Indhold Contents

Kunstnerpar 3 Artist Couples 4

Enfants Terribles 7 Enfants Terribles 8

Let It Bleed 11 Let It Bleed 12

Nanas og Matveys 15 Nanas und Matveys 16

Trash 21 Trash 22

Dadaisme 27 Dadaism 28

Video 31 Video 32

Anti-konsum 37 Anticonsumerism 38

Laufbilder 43 Laufbilder 44

Joker 49 Joker 50

Kunst og liv 53 Art and Life 54

Historiebilleder 63 History Paintings 64 The Scaremaker, 2014 Enfants Terribles [Schreckmann] Om værk af Nana Bastrup og Matvey Slavin 170 x 140 x 115 cm Wooden frame, paper mache, black varnish, accessories Tekst af Michael Stoeber, 2014 Oversat fra tysk til dansk af Mette Kit Jensen

Kunstnerpar

Problemet for et par er, at de sammen er mere, end hvis de var alene. Således siger det amerikanske ordsprog: „Never change a winning team“. Om man sammen har succes i livets op- og nedture, kan måles på om tosomheden er besværligere og hårdere eller tværtimod lettere, lystigere og dermed mere kunstnerisk end det liv, man kunne opnå alene. Her adskiller kunstnerpar sig ikke fra andre par. Blot kan de, hvis de skaber kunst sammen, have det sværere ved at finde en lykkelig forbindelse. At fremstille kunstværker som duo, betyder ikke blot at håndtere og lykkes med ens egen følsomhed og egne idiosynkratier, men også med den andens. Den som primært forestiller sig kunstneren som egoman, vil have svært ved at forestille sig denne i stand til at arbejde i team. Derfor står fortidens genibegreb i modsætning til et sådan fænomen, og det er ikke noget under, at forekomsten af kunstnerpar tidligere var så godt som ukendt. Der fandtes dog værksteder, hvor flere kunstnere arbejdede sammen under en mesters vejledning. Men disse var snarere en uddannelse og kunstnerne blev der kun indtil, de havde samlet nok erfaring til at kunne arbejde selvstændigt. Kort sagt, kunstnerpar er et udpræget nutidigt og moderne fænomen, som afspejler en ændret opfattelse af kunstneren og dennes rolle i samfundet. Kunstneren af i dag har ikke længere ambitioner om at være verdens skaber i betydningen af Goethes ord: „Den som har kunst har også religion“ efterfulgt af den truende tilføjelse „Den som derimod ingen kunst har, har brug for religion“. Ikke tilfældigt blev kunstneren tidligere rykket tættere på Gud, som demiurg, skaber af en egen verden. De dage er endegyldigt forbi, hvor man opfattede kunstneren som en profet med en større indsigt end os almindelige dødelige. Den nutidige kunstner er for længst steget ned af denne ophøjede sokkel og møder os meget mere i øjenhøjde, som en privilegeret der stiller spørgsmål og ser kritisk på verden og virkeligheden og på fejl i condition humaine gennem sin kunst. Kunstneren udmærker sig ved i højere grad at have evnen til at forstå problemer og at kunne leve sig ind i dem end at give endegyldige løsninger på dem. Dem skal vi selv helst finde.

3 Enfants Terribles On the Oeuvre of Nana Bastrup and Matvey Slavin

Text by Michael Stoeber, 2014 Translated from German into English by Rebecca Louise van Dyck

