Per Hüttner

Per Hüttner is a Swedish artist who lives and works in Paris, France. Hüttner was born in Oskarshamn, Småland on 11 February, 1967. He graduated from Konsthögskolan in Stockholm 1993. He also studied at Hochschule der Künste in Berlin 1991-1992. He was one of the founders of the non-profit galleries Konstakuten in Stockholm and The Hood Gallery in Los Angeles. A number of monographs about his practice has been published including "Per Hüttner", 2003; "I am a Curator", 2004; "Repetitive Time" 2006 and "Democracy and Desire" in 2007.

In 2001 he co-curated an exhibition at Nylon with Goshka Macuga and Gavin Wade. [Neal Brown, [http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/3_in_1_curatorial_mutiny_part_4/ "3 in 1 Curatorial Mutiny, Part 4", "Frieze", Issue 60, June - August 2001.] ]

Works

Hüttner's work relate to communication, free will and determinism and particularly how these are related to sexuality and political institutions like democracy.

In 2004 he started developing an untitled series of photographs where he created shrines of commemoration in busy street corners of urban centres around the world. These become portals between different realities. In the catalogue text to his 2006 exhibition "Xiao Yao You" at the Guangdong Museum of Art in Guangzhou the curator, Zhang Wei, writes:

"Ceaseless movement is not a way of gaining ever more exotic knowledge of the world; it is rather a way of cleaning out and rediscovering the self. This is what I see in Per’s work. When I face his images, the reality presented in them seems less a true physical reality than an invisible psychological one. I see a negotiation and dialogue between the artist’s inner and outer worlds. In this psychological landscape, he describes his worries, his pursuit of human sentiment, and his insistent rejection of a stylized or superficial life. It makes me think of the Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zi’s idea of xiao yao you or “moving carelessly.” This philosophy does not only detail how to move freely across physical space, but is also a metaphor for how humans can transcend different kinds of obstacles and achieve a freedom of the spirit."

In 2006-07 Hüttner created a series of work entitled "Rebirth" which he has developed in his work on paper. In the catalogue text to the exhibition "Democracia y Deseo" the work is discussed:

"Here we arrive at the heart of the matter, because, what good is our political freedom and our material riches if our bodies and/or minds remain enslaved? If this extremely personal and individual space in our lives, which can be violent, sexual, religious or can take many other expressions remains closed, we will also remain slaves to our own socialization. The uninhibited mental and/or physical space is very individual and extremely hard to define. But it is even more complicated, because this freedom can never be safe-guarded by consumerism, legislation or democracy anymore than the self-confidence that feeds it can be defended by a law. As artists it is our prime responsibility to fight for the right to retain and enjoy this liberty for ourselves and others. This means that we need to have an extremely grounded belief in ourselves and the work that we do. Humanity will always be engaged in a battle to safeguard this freedom and maybe that is also a good definition of what an artist is – a confident defender of the aspects of the soul that cannot be defended any other way. It has always been like that throughout history and will probably always stay that way."

elected Solo Exhibitions

* "Democracy and Desire", The Romanian Cultural Institute, Stockholm, Sweden(2007)
* "Xiao Yao You", Guandong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China (2006)
* "Tundro", Contemporary Art Gallery, National Museum, Szczecin, Poland (2006)
* "Repetitive Time", Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg, Sweden (2006)
* "Democracia y Deseo", Vacio 9, Madrid, Spain (2006)
* "Per Hüttner", Xposeptember, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2005)
* "I Am a Curator", Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK (2003)

elected Group Exhibitions

* "Nothing to Declare", 4th. Oberschwaben Contemporary Art Triennial, Friedrichshafen, Germany (2008)
* "La Rue", Biennal d'Image, Nancy, France (2008)
* "Filling the City with Dreams" (performance), Zendai MOMA, Shanghai, China.
* "Art is always somewhere else", International Biennial of Young Artists, Bucharest, Romania (2006)
* "20 Years!", Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden (2006)
* "Copy-Art.net", ICA, London, UK (2004)
* "BIDA 2003", Centro de Arte de Salamanca, Spain (2003)
* "Slowdive", Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, USA (2002)
* "Fasten Seatbelts", Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria (1998)

elected Monographs

* "Democracy and Desire", Design by Åbäke. Published by Vacio 9 and The Rumanian Cultural Institute.
* "Xiao Yao You", Design by byboth. Published by Guangdong Museum of Art, with texts by Zhang Wei and Bo Nilsson.
* "Repetitive Time", Published by Göteborgs Konstmuseum, with texts by Claire Canning, Lena Boëthius, Laurent Devèze and Stépanie Nava.
* "I Am a Curator", published by Chisenhale Gallery, with texts by Lisa LeFeuvre, Duncan McLaren, Veronique Wiesinger etc.
* "Per Hüttner", by Duncan McLaren published by Curatorial Mutiny.

References

External links

* [http://www.perhuttner.com Official Per Hüttner website]