back again 
about a year after I started this blog, and after my second 4 months pause, What We Talk About When We Talk About Art - are back.
There have been no greater changes, but let me update you anyway:

I am working on a project for Manifesta. Me and artist Heman Chong are going to do a seminar where the students are going to write a science fiction novel. Looking forward to this. For that I we are doing a small READER called Untitled (Excerpts #01) - And we are looking for people with science fiction interest. If are interested, or know anyone that are, do not hesitate to contact me.

I will keep you updated on this.

Further, I have started a small non-for-profit kunstverein here in Leipzig called D21 (web page will be up and running in a few days). The first exhibition will be Obscure Yourself.

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blog away - a blog exhibition? 
Karl Nyberg - the second half of Sarts - A Critical Point of View pointed out in his more or less last post in their blog project is that the project was ment to be a low-tech, or rather low prestige (as in no prominence and importance). The debates on the blog have becommed more and more serious and this makes me think:
what is a blog for the contemporary art world? - do you really want a blog to be seen? if not, then why put your thoughts online?
but it seems that many uses the publishing tools that the blog's can offer to do certain projects and that is acctually interesting. I would like to do a blog-project.
not so much into contemporary art is tryign to understand net-art, or make net art do bad contemporary art (a interview I did with him, Anton Vidokle of e-flux, pointed out to me that a lot of net art is not very interesting - and what they did - and are doing at e-flux is relating to other subjects but on the net ).
also the german Kunst Blog is using these tools to do something else (more or less a magazine for texts on art).

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blog away - a blog exhibition? 
Karl Nyberg - the second half of Sarts - A Critical Point of View pointed out in his more or less last post in their blog project is that the project was ment to be a low-tech, or rather low prestige (as in no prominence and importance). The debates on the blog have becommed more and more serious and this makes me think:
what is a blog for the contemporary art world? - do you really want a blog to be seen? if not, then why put your thoughts online?
but it seems that many uses the publishing tools that the blog's can offer to do certain projects and that is acctually interesting. I would like to do a blog-project.
not so much into contemporary art is tryign to understand net-art, or make net art do bad contemporary art (a interview I did with him, Anton Vidokle of e-flux, pointed out to me that a lot of net art is not very interesting - and what they did - and are doing at e-flux is relating to other subjects but on the net ).
also the german Kunst Blog is using these tools to do something else (more or less a magazine for texts on art).

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freeky, debates about curators in norway 
ok, I am calm despite the fact that I am going to my first job interview ever!
The project Art in Nordland that was initiated by the County of Nordland after they successfully did the Art Scape Nordland in the nineties.

The first director was Per Gunnar Tverbakk - city son of Bodø that studied fine arts at the Arts Academy in Bergen, and after that did run the indepentend space Otto Plonk mid- end nineties in the same city (and thus being one of those defining and shaping the norwegian art scene through that decade). After that time he became the Artistic Director of Kunstnernes Hus in 2001/02. After he stepped down - and after a hard internal debate they never ever employed someone else in this "curator" position, they (the artist in norway) felt that all what they have been fighting for was being taken over by the powerfull curator (and thus ignoring the fact that most of they they called "curator" in fact where artists that wanted to organize some shows for their friends and through this became trained and skilled. Most curators in norway where untill beginning of 2000...artists).

but anyway - they are seeking a ''nachfolger'', and me being one of them that might get the job. me happy.




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Psychedelic Norway 
after starting to putting my proposals out on the net - here is the one for Vårutstillingen. It is the raw version and some small things changed as a part of the dialog with the jury - who in the end choose another proposal. I havent seen the exhibition, it was taken down before I got to Oslo, so I cannot say anything about it. But here goes:


Psychedelic Norway is a non-existing expression. To have a closer look on the two words:

Psych·e·del·ic adj. 1. of or nothing a mental state characterized by a profound sense of intensified sensory perception, sometimes accompanied by severe perceptual distortion and hallucinations and by extreme feelings of either euphoria or despair. 2. of or nothing any of various drugs producing this state, as LSD, mescaline, or psilocybin. 3. resembling, characteristic of, or reproducing images, sounds, or the like, experienced while in such a state: psychedelic painting. Also, psychodelic. [PSYCHE + Gk dêl(os) visible, manifest, evident + -IC]

Nor·way n. 1. a kingdom in N Europe, in the W part of the Scandinavian Peninsula. 3,667,000 (est. 1963); 124,555 sq. Mi. Cap: . Norwegian. Norge. 2. a town in NW Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula. 3171 (1960). 3. a town in W Maine. 2656 (1960).

(source: Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language).


The word psychedelic have strong attachment to the sixties and seventies with the hay days for testing out drugs. And it have been hailed not only in literature (Like Naked Lunch), but it also has its own journalistic genre (Gonzo journalisms). In Norway one could state that Tommy Olsson have been a protagonist for strange and sometimes psychedelic tendencies although he states that his way if writing art critic is mainly inspired by the idée of being on drugs rather than being intoxicated in some way when writing.


This is of course not the only way of viewing psychedelic. Reproducing images or playing with the perception is another option. This is maybe a more interesting one. There are a lot of artist working with the intensifying of sensory perception today – Olafur Eliasson and Carsten Höller to mention but two who either comes from, or work in the Nordic countries.

We are mainly interested in the first definition on the word Norway and the first and third definition of the word Psychedelic. Although, it would be interesting to see how an artist would imagine that being psychedelic in Norway in Michigan would be like.

suggested list of artist:

Øystein Aasan
Josefine Lyche
Felix Gmelin
Heman Chong
Kalle Runeson






We would like to thank for the opportunity to present this project to the jury, and we are looking forward to hearing from the Fotogalleriet.



With kind regards,




Leif Magne Tangen and Kaeseberg


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