BRIC À BRAC

When as a child visited the Museum of Natural History in Gothenburg, I was amazed how the collections were arranged; how stuffed birds of paradise and foxes were exposed and the strange thing about the fact that the large whale in the museum was once both an exhibition object and at the same time used as a café.

Next to the whale there were oil paintings that showed when it ran aground on the West Coast and was killed, and at the Maritime Museum were shells, butterflies, advanced knots - all artistically arranged by sailors as a pastime on the long journeys between exotic places.

When I lived in my uncle's room when I visited my grandma and grandpa, flags hung on the wall, a Turkish fes, a flintlock gun - he was a sailor and brought objects that made me long for the world. So it was in life.

In China, I got in touch with the concept of "Fantasy Gardens" - an imaginary place created by artists in painting and poetry, but "Curiosity cabinet" became a more appropriate term that I came to use when I worked out the idea for this exhibition in Nässjö Art Gallery. Finally, I found "Bric à Brac", a synonym for curiosity cabinet, as the final title. Actually, it's an old French nonsense phrase, more playful - a bit more like the English version: "Knickknackery" - more enticing!

"Bric à Brac" is an installation of my works, brought together in the art gallery as a "wall" in the hope of attracting your imagination into your own travels.
Torsten Jurell

On January 29, 2022, Torsten Jurell's BRIC-À-BRAC opened in Nässjö Konsthall, on the eve of the Spring Festival, the biggest traditional festival of the year in China, and the city and the countryside were filled with a festive atmosphere.

Lin Jiangquan, curator of the BRIC-À-BRAC exhibition, said: "The second I received the information about the opening of Torsten Jurell in Nässjö, there was a loud noise in the night sky - fireworks set off in my hometown of Maoming,

The fireworks were constantly changing like a symphony and lasted for a while. I felt that these fireworks were burning for Torsten's exhibition. This is also the spark that burst out of my spiritual resonance with Torsten. Our spark work can be named 'Torsten in Nässjö' Lighting the fireworks of the Chinese New Year', the meaning of this work is comparable to Cai Guoqiang's fireworks on the Seine in Paris.

"After the long Spring Festival holiday, Torsten Jurell's solo exhibition BRIC-À-BRAC has gradually attracted the attention of many important art media in China, and has attracted continuous attention from critics and artists in mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Sweden.

Lin Jiangquan, a well-known Chinese contemporary artist and architect, served as the curator of Torsten Jurell's solo exhibition, and the media released his comments: "Bric à Brac, Torsten Jurell's solo exhibition is a concentrated expression of the artist's multi-media art practice, which reproduces Exceptional state of the daily placement of works in the studio.

The complex and diverse works are gathered in front of the wall of the museum as a 'changeable wall', forming another wall that disintegrates the authoritarianism of the wall, and is in harmony with the French Surrealism The painter André Bretons reached an intertextual relationship at the "Wall" of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, renewing the self, changing the other, and healing the broken self in viewing.

The larger direction of this wall is to try to provide a model of modern civilization with a wall of authoritarianism, pointing out the crises and problems inherent in modern civilization. Torsten reintegrated the space, and the whole place became a work of art itself. At the same time, his thinking power also tried to reintegrate the social structure, entering Contemplation of the Wall."Chinese artist and film director Cherry Zeng Dongping, who once met Torsten Jurell in Stockholm, commented: "People's communication is getting weaker and weaker. Why? When people start from psychology and communicate through oral communication or other media, The truth may be damaged in the process of communication, and the authenticity becomes weaker and weaker.

The wall facing Torsten Jurell is Andrei Zvyagintsev's film, whose airtightness makes you think; another flowing wall of his BRIC-À-BRAC stacked is the narrative and drama of Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki, constantly deflating so that the balloon does not explode suddenly. "

Lin Jiangquan believes: "Torsten Jurell's 'wall' brings about the structure of a society." JK Hou, a critic from Seoul National University in South Korea, commented: "Walls are complex structures, composed of bricks, which not only block but also block Divided, dense and grouped, enclosing pieces of space. Torsten Jurell's wall is a model of society." Lin Jiangquan explained the term "social model":

"Torsten Jurell is a polymath type artist, His works hide deep theatrical and literary undertones. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, he began an artistic practice related to theatre and the stage, and by adapting the theatre, he introduced its long-standing exploration of the role of the human figure in ongoing events. to a new and deeper level. The 'Wall' can be said to be part of his theatre.

This also corresponds to the fact that the gender war is a masquerade party, and many social problems are vented through the channel of "makeup". Humans have culturally shattered and obliterated the natural representational structures of both sexes.

