streets and parks. In these often technically interactive works, my discourse incorporates issues such as ownership, area access, security, control and exclusion.

Alongside my public space projects, I create series of objects on a more intimate scale. These small-scale works draw on the same discourses as the larger installations, with an added focus on object fetishism, in which the superficiality of sculptural formalism meets the strategies of industrial design.