Swedish artist Klara Liden (born 1979) makes sculptural installations and videos in response to specific architectural environments. For Projects 89 the artist has created a towering construction that conjures a vision of a city in decay and is a play on the prevalence of the cube in modern art. To build the work, Liden brought materials from the urban landscape—scaffolding, discarded cardboard, sheetrock, and the tar paper found on many New York City rooftops—into the gallery, a blurring between exterior and interior that is further emphasized by the large window at the south end of the gallery. The bundles of recycled cardboard (collected from the Museum’s offices and retail stores) are evidence of the enormous volume of detritus created by contemporary consumer culture. By transforming everyday materials and discarded goods into the building blocks of her work, Liden finds value in ruin. Projects 89 includes a new performative video featuring the artist and the hypnotic music of Tvillingarna. Liden’s low-tech video shares the do-it-yourself aesthetic of her installation.
Liden, who studied both architecture and art, lives and works in Berlin. Projects 89 is her first solo museum exhibition in the United States.
The exhibition is organized by Eva Respini, Associate Curator, Department of Photography.