Artist Couples

The problem couples have is that together they are more than when alone. This is precisely what is meant by the saying: “Never change a winning team.” Whether one is victorious in the vicissitudes of life collectively can be gauged by whether an existence as a pair is more tedious and difficult or, on the contrary, easier and more exciting and thus more artful than an existence with which one has to contend on one’s own. In this respect, artist couples are no different than other couples. Except that when they make art together, they may have an even harder time finding a favorable connection than ordinary couples. Creating works of art as a duo not only means coming to terms with one’s own idiosyncrasies and sensitivities and successfully dealing with them, but also with those of one’s partner. Those who first and foremost see the egomaniac in an artist will hardly be able to imagine that he or she is in a position to work in a team. In the past, the concept of the genius was therefore strictly opposed to such an idea, and it is no wonder that in previous times the existence of artist couples was practically unknown. While there may have been workshops in which several artists worked together under the direction of a master, they primarily served training purposes, and the artists only stayed on until they had gathered enough experience to be able to work independently. In short, the phenomenon of artist couples is an eminently contemporary and modern one that reflects a different understanding of the artist and his or her role in society. Today, the artist no longer lays claim to being a creator mundi. For instance in the sense of the words by Goethe: “He who possesses art has religion.” Followed by the threatening adjunct: “He who does not possess art, needs religion.” It is not by chance that in the past, artists were placed near to God as demiurges, as creators of their own world. The days in which one saw them as visionaries and prophets who could look further than us normal mortals are over once and for all. Contemporary artists have long since stepped down from this pedestal of majestic veneration. Today, we encounter them more at eye level as privileged inquirers who in their art take a critical look at the world and reality and at the faults of the condition humaine. What distinguishes them is that they are better equipped with the ability to understand problems than to provide conclusive solutions to them. These we have to discover by ourselves.

4 Enfants Terribles

Matvey Slavin og Nana Bastrup som opererer under navnet Enfants Terribles er et sådant winning team. Det ser ud til, at de lykkes rigtig godt med at forene og koncentrere deres kunstneriske energier. I deres fælles værker har de udviklet en signatur, hvormed de kan tiltrække sig mere opmærksomhed, end da de skabte kunst hver for sig. Dette er en sjælden vare i et samfund som vores, der som aldrig før i historien er så defineret af opmærksomhedsøkonomi. Matvey Slavin kommer fra St. Petersborg, Nana Bastrup fra København. De mødte hinanden under deres studietid på Hochschule für bildende Künste i Hamborg, hvor de også gennemførte deres første fælles aktion i 2012. Strategisk dygtigt drog de fordele af deres beundring for den store billedhugger . Det år havde den fransk- amerikanske kunstner en stor udstilling af sine sene værker i Hubertus-Wald-Forum i Hamburger Kunsthalle. I denne anledning havde kuratorerne installeret et af hendes kendteste værker „Maman“ (1999) på plateauet mellem Kunsthallen og Galerie der Gegenwart. Skulpturen som var næsten 9 meter høj og vejede næsten 1,2 ton, udført i bronze, stål og marmor, forestillede en kæmpe edderkop, der var ligeså imponerende, som den var frygtindgydende. Fra Bourgeois´ side er den dog ikke udtryk for væmmelse og aversion, Drawing and performance Enfants Terribles [Enfants Terribles] May 10th., 2012 men tværtimod et symbol på hendes mor som restaurerede vægtæpper. Plateau between the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Galerie der Gegenwart, Når hun reparerede vævningerne mindede det datteren om spindende edderkopper. Den unge kunstnerduo forenede nu denne spektakulære del af arbejdet samt modermetaforen i deres eget værk og gav dermed „Maman“ unger. Matvey Slavin og Nana Bastrup formede 16 ca. 1,5 meter høje edderkoppebørn ud af trådnet og selvklæbende folie, som de anbragte omkring Bourgeois´ edderkoppemoder. Med værket skabte de på samme symbolske vis som kunstneren en biografisk forbindelse. Dette bliver tydeligt i navnet på deres aktion, som de i samme greb adopterede som kunstnernavn. Hvor den store edderkop for Bourgeois symboliserer hendes moder, på samme tid truende og beskyttende, så ønsker de små søde edderkoppebørn, som kunstnerparret har lavet –og dermed duoen selv– at være Bourgeois´ symbolske børn. Selvom denne aktion på plateauet trækker humoristiske tråde, dækker den over en gennemgribende ødipal alvor. Med den bliver kunstneriske arvtagere annonceret. ”Her kommer vi”, siger værket.

