Gun Holmstrom

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In Holmström's oeuvre, the aesthetic and the ethical are one. She explores the complex web of contradictory human emotions and situations, and addresses current social and moral issues. While Holmström often starts out with very personal experiences, the essential element is the humane nature of social communication; the individual as a social and communal being remains at the core. The result is a body of work that examines society, but in a way that is accessible to a diverse audience, as it deals with emotions, not just specific contexts or locations.
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IMAGE DESCRIPTION : - IMAGE 1. - MEMORIAL DAY, 2003, DVD, dur. 1 min. (from the ‘1-minute Postcards’ series). - IMAGE 2 - SUNDAY I-III (Cross, death, resurrection) 2002, DVD, loop, installation with three monitors (triptych). Commissioned by the Showroom Gallery, London.
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IMAGE 3, IMAGE 5 & IMAGE 6 - IN THE RAW, 2004, DVD, dur. 10.40. Two projections. Music: Tuuli Helve. - In the Raw is a kind of a self portrait, a video collage containing a wide range of footage and texts. It's a narrative without being a narrative, a story without beginning or end. I've tried to describe a process where a split vision (or split thinking) forms a perhaps irrational, but holistic experience. - - - IMAGE 4. - FOCAL POINT, 2003, DVD, dur. 4.30 and BORDER, 2003, DVD, loop. Two projections. - The text is based on the censored parts from ‘Unnown Soldier’ (1954), a novel by the Finnish author Väinö Linna. The complete version was published in 2000. ‘Unnown Soldier’ tells about when Finland was at war with the Soviet Union 1941-44 and is the most commonly read book in Finland. I've changed the text a bit, to make it fit in the womans mouth, and to give the impression that she could be speaking of her own life, a divorce process perhaps, or something like that. - It's fascinating me that the text was something that couldn't be published for political reasons not so long ago. In the video it's even harder to understand since the sentences I've chosen to put in the video are ‘floating’ without their original context.
The other part of the installation - ‘Border’ - is a loop made of photographs from the border during the war. This part is more abstract and meditative - but as in Focal Point, the enemy is there, but can't be seen.
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Gun Holmström's video works have been exhibited in several international solo and group exhibitions. In London her works have been shown at the Showroom Gallery 2002. She participated in the May 2003 residency with Gillian Wearing at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida. Gun Holmström is living in Helsinki, Finland, but at the moment she is studying ontext and media’ on a two year MA programme in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Helsinki
Finland
Europe

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Gun Holmstrom
Gun Holmström
Gun Holmström