The characters in Torsten Jurell's cast of actors are androgynous, and he seems to be testing whether we are male, female or genderless. The gender war with the middle class as the main body is the tortuous or concentrated expression of other problems in society. It is the only outlet. This outlet is named 'Torsten Jurell's Wall'. This wall exposes a certain structure of dictatorship, blockade and information asymmetry that underlies the representation of freedom around the world, that has always been there, deeply ingrained, and that Torsten Jurell is trying to build through the fluidity of BRIC-À-BRAC's wall to obscure the structure.

"The famous poet JIANG from Hong Kong, China, responded to Torsten's "Wall" with his humorous text "moving stones while playing hide-and-seek while watching the festive lights along the street". Lin Jiangquan said: "When an artist carries a heavy stone in his hand and looks at the lights along the street while playing hide-and-seek - this can be regarded as a good performance art, the stone is heavy,

The act of watching the festival can be seen as light, and the stone is a metaphor for Torsten's changeable 'wall', which can be seen either as an object that grows into a wall, or as a wall surrounded by Shrink into a stone.

This proves that Torsten's artistic practice has the tension of shrinking and magnifying, and its meaning has a great degree of opening and closing. Walls are built in reality, but also on the body and within the mind. The wall is a ghost because it is sometimes invisible.

The ghostly presence of the walls of modern civilization. Banished, will always return. Torsten's art generates issues of gender and the body and a thread of thought in postwar Europe: biopolitics. Agamben's theory of production; Michel Foucault's power relations; Deleuze's philosophy of difference can all be brought to the "wall" of Torsten by bringing it to space, architecture and theatre.

"For this exhibition, the famous Swedish artist Karin Broos sent an email to Lin Jiangquan, writing in English: "So nice that you have curated the exhibition of Torsten in Nässjö. He is a very god artist." The artist accidentally put "good" "With one less "o", Lin Jiangquan joked: "Torsten is a GOD artist!" This caused Torsten's humor factor, saying: "You reduce an 'o' in the letter of good,

But it adds two '0's to the price of my work. "Lin Jiangquan responded with a smile: "Yes, your works will increase by two '0's every week. "Although Torsten Jurell has lived in China for many years, the communication between Lin Jiangquan and him can break through "a wall" is due to the introduction of the Swedish poet Bengt Berg.

In the autumn of 2018, Lin Jiangquan, Cherry Zeng Dongping and their daughter Lin Kanyi went to Sweden to hold an exhibition, and then met at Torsten Jurell's studio in Stockholm. After that, they began to communicate continuously, especially when they rubbed off in the comedy exchange.

A different kind of spark.Lin Jiangquan believes that Torsten Jurell's "one wall" integrated in Nässjö has attracted attention in Asia, and BRIC-À-BRAC will also attract attention and continue to ferment among Asian media and artists.