6 7

Enfants Terribles

Matvey Slavin and Nana Bastrup, who operate under the artist’s name of Enfants Terribles, are such a winning team. The way it looks, they manage to successfully bundle and concentrate their artistic energy. In their joint works they have developed a signature through which they draw attention to their art to a greater extent than either of them previously did on their own. In a society like ours, which like no other in history is so heavily defined by the economy of attention, this is a rare commodity. Matvey Slavin comes from St. Petersburg, Nana Bastrup from . They met while studying at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg. In 2012, they carried out their first collaborative project in Hamburg, skillfully capitalizing on their admiration for the great sculptor Louise Bourgeois. That year, the Hubertus-Wald-Forum of the Hamburger Kunsthalle mounted a large-scale exhibition of the late oeuvre of the Franco-American artist. On the occasion of this presentation, the curators installed one of her most well known works, Maman (1999), on the plateau between the Kunsthalle and the Galerie der Gegenwart. The , nearly nine meters tall and weighing 1.2 tons, and made of bronze, steel, and marble, depicts an enormous that is as striking as it is frightening. However, for Bourgeois it is not a manifestation of disgust and repugnancy but, on the contrary, a symbol for her mother. She restored tapestries, and when she mended their damaged weave, her daughter felt reminded of spiders producing their webs. The young artist duo incorporated the spectacular quality of the work and the maternal metaphor into their own work, providing the Maman with offspring. Using barbed wire and black adhesive film, Slavin and Bastrup fashioned sixteen approximately 1.5-meter-tall spider children assembled around Bourgeois’s large-scale spider mother. They connect a biographical interest in their work in much the same symbolic way as Bourgeois. It becomes apparent in the name of their installation, which they adopted in the same breath as their artist’s name. While for Bourgeois the giant spider is an expression of her threatening and at once protecting mother, the cute little spider children—and thus the duo themselves—want to be Bourgeois’s symbolic children. Although the installation on the plateau has humorous features, it definitely harbors Oedipal earnestness, as it declares artistic rights of succession. The work says “here we come.”

8 9 Let it Bleed

Lingvisterne har lært os, at konteksten skaber betydningen. Det virker, som om Enfants Terribles har lært sig denne lektie. I parentes bemærket er deres navn også et lån fra Jean Cocteau, hvis roman af samme navn „Les enfants terribles“, blev meget læst i det sidste århundrede og senere succesfuldt filmatiseret af Jean-Pierre Melville. Klogt valgte appropriation-strategier støder vi ofte på i Enfants Terribles værker. På meget legende vis i et tidligt arbejde af Nana Bastrup, hvor hun med titlen ”Memorizing” gengiver værker af berømte kunstnere deriblandt en performance af Marina Abramovic og Ulay, en skulptur af Giacometti og af Jeff Koons, et kubistisk billede af Picasso, en af Claes Oldenburgs soft og så videre... Ved at sammensætte en personlig Pantheon med værker fra det klassiske moderne og samtidskunsten, bliver ikke alene forbilleder tydelige, men også viljen til tilhørsforhold ligesom i kunstnerduoens aktion foran Hamburger Kunsthalle. Det udtrykker sig dels ved den kendsgerning, at Bastrup i alle disse billeder samtidig portrætterer sig selv og dels ved at hendes tegne og maleriske imitationer altid er ærbødige. Denne efterlignende gestus skal ikke sammenlignes med appropriationer á la Sturtevant et alii. Den spejler sig ikke i andre, men benytter blodtilførslen til selv at øve sig i vitalitet og trækker klare vampyriske spor - og minder os om Rolling Stones On the Edge, 2014 smukke sang: „Let It Bleed“, hvor det lyder „Yeah, we all need [Auf der Kante] someone we can bleed on / Yeah, yeah and if you want it, baby, well 200 x 260 cm why don´cha bleed on me.“ Det er intet mindre end en kærlighedssang, Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin som går ud fra den forestilling, at vi alle grænseløst har brug Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins for nogen. Og for den som tilbyder et vampyrbid, må det jo være kærlighed. Enfants Terribles spørger sådan set ikke om lov, de gør det bare. Men det blod som de tager, er også det blod som de giver. Fordi kunst udspringer af kunst. Gennem transformationer og metamorfoser giver de det tilbage til kunsten, som de selv har taget. Dette bliver også tydeligt i andre aktioner. F.eks. da de i en aktion reagerer på Niki de Saint-Phalles „Nanas“ i Hannover. Endnu engang drejer det sig om værkets navn, som her er vigtigt på to måder. Fordi skulpturerne hedder det samme som den kvindelige del af duoen bliver disse automatisk en modpol til Matvey Slavin, som i mindre skulpturelle udgaver spiller forskellige roller.

