Title: The Spirit of Gnosjö/Gnosjöandan
Artist: Rui Mourão
Duration: 30 min
Media: Split screen video with sound
Site: Gnosjö, Sweden (2019/2020)
Material:  videosegments by people in Gnosjö and the artist
two videos projected side by side, one soundtrack  

The concept showroom is a respons to the pandemic state of the workd. The artists 4 week stay in Gnosjö got canceled due to Covid and the work was realized by material the artist collected during his week long stay dring the fall of 2019 and additional material sent in by people living in Gnosjö, Sweden. The spirit of Gnosjö (gnosjöandan) is a well know phrase for the essence of labour and entrepreneurship of the Gnosjö area.

"My artistic practice is being developed around the transformative power of art and questions about the construction of identity and meaning in a certain social, economical, political or cultural context. For Gnosjö, I'm interested in working around real daily situations which I could frame in a way that new meanings could appear."

Rui Mourão

The artwork installed at  the second hand store Gnosjö Hjälper, December, 2020.
Additionally it will be installed at Första rummet, Gnosjö library

ABOUT THE WORK AND THE ARTIST

“I put in contact the Spirit of Gnosjö with shamanic rituals with spirits made by Amerindian natives, for a deeper reflection about our pandemic context and what structures and is structured in culture, believes, and values.”
Rui Mourão, 2020


The Lisbon  based artist and Phd candidate combines the the material from Gnosjö with videofootage collected researching Huni Kuni people of the Amazon. RuiMourão expands up on the  experience and significance of the Gnosjö spirit, both as a personal and collective phenomenon where the act of trust is explored. It is challenging for a video-based artist to let go of the production of visuals (video clips) and instead ask people in the area to submit material. Especially for those who work in the borderland between art, documentary and ethnographic method. There is a double-acting test of trust. There are few video artists who are given the task of capturing the spirit of Gnosjö, but without a doubt I can say that Mourão's work is groundbreaking. He has treated the different video material with great respect and evoked a personal interpretation.

DISTANCIO has been developed in collaboration with the cultural administration (alternately): Shareen Fors,  Kristina Gernes, Lennart Alves and Region Jönköping County: Mike Bode and Märit Lundsten.
Curator: Anna Viola Hallberg..
Collaboration also took place with Hylténs industrial museum and Gnosjö Hjälper.

Artist presented in the series Art Talks Jönköping, Nov 21st 2019
 

" It will will be interesting to let the international artist Rui Mourão explore the local entrepreneurship and the sense of collectivity that defines Gnosjö. Sometimes a gaze feom a far can help us understand what is close to us."

Lennart Alves, Cultural secretary, Gnosjö, 2018

NEXT SHOWROOM: MELISSA VANDENBERG >>>

Kontakt: curator@distancio.se