Kristoffer Zeiner Christiansen and Marius Mathisrud
I, Burning Man

Let’s take a bellyflop dive into an epic metabolic rift, where life, death, and everything in-between unfolds…

After a long ride, he made camp for the night. With thorough precision, he found a spot by a mountainside and lit up a bonfire. After eating a grilled steak, smoking a few unfiltered tobaccos, and trapped a dozen fireflies, he leaned his back against the rocky wall and stared, across the bonfire, into the black forest. Morgan Kane, the free, lonely man always has his back against a wall, revealed from the constant fear of having someone lurking behind him, yet dealing with increasing paranoiac awareness, that the antagonistic Other will confront him. The twist is that he is unwittingly already consumed by his always-already undesired violator.

The exhibition by Zeiner Christiansen and Mathisrud is a bold reminder that human contradictions in ways of survival and revival find its expression equally as much in the atomic realm as in omnipresent objects. Carbon is their voyage. An action-packed passage condensed into an anthropomorphic deity, that at the end of the day asks the question, what do we do when we know, but do not care, and what do we see, when it is already there. - Lars Nordby I, Burning Man I’m a burning man Like a star, I’m a planet that won’t be put out I am a burning man I am THE burning man One that can’t be shut down I am a burning man A star among the rest I’m fire to your wind And I put your sails on spin I’m on fire I’m lit I eat babies for breakfast and I tell lovers how to have sex That’s how hot it gets When lil burner reflects On love and respect Between man and the rest All the colors All the fire I want to become one I want to become them I am them I am there I am THE burning man Burner forever Fire everywhere Fast lane til candle is over Whatever FIRE EMOJI ON EVERYTHING I DO Living above you all In my fire suit and stardust all around Too much never Please just see me as I am Alone Inside of you Lil’Burner is forever true

Kristoffer Zeiner Christiansen and Marius Mathisrud conclude their four-week artist residency at ARV.International in Vishovgrad, Bulgaria, with their duo exhibition, titled I, Burning Man, at gallery Heerz Tooya June 22nd.

Marius Mathisrud (b. 1987, Norway) lives and works in Oslo, Norway and Berlin, Germany. He holds a BFA from The Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in the Netherlands (2017). His practice consists of sculpture, installations, film, and poetry, assembled in various constellations. Mathisrud’s video works include Garden of Delight shown at Art Rotterdam (NL) in collaboration with NESTruimte (2019); FreeDOOM Fighter shown at Gallery CC in Malmö, Sweden (2018); Høstutstillingen at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, Norway (2018); and gallery W139 in Amsterdam (2017). Five of his other video works has been exhibited by the Artist Initiative VHDG in the Netherlands (2018). He was one of the selected artists that NESTruimte (NL) curated into a video-show program shown in the main area of the Netherlands' biggest festival, Lowlands Fest. Mathisrud also works with other artists in Oslo and Amsterdam, among others, the Danish artist Oscar Juul-Sørensen, under the name CleanTV. They have had several exhibitions together since their collaboration started in 2016, mainly based on their linear-online-art-tv-channel CleanTV.live. In may 2019 they premiered their new movie entitled The Voice Is Loudest In Your Head at ROOTS Film Festival in The Hague in the Netherlands. www.mariusmathisrud.no

Kristoffer Zeiner Christiansen (b. 1987, Norway) lives and works in Akershus, Norway and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He holds a BA from the Oslo National Academy of Art, Norway (2015) and an MA from the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2017). His background originates from architecture and design. His artistic practice evolves around sculpture and site-specific installations, often produced in plastic and other man-made materials. Zeiner Christiansen’s work focuses on the notion of identity and the communicative functions of objects. His performative works include collaborations with, among others, Ivan Cheng (AUS) and Nora Baron (ESP), and has recently shown works at the gallery Juliette Jongma and gallery Bologna in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2019). He currently runs JohnJohnBooks Publishing in Amsterdam (2018-), and has previously worked on a commissioned installation in the metro station Amsterdam Noord (2017); and worked on the project, titled Project for Fishermen, in Bahrain under the direction of architect Anne Holtrop and the cultural council in Bahrain (2016). In 2019 Zeiner Christiansen will present new work at Amsterdam's oldest church Oude Kerk and at gallery Young Stedelijk in Amsterdam in Netherland. This is his third exhibition in Veliko Turnovo in Bulgaria arranged by ARV.International. www.kristofferzeiner.com

Да се гмурнем по корем в един епичен метаболитен разлом, където се разгръщат живота, смъртта и всичко по средата…

След дълго каране той устрои лагера си за нощта. С изключителна точност намери място до планински склон и накладе голям огън. След като изяде печена пържола. изпуши няколко тютюна без филтър и хвана дузина светулки, се облегна на скалната стена и се загледа през огъня в тъмната гора. Морган Кейн, свободният, самотен мъж, винаги е с гръб, облегнат на стена, издавайки постоянния страх, че някой дебне зад гърба му, но овладява все по-ясното параноично съзнание, че враждебният Друг ще се изправи срещу него. Работата е там, че без да иска той вече е разяден от своя винаги-вече нежелан нападател.

Изложбата на Зайнер Кристиансен и Матисруд е смело напомняне, че човешките противоречния в начините на оцеляване и съживяване намират своя израз също толкова в царството на атомите, колкото и в заобикалящите ни предмети. Въглеродът е тяхното пътешествие. Преход, изпълнен с вълнение, събран в човекоподобно божество, което в крайна сметка задава въпроса какво правим, когато знаем, но не ни е грижа и какво виждаме, когато то вече е пред нас. - Ларс Нордби

Превод: Мартин Петров. Изложбата е подкрепена от Офис за съвременно изкуство Норвегия, Норвежкия художествен съвет, Крафт бира Гларус и Община Велико Търново.

Translated by Martin Petrov. The exhibition is supported by Office of Contemporary Art Norway, The Arts Council Norway, Glarus Craftbeer and the Municipality of Veliko Turnovo.