10 11 Let It Bleed

Linguists have taught us that the context creates meaning. It looks like the Enfants Terribles have learned this lesson well. By the way, it should be mentioned that their name also borrows from Jean Cocteau, whose novel of the same name, Les enfants terribles, from the last century was widely read and successfully made into a film by Jean-Pierre Melville. We will encounter cleverly chosen strategies of appropriation even more frequently in the oeuvre of Enfants Terribles. Quite playfully as far back as in an early work by Nana Bastrup entitled Memorizing, in which she calls to mind famous works by well known artists, including a performance by Marina Abramovic and Ulay, a sculpture by Giacometti, another one by Jeff Koons, a Cubist painting by Picasso, a soft sculpture by Claes Oldenburg, and so on. The combination of a personal pantheon with classic modern and contemporary works of art bespeaks not only veneration but also the will to belong, quite like the installation by the artist duo in front of the Hamburger Kunsthalle. It expresses itself on the one hand in the fact that in all of these pictures Bastrup at the same time paints a portrait of herself, and on the other hand by the fact that her graphic and painterly appropriations are also always acts of subordination. This appropriating gaze is not to be confused with appropriations à la Sturtevant et al. It does not mirror itself in the other but uses its blood supply for the purpose of its own exercises in vitality. It has clearly vampiric features and is reminiscent of the beautiful song by the Rolling Stones “Let It Bleed,” in which it goes “Yeah, we all need someone we can bleed on / Yeah, yeah, and if you want it, baby, well why don’cha bleed on me.” It is nothing less than a love song based on the premise that we all mercilessly need someone. And for those who offer themselves to the vampire’s bite, it certainly has to be love. Enfants Terribles do not ask for permission, they simply do it. But the blood that they take is also the blood that they give. Because art comes from art. By means of transformations and metamorphoses they give back to art what they take from it. This also becomes evident in other projects by the two artists. Such as when they respond to Niki de Saint-Phalle’s Nanas in Hannover in a performance. It is once again the name of the work that becomes important here in a twofold way. Because the sculptures bear the same first name as the artist, in the performance by the artist couple they automatically become the counterparts of Matvey Slavin, who slips into different roles in the form of small sculptures.

