benandsebastian

Ben Clement and Sebastian de la Cour have been working together since 2006 as the British/Danish artist duo ‘benandsebastian’.  They have exhibited internationally during that time in museums and institutions in New York, Copenhagen, London and Berlin.

 

benandsebastian are interested in how meaning is embedded in spaces and objects in conditions of absence. Their intricate and highly-crafted installations have inbuilt gaps and are often on the verge of collapse. Whether taking the form of architectural fragments, mechanical theatres or living artefacts, their works relate to the idea of a body that is incomplete and vying with its own phantoms. In their recent work they have pursued the potential of absence, gaps, incompletion and anomaly within the context of several museum collections, in a form of materialised institutional critique.

 

‘The work of the collaborative artist practice, benandsebastian, teeters on a cusp between designed physicality and intangible theories of the mind. Trained in architecture and theoretically versed, their sculptures take on elaborate mechanics and boast intricate detailing, yet speak to vast philosophical and sociological systems. It is impossible to concretely anchor their work, an elusiveness made evident in their recent exhibition at the Designmuseum Danmark, ‘Phantom Limbs’. Embedded directly within the permanent collection and specifically paired with unexpected inventory from Copenhagen’s Medical Museum, National Museum and the attics of Designmuseum Danmark, their work becomes not only the sculptures on display, but the myriad relationships made between context and object, between body and limb.'

Cassandra Edlefsen Lasch, independent curator, DAMn magazine, issue 33

 

 

来自英国和丹麦的本·克莱门特和塞巴斯蒂安·德·腊·库尔自2006年以来一直以‘本与塞巴斯蒂安’二人组合的名义进行艺术创作。在这八年当中，他们的作品曾在纽约、哥本哈根、伦敦、柏林等城市的若干博物馆和艺术机构展出。

 

本与塞巴斯蒂安（benandsebastian）的艺术实践侧重于意义如何通过空缺处处存在被嵌入空间和物品之中。他们手工雕刻的复杂装置中存在着所谓的内置空隙,而且这些作品往往处于坍塌的边缘。无论作品中以建筑碎片、机械性剧院还是具有活力的工艺品为形式,它们都含有共同的主题，即形体的非完整性以及其跟自己的幻影所进行的对抗。在他们最近的作品中，他们以博物馆收藏环境为北京，并以物质化的机构批判为形式，一直探究虚无性、空隙、非完整性以及异常性。

 

“对二人艺术组合Benandsebastian的作品, 我们可以提出如此的评价：它徘徊在设计过的实体性与心灵的无形理论之间。此二人组合的成员都受过正式的建筑学培训并且精通于艺术理论。他们大部分的雕塑作品都具有一种机械性，又包含极其精致的细节，同时这些作品也涉及到宏大的哲学以及社会学体系。由于Benandsebastian的作品题材颇为广泛而难以捉摸，作为观众我们比较难以确定他们在整个艺术语境中位于何处。他们的作品之所以如此捉摸不定，在他们近期在丹麦设计博物馆举办的展览《幻肢》里也充分显现：其原创展品被嵌入美术馆现有的固定收藏之中，与意外出现的哥本哈根医学博物馆、丹麦国立博物馆以及丹麦设计博物馆藏品一并展出。这些作品远远多于眼下所展出的雕塑，甚至作为种种在语境和藏品、身体和肢体之间产生出来的关系。

 

Cassandra Edlefsen Lasch，

独立策展人，DAMn杂志（第33期）

Museum of Nothing, 2014-15