策展人林江泉与Torsten Jurell在斯德哥尔摩工作室直立表演"另一堵墙"2022年1月29日，Torsten Jurell的BRIC-À-BRAC在Nässjö Konsthall开幕，这一天，正是中国一年中最大的传统节日-春节的前夕，城市和乡村都充满了节日的气息。BRIC-À-BRAC展览的策展人林江泉说："当我收到Torsten Jurell在Nässjö开幕信息的那一秒，夜空中出现了一声巨响--我所在的故乡茂名市燃起了烟花，烟花如交响乐一样不断地变奏，持续了一段时间，我感觉这些烟花是为Torsten的展览而燃烧的，这也是我和Torsten的心灵共振迸发出来的火花。我们这个火花作品可以命名为'Torsten在Nässjö点燃了中国春节的烟花'，这个作品的意涵媲美蔡国强在巴黎塞纳河上的烟花作品。"经历漫长的春节假期后，Torsten Jurell的solo展览BRIC-À-BRAC逐步受到了中国多家重要的艺术媒体的关注，并引起了中国内地、香港、韩国和瑞典的评论家和艺术家持续的关注。中国知名当代艺术家、建筑师林江泉担任Torsten Jurell solo展的策展人，他评论道："涛斯顿·居尔个展Bric à Brac是艺术家多媒介艺术实践的一次集中表现，重现作品日常在工作室中摆放的例外状态。繁杂多元的作品作为'多变的墙'聚集在美术馆的墙前面，形成了另一堵墙，瓦解了墙的独裁性，与法国超现实主义画家André Bretons在巴黎蓬皮杜艺术中心的"墙"达成了互文，在观看中更新我者，改变他者，并将破碎的自我弥合。这堵墙更大的指向应该是试图提供一种检省具有墙的独裁性的现代文明的模式，指出现代文明内在携带的危机和问题。Torsten重新整合空间，整个场所成为艺术作品本身，同时，他的思考力也试图重新整合了社会结构，进入墙的沉思。"曾经在斯德哥尔摩与Torsten Jurell见面的中国艺术家、电影导演Cherry曾东平评论道："人的传达是越来越弱的。为何？人从心理出发，通过口头传达或其他媒介传达出去的时候，真实在这个传达过程中或得到破损，原真性因此变得越来越弱。Torsten Jurell所面对的墙，是Andrei Zvyagintsev的电影， 其密封感逼视你思考；他的BRIC-À-BRAC堆叠成的另一个流动的墙是芬兰导演Aki Kaurismäki的戏码，不断放气以至于气球不突然爆炸。"林江泉认为："Torsten Jurell的'墙'带来的是一个社会的结构。"来自韩国首尔大学的评论家J.K Hou评论道："墙是复杂的构造，组合以一块块砖头，既阻断而分割，又密集而群分，包围一片片空间。Torsten Jurell的墙，是社会的模型。"林江泉针对"社会模型"这一词展开了解释："Torsten Jurell是一位博学的艺术家，他的作品中隐藏了深厚的戏剧和文学底色。从上世纪七、八十年代开始，他就开始了与戏剧和舞台有关的艺术实践，他通过对剧院的调整，将其由来已久对人体形象正在发生的事件中所扮演的角色的探索引入了新的、更深的层面。'墙'可以说是他剧场的一部分。这也对应了性别战争是一场化妆舞会的事实，很多社会问题经由'化妆'的渠道得以宣泄。人类在文化层面粉碎和抹杀了两性的自然表述结构。Torsten Jurell的演员系列中的人物是雌雄难辨的，他似乎在检验我们是男性、女性还是无性别。以中产为主体的性别战争是社会另外一些问题的曲折呈现或集中表现，它是唯一的出口，这个出口被我命名为'Torsten Jurell的墙'。这堵墙揭露在全世界自由的表征之下所包含的某种独裁、阻断和信息不对称的结构，这个结构一直存在，根深蒂固，Torsten Jurell正试图通过BRIC-À-BRAC所建立的流动的墙来模糊这个结构。"来自中国香港的著名诗人JIANG以他的幽默的文本"...于是搬石头一边捉迷藏一边看沿街的节日灯饰"来回应Torsten的"墙"。林江泉说："当一个艺术家手里搬着一块沉重的大石头，一边捉迷藏一边看沿街的灯饰--这可以看作是一个很好的行为艺术，石头是重的，观看节日的行为可以看作是轻的，而这块石头又是Torsten的多变的'墙'的隐喻，它既可以看作是一个生发成墙的物体，有可以看作是一堵墙被缩小成一块石头。这验证Torsten的艺术实践具有缩放的张力。墙建立在现实中，也建立在身体上和思想内部。墙是幽灵，因为它有时候是不可见的。现代文明的墙幽灵般的存在。放逐，始终会回来。Torsten的艺术生发出性别和身体的议题和战后欧洲的思想脉络：生命政治(biopolitics)。Agamben的生产理论；Michel Foucault的权利关系；Deleuze的差异哲学都可以通过带到空间学、建筑和戏剧带到Torsten这一堵'墙'上。"这次的展览，瑞典著名艺术家Karin Broos给林江泉发来邮件，用英语写道："So nice that you have curated the exhibition of Torsten in Nässjö. He is a very god artist."艺术家不小心把"good"打少一个"o"，林江泉开玩笑说："Torsten 是一位god artist！"这引起了Torsten的幽默因子，说："你们在good字母减少一个'o',为我的作品价格增加了两个'0'。"林江泉笑着回应道："是的，你的作品将每个星期增加两个'0'。"虽然Torsten Jurell在中国生活多年，林江泉与他的交流能突破"一堵墙"是源于瑞典诗人Bengt Berg的引见。2018年秋天，林江泉、Cherry曾东平和女儿林侃异到瑞典举办展览，随后在Torsten Jurell斯德哥尔摩的工作室见面，这之后，他们开始了持续的交流，尤其是他们在喜剧的交流中摩擦出了别样的火花。林江泉认为，Torsten Jurell在Nässjö整合的"一堵墙"引起亚洲的关注，BRIC-À-BRAC还会亚洲的媒体和艺术家中引起关注和持续性的发酵。