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Nanas og Matveys

Selv om de syv skulpturer i serien som titel bærer kunstnerens fornavn nemlig „Matveys”, handler det ikke om at skabe fysiske ligheder med Matvey Slavin. Heller ikke selvom skulpturerne alle har farvestrålende hatte på og dermed konkret henviser til ham, som er kendt for at elske farvede hatte. I første omgang handler det om Nana og Matvey, som er navnene på skulpturerne ved Leine- floden. Det fundne navn er i en vis forstand objet trouvé for duoens arbejde. Med det bliver kunstnerne automatisk selv del af Niki de Saint-Phalles værk. Men de tærer ikke kun på det berømte værk, for blodtilførslen går i begge retninger. Gennem aktionen tilføres „Nanas“ i Hannover på samme måde som „Maman“ i Hamborg ny opmærksomhed. Pressen kommer og rapporterer – med glæde, fordi værkerne af Niki de Saint-Phalle i deres grad af berømthed praktisk talt garanterer interesse. For Enfants Terribles er „Nanas“ mediet, gennem hvilket de kan smugle deres egen kunst ud til offentligheden. Denne får indblik i, hvordan de arbejder, lærer deres skulpturer at kende og ser, hvor nemt de to kunstnere får værkets historie og dermed tids- og socialhistorie til at passere revy, idet „Matveys“ indtager forskellige roller og interagerer med værket: kritisk, skeptisk, bedrevidende og billedstormerisk som i sin tid i 1970erne, da skulpturgruppen blev opstillet. Eller optræder i roller som kom til i årene derefter, som beundrer eller turist som søger hvile. En lignende strategi lå bag den aktion, hvor de lod sorte myrer kravle over facaden på Künstlerhaus Meinersen, der hvor de netop tilbringer et studieår som stipendiater. Også her benyttede de sig elegant af formatforskydninger mellem for- og afbildning, hvilket på grund af myrernes ikke så naturlige størrelse straks udløste opmærksomhed. Hvis „edderkopperne“ og „Matveys“ var meget små i forhold til de skulpturer, de forbandt sig med og forholdt sig til, så er „myrerne“ i forhold til virkelighedens originaler meget store. Med disse optræder de også i en bestemt kunstnerisk referenceramme. Man kommer til at tænke på Jonathan Meeses yndlingsbeskrivelse af sig selv som „kunstens myre“, men også på monstermyrerne i Roger Cormans B-film, der på grund af deres størrelse skaber skræk og gru.

15 Nanas and Matveys

Even though the seven sculptures in the series bear the title Matvey, when they were created it was not about producing a physiognomic resemblance to Matvey Slavin the artist. Although the sculptures all wear colorful hats and thus make reference to him metonymically—is known to be a lover of colorful hats—it is first and foremost about Nana and Matvey, which the name ofthe sculptures on the bank of the river Leine suggests. In a sense, the discovery of the name is the objet trouvé for the duo’s work. It automatically makes the artists part of the work by Niki de Saint- Phalle. But they do not solely feed on the famous work—the blood supply flows in both directions. Through the project, the Nanas in Hannover, like the Maman in Hamburg, receive renewed attention and acknowledgement. The press comes and reports—gladly, because due to the degree of familiarity of the work by Niki de Saint-Phalle, interest is guaranteed, so to speak. For Enfants Terribles, the Nanas are the conclusive medium through which they bring the contraband of their own art into public view. The public learns how the two work, becomes acquainted with their sculptures, and also experiences how skillfully both artists recall the history Collage and performance The Seven Matvey [Die Sieben Matveys] August 1th., 2014 of the work and along with it contemporary and social history by By the Nanas, Leineufer, Hannover having the Matveys assume different roles in which they respond to the Nanas. As a critic and skeptic, a wiseacre and iconoclast as in the period during which they were installed in the seventies, or as an admirer and tourist seeking rest as in the years thereafter. A similar strategy also guided the performance in which they had black ants crawl over the façade of the Künstlerhaus Meinersen, where they are currently spending a year on a scholarship. Here, too, they skillfully used format-related shifts between model and depiction, which in their antinaturalist alienation immediately resulted in attention. While the “spiders” and “Matveys” they drew on and made reference to were very small in relation to the sculptures, in relation to the real-life original the “ants” are very large. With them they also operate in a frame of reference defined by art. One need only think of Jonathan Meese’s favorite description of himself as an “ant of art,” or of the monster ants in the B-movies by Roger Corman, whose enormous dimensions spread fear and terror.

