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Gardar Eide Einarsson

The Purpose of a System is What it Does

Portrait of the artist Gardar Eide Einarsson

Gardar Eide Einarsson. Foto: Gui Martinez.

When

Where Stenersen

We conclude the exhibition year with a major show dedicated to contemporary artist Gardar Eide Einarsson.

The exhibition will fill Stenersen and represents the most comprehensive museum presentation of his oeuvre to date.

The Purpose of a System is What it Does is the first retrospective of Gardar Eide Einarsson’s (b.1976) work in a museum format, presenting an overview of 25 years of artistic practice.

Gardar Eide Einarsson moved to New York in 2001, the day before the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Since then, he has exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world and become one of the most influential artists in Nordic art.

During this period, his work has addressed aspects of oppression, state violence and propaganda, foreshadowing the populist age we now live in, characterised by conflict and illiberalism, thus showing how a violence that was once invisible has become part of our everyday lives.

The exhibition will bring together key works from his artistic practice, and will include installation, sculptures, video, works on paper and painting. Visitors will also see a number of new works that anchor the exhibition in the present and point the way forward.

The exhibition is part of Kode’s series of overview exhibitions of artists with personal and professional ties to Bergen. The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive exhibition catalogue in English and Norwegian.

Light installation forming the words CALIGULA

Gardar Eide Einarsson: Caligula, 2010. Installation view, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel © Gardar Eide Einarsson/BONO

Installation of a lot of american flags in a pile

Gardar Eide Einarsson: Flagwaste, 2017. Installation view © Gardar Eide Einarsson/BONO

Close up of a flag installation with american flags

Gardar Eide Einarsson: Flagwaste, 2017 (detail). © Gardar Eide Einarsson/BONO

Image in black and white

Gardar Eide Einarsson: Black Iron Prison, 2022. © Gardar Eide Einarsson/BONO

Painting in black, with the words International Bestseller in white types at the bottom of the canvas

Gardar Eide Einarsson: Blitzed, 2019. © Gardar Eide Einarsson/BONO