A Kassen

Written by Art & Culture

A Kassen the Copenhagen-based collective comprised of Christian Bretton Meyer, Morten Steen Hebsgaard, Soren Petersen, and Tommy Petersen plays with traditional notions of authorship, appropriation, and appraisal. Described by the artists as “performative installation and sculpture,” their work deconstructs and reconstitutes everyday objects, artworks by other artists, and historical exhibitions to question canonized styles and modes of display related to art history and institutional culture.

What are you working on right now? /Tell us about your exhibition during Stockholm Art Week?
In Stockholm we are working on an exhibition at CFHILL that will consist of mainly sculptural works. We will show works from the series we call View from Below, Bronze Pour and Bronze Paintings. Those are works that deals with chance in a material that is normally used in a highly controlled manner. Working as a group we are less interested in the hands-on shaping of objects but more interested in developing concepts where the shapes and aesthetics are results of not the eye but a thought process. In Bronze Pour and Bronze Paintings we are experimenting with the qualities of bronze as a raw material.

What inspired you to become an artist?
There will be four individual and different answers to that question. But for all of us we saw the possibilities in art making as a way of relating to the world in an abstract and poetic way.

How has your artistic journey evolved over time?
Over the time we have worked more and more on public commissions and site-specific projects in larger scale. These types of projects have a totally different timeline and can spand over many years. When we started working together the energy and effort four guys could put in doing smaller exhibitions was rather explosive - it was possible to put up a show in a formiddag. Still our artistic intentions and interests are pretty much still the same.

What is your creative process like, and how do you approach developing new ideas and concepts for your work?
Our approach depends very much on for what and where the artwork is supposed to be shown. But in general we use the stories and the uniqueness of that exact place or site. As a group we work very site-specific and it has become the natural way of kickstarting the dialogue and the thought process to place ourselves together in the space. Concepts and ideas come rather intuitively from the bank of almost 20 years of dialogue and from that dialogue subjects and a common view on the world arises.

What do you think of Stockholm as an art city?
We didn’t spend very much time in Stockholm so far so our impressions of the city is based on a very narrow knowledge. But a visit to Moderna Museet is always a safe bet. Great and courages international quality exhibitions with younger artists, for instance Lea Porsager and Adrián Villar Rojas.

Do you have a favorite Swedish Artist?
It might not be our all time favorite artist but a work that we all have been visiting and is fascinated by is Lars Vilks projects Nimis and Arx at Kullaberg. First of all the effort the visitor have to go through to experience the work sets the scene. You have to travel and walk for some time before meeting the artwork that is so much more than an artwork. It is architecture, a performance, a protest but most of all it is for everybody and breaks down the barrier that can be around art. Visiting the site that is also known as the micronation Ladonia is so surprising and beautiful and impressive.

Do you have a favorite bar or restaurant in Stockholm?
This is our first solo exhibition in the city and we haven’t spend too much time in Stockholm yet so I guess you could tell us where to go… but a place that would be interesting to visit is the artist Carsten Höllers restaurant Brutalisten. The artworks he does has a certain flavour to it, maybe what you get at the restaurant taste a bit like that too.