16 17 Performance Ascent of the Ants [Aufstieg der Ameisen] March 28th.- April 1th., 2014 Künstlerhaus Meinersen, Meinersen

19 Trash

For at kunne arbejde bredspektret på denne måde kræves viden og kunnen, men også selvtillid og klogskab. Kvaliteter som de to kunstnere tydeligvis besidder i tilstrækkelig grad. Endnu en af deres aktioner forbinder meget uensartede og forskellige indflydelser. Over stativet på en indkøbsvogn formede de en stor lyserød gris, udstyrede den med en redningskrans og skubbede den gennem hele byen. Indtil den tilsidst ankom til målet, Hamborg Havn overfor Elbe Philharmoniehuset. Denne spektakulære og evigt pengeædende bygning, på en og samme tid æstetisk sensationel og omringet af økonomisk skandale, leverer her kontekst og reference til det druknende svin. Svinet er naturligvis også generelt et symbol på en „Vi morer os til døde“ eller en ubekymret „Efter os kommer syndefloden“ forbrugerholdning. Dermed kommer man samtidig til at tænke på en overdimensioneret sparegris og på en trash- version af Jeff Koons ædle og dyrt iscenesatte dyreskulpturer, hvor herunder et svin fra slutningen af 1980erne balancerer med ged, hund og fugl på ryggen. Trash som medium og message spiller generelt en stor rolle i værkproduktionen af Enfants Terribles. Dette er særlig tydeligt at se i deres skulpturer, som udføres i Drawing and performance Greedy Pig [Konsumschwein] August 31th., 2012 billige materialer og derved minder om Arte Povera. Skulpturerne Fischmarkt - Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg formes ovenpå konstruktioner i træ, som kunstnerne beklæder med papmaché og dækker med sort lakmaling, således at de, der i forvejen er grotesk forvrænget, ser ud som om, de er spyttet ud af helvede. De ser i det hele taget fordømte ud, men de accessoires som duoen har klædt dem på med, nederdele, bukser, støvler, huer, kæder og smykker, fastholder dem dog på denne side i verden og skaber et nutidigt udtryk. De mildner også indtrykket af figurerne som dystre og trøstesløse og fremtryller med de tilføjede farveklatter et forsigtigt smil hos betragteren. Trods al dysterheden udgøres disse figurer ikke kun af mol, men også dur, hvilket er ganske morsomt. Som Samuel Beckett en gang fastslog: „Intet er mere komisk end ulykken“. Dog er de lysende felter strengt reguleret. Hver og en af de sorte figurer tilføjes kun fem farver, enten monokrome eller i form af farvede mønstre. Disse er oplistet på hver deres sokkel, som skematisk klargør fremstillingsprocessen, som også i en anden form er at finde i kunstnerduoens Laufbilder.

20 21 Trash

It requires knowledge and skill as well as self-confidence and cunning, which both artists obviously possess in sufficient measure, to be able to work in such an allusive way. Another performance by them also combines very disparate influences. They fashioned a large pink pig out of a shopping cart, forced it into a lifesaver, and drove it through town. Until it finally reached its destination in the Port of Hamburg across from the Elbe Philharmonic Hall. The spectacular money eating building, both aesthetically sensational as well as beset with economic scandals, supplies the context and the reference for the drowning pig. Which of course is quite generally also a symbol for a consumerist “We are amusing ourselves to death” or an unhesitating “devil-may-care” attitude. In addition, one is also reminded of an oversized piggy bank as well as of the trash version of Jeff Koon’s nobly and expensively staged animals, including a pig by him from the late eighties on whose back are balancing a goat, a dog, and a bird. Trash as medium and message in general plays a major role in the oeuvre of Enfants Terribles. This becomes particularly visible in the make of their sculptures, whose manufacture out of cheap material naturally moves them into the proximity of Arte Povera. They owe their form to a wooden construction. The artists wrapped it in papier mâché and coated it with black varnish, so that the forms, already distorted to the point of being grotesque, look like spawns of the devil. They all appear to be damned, yet the accessories with which the artist couple has dressed them—skirts, trousers, caps, chains, and jewelry—bring them back into this world and create contemporaneity. They also temper the dismal, dystopic impression of the figures, and with the splashes of color that they attach to them in this way they conjure a hesitant, cautious smile on the faces of those viewing them. For all their gloom, these figures, tuned not only to minor but also to major, are definitely exhilarant. Something like Samuel Beckett’s “Nothing is funnier than unhappiness.” Yet this brightening is strictly regulated. Each of the black figures receives just five colors, either monochrome or in the form of colored patterns. They are listed on each of their bases, a device that gives an account of the production process, which can also be found in another form in the artist duo’s Laufbilder.

