This spring, Shanghai-based artist and photographer Maleonn (马良) was supposed to join his colleague Tonje Bøe Birkeland in Bergen to start their ambitious collaborative project Stage and Landscape initiated and curated by Northing. But the pandemic stopped everything as it did to most of our well-planned lives. Or did it?
Some ideas are non-stoppable. After several meetings in the “cloud”, the two artists decided to let the collaboration kick off anyway. It resulted in a window exhibition in downtown Bergen where the universes of the two artists crossed for the first time, with Tonje’s photos from her The Characters series and Maleonn’s still life staging using Tonje’s photos as both inspirations and theatrical properties. In this setting, the mixed aesthetics, the curious scenario, and even the inevitable cultural misunderstandings are somehow promising, that there will be a fruitful and nevertheless interesting joint adventure between the two artists in the near future.
ABOUT STAGE AND LANDSCAPE
Maleonn, artist from Shanghai, is known for his imaginative and theatrical photographs carefully staged in a limited space in his studio. He took pictures of others - actors, models, or onlookers to create absurd visual narratives and psychedelic images. On the contrary, Bergen-based artist Tonje always approaches nature and the whole scenario around her for the stage – and poses for the photos herself – to subtly tell the fictional stories behind the apparently historical realistic pictures. Northing finds this dramatic contrast appealing and initiated this collaboration between these two artists with the hope that it would spark some unpredictable creativity.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Maleonn (b. 1972, Shanghai): Conceptual Photography artist. One of the most important modern visual artists in China. Known for his unique visual style representing stage installation in photography work. Observes the landscape of Chinese culture and recreates it with his own style using multiple media like painting, puppet theatre, poetry writing as well as photography.
Tonje Bøe Birkeland (b. 1985, Bergen): Since 2008 Tonje has, through her project series The Characters, given women a position within the landscape while exploring the authenticity of history. On expedition, female explorers are staged in Unknown Territory. Materials have been gathered from before, during and after their journeys, yielding stories and installations with photography in large formats, text panels, and a suitcase for every traveller, together portraying Characters # I – V. The objective of The Characters is to encapsulate an entire artistic practice.
