This exhibition, entitled Subjektiv, is curated by the editorial board of the Scandinavian art journal Objektiv. Its point of departure is potential relations between art, politics and subjectivity in a time when the basis of democratic subjecthood is called into question. In this context, the usual title of the magazine, Objektiv, simply would not do, hence the temporary rebranding as Subjektiv.

While there is a sense that the shared public space of politics is being overwhelmed by affective content, we are simultaneously witnessing a reinvigoration of the power of the collective and the resolve of community. The exhibition and accompanying journal issue explore questions of what subjektiv might mean in this context.

The exhibition brings together artworks from the last years that speak to the current political situation through their strategic staging of subjectivity and its political potential or impotence. All the works are camera-based – photographs and films, collages and a poster project – and span from straight documentary to a post-internet aesthetics of the interface. While radically different in strategies and aesthetics, these works all investigate the friction between the subjective, the collective, and the political.

The group exhibition presents a selection of recent works by nine artists; ALBUM by Eline Mugaas and Elise Storsveen (NO), Basma Alsharif (US), Sara Cwynar (CA), Liz Magic Laser (US), Deana Lawson (US), Zoe Leonard (US), Sandra Mujinga (NO) and Josephine Pryde (UK).

The exhibition is made in collaboration with Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, where it will be presented this autumn. It will be accompanied by a two-part issue of the magazine Objektiv, renamed Subjektiv, one featuring solo presentations of the artists, and the other presenting recent critical perspectives on the issues at stake.

Objektiv’s editorial board/curatorial team consists of: Lucas Blalock (artist, US), Ida Kierulf (curator, NO), Brian Sholis (writer/director, US), Susanne Ø. Sæther (researcher and curator, NO), and Nina Strand (artist and editor in chief, Objektiv, NO).