Jonas Lund will discuss some of his recent works and how he's using different types of systems to explore notions of agency and urgency within the current political and social climate.
Jonas Lund (*1984, Sweden)’s artistic language revolves around socio-economic developments/changes in combination with contemporary art practices and a renewed institutional or deconstructing critique. Relying on conceptual frameworks that he creates, his works often utilize participatory or performance-based elements, that overtake the artistic outcome/process. In his work Lund easily moves between online and offline systems, and between technological and socio-cultural constructs, all the while working the analogies that bind them. He first got international recognition in 2013 with his first solo exhibition the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), at the Rotterdam art initiative MAMA. For this show Lund created an elaborate analytical software system that told him how to construct each piece in the exhibition, with title and all, based on work by the top-selling artists of the time.
His work involves creating systems and setting up parameters that either he or the viewers have to engage with. This results in various programme-based works that encompass data and behaviour analysis and apply the logics of the new economy. Once a process is initiated, it executes its task according to given algorithms or rules. Jonas’ works raise questions in relation to the logic of games – which are also characterized by closure, limitation, repeatability, a finite set of possibilities and, of course, entertainment – for Jonas himself is the systems architect, game master, and player all at the same time. Embracing these logics, Jonas works can be understood as an interface between game and gamer, that rely on the diversity of the competence of the players for a successful experience. While this approach is committed to the factor of coincidence, the outcome is however predictable, given that he sets up the rules of his systems himself. Unfortunately, the answer to the urgent question of how his games work and how his programmes are designed remains a closely guarded secret.
He earned an MA at Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam (2013) and a BFA at Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam (2009). He has had solo exhibitions at Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2016), Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2016, 2015, 2014), Växjö Konsthall Sweden (2016), Boetzelaer|Nispen, Amsterdam (2014), Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam (2013), New Museum, New York (2012), and has had work included in numerous group exhibitions including at Carrol/Fletcher, London, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Witte De With, Rotterdam, De Hallen, Haarlem and the Moving Museum, Istanbul. His work has been written about in Artforum, Kunstforum, Metropolis M, Artslant, Rhizome, Huffington Post, Furtherfield, Wired and more.