Helen Eriksen is an artist and educator living and working in Oslo. She was born in and raised in the UK. She is co-founder of Tenthaus art collective and currently an associate professor in arts and crafts at Oslo Metropolitan University. She works in the intersection of art, pedagogy and research to explore the potential of that space and to investigate transdisciplinary modes of knowledge production.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My practice is research based and I work in all manner of medium. I focus on the way in which we learn to experience society through institutional belief structures, such as the church, education and art. I was working with architectural and spacial contextualisation of these themes but became more interested in looking at my own role as an artist, and how that could play in society. I developed a critical understanding of belief structures in the public domains and focus on the relevence of those domains for public welfare.
I see art as a space where new imaginaries are born; the place where thinking through actions and intra-action with materials can circumvent “thoughtful logics” and lead through unknown paths to previously unthought of places.
As my art making most often a collective practice and collaboratory with other artists, curators and participants. Authorship is an issue we throw a light on when working in this manner. These processes demand openess in order to develop and challenge ideas and our inherent assumptions. It enables to me to deepen understanding and allow ideas to shift and new concepts to emerge . The artist signiture, that is the logo of value in the commercial art world, often is defunkt as it is difficult to centralise one authorship/artist in a pluralistic project. Moreover, the practices that I am passionate about happen in state funded semi public space, such as schools or previously in churches.
I do make things alone too, for example, my drawings are often manifestations of concepts and ideas that I am trying to articulate in the act of processing a question or experience. I also write short factual fictions based on real life events that I want to share with a wider audeince. You will see a story or text that is part of the work itself. Often, an experience or/situation will reveal itself when becoming acquainted with a space, in that time just before the analytical experience takes over and when the "act" of vision is working at its optimum. I aim at revealing my own hidden narratives, potentials and dreams as well as those of the people I meet and work with.
Contact - helen (at) heleneriksen.org
