John K. Raustein: Facilitating Truths (The New World)
Nitja Center for Contemporary Art
Kirkegata 10A
2000, Lillestrøm
Norway
John K. Raustein: Tilrettelagte sannheter (den nye verden)
24.06.202207.08.2022
Curated by Rikke Komissar and Tor Arne Samuelsen
John K. Raustein has made a name for himself with a distinctive signature, where abstract memories and personal experiences are explored and manifested through spatial textile installations and sculptural textile works.
The exhibition at Nitja is no exception, and Raustein will fill the entire hall of 230 sqm with a comprehensive installation. In the show at Nitja, Raustein’s memories from childhood connect with glances from a more contemporary and urban scene, namely a construction site. Stacks of building plastic, tarpaulin, pipe coils and rebar create, in the artist, associations with scenes from the textile shop and the mother’s sewing club.
Both arenas represent closed and often gender-stereotypical networks.
Where the construction site is blocked with construction fences and is characterized by a masculine environment, the sewing club and textile shop mainly represent a women’s network. Without gender diversity, cultures and slang are developed that can be perceived as foreign to the uninitiated.
Stereotypical thinking about gender is something Raustein has long challenged in his art. In the series “I’m Trying To Be A Handyman” (1998-2000), he embroidered tools on lace pillows and tablecloths, and in the installation, we could find an ironing board where the iron had been replaced with a sanding machine. Observations and memories are intertwined, and our visitors can enter a colourful and distinctive world this summer.
John K. Raustein (b. 1972, Norway) is a graduate of the Bergen Academy of the Arts (2000) and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation in Copenhagen (1997). Raustein has exhibited in several places nationally and internationally and has been purchased by the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, KODE Art Museums in Bergen and SKMU Sørlandets Kunstmuseum.
Line Solberg Dolmen (b. 1982) is associated with the project through the kunstnerassistentordningen (artist assistant scheme).