22 Liebermann, 2014 [Liebermann] 187 x 100 x 75 cm Wooden frame, paper mache, black varnish, accessories

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Dadaisme

Duoens skulpturer indskriver sig også i den etablerede kunst. For eksempel i skulpturen „Liebermann“ (2014). Men der dukker ingen mindelser op om den senimpressionistiske maler, som værkets titel henviser til, når man betragter skulpturen. Den fremstillede mand med kniven i hånden minder mere om en gadekæmper, om et medlem af en bande. Og den bamse han bærer rundt på, gør ham endnu mindre elskværdig, den understreger blot det barnlige i hans opførsel. Hans nøgenhed understreger derimod det arkaiske, vilde og kampberedte i hans personlighed og får os til at tænke på krigeren, som føler sig mest påklædt i nøgen tilstand. Hans gyldne ben – tænk på „Manden med den gyldne arm“ en roman om den heroinafhængige trommeslager skrevet af Nelson Algren og filmatiseret af Otto Preminger – skal naturligvis ligeledes opfattes symbolsk og betoner mandens fremtrædende og elitære position, som en man hverken har lyst til at møde om dagen eller om natten. Dermed drejes endnu engang titlen „Liebermann“ med ironi. Det ironiske gennemsyrer, sammen med det groteske og humoristiske, kunstnerparrets værker og er også indgangen til skulpturerne fra 2014, hvis titler spiller på dadaismen, „Dadakind, Großbruder“ (Dadabarn, storebror) og Dadakind, Kleinbruder (Dadabarn, lillebror). Som formnedbrydere og samfundskritikere befinder Enfants Terribles sig godt i denne tradition og betegner sig da også gerne som neo-dadaister. Værkerne indeholder dog samtidigt noget ekstremt barnligt og infantilt, som hos „Liebermann“ nærmer sig det primitive og aggressive. Dermed henviser Enfants Terribles endnu engang subtilt til historiske faktorer, som har influeret på den moderne kunst og på deres egen: Børns kunst og det arkaiske samfunds artefakter som Brückekunstnerne mødte på Dresdens Völkerkundemuseum og ligeledes som Picasso og hans kunstnervenner på Musée de l´homme i . Enfants Terribles henter alt dette ind i deres egne skulpturer, hvortil de også tilføjer Dantes helvedesscenarier og pinselsscenerne fra Hieronymus Bosch. I et åndedrag indskriver de dermed målbevidst deres figurer i det moderne ved at stille dem på skateboards og lade dem skyde med vandpistoler og slangebøsser efter hinanden.

26 27 Dadaism

The couple’s sculptures also place themselves under the auspices of established art. For example their sculpture Liebermann (2014). However, when viewing the sculpture, memories of the late Impressionist painter, whom the title of the work recalls, do not want to set in at all. The man it depicts with a knife in his hand is more reminiscent of a street fighter, a gang member. And the teddy bear he is carrying causes him to be less loveable than the infantile quality intensifies his appearance. In contrast, his nakedness emphasizes the archaic, wild, and battlesome quality of his person and calls to mind warriors who are the most well dressed when they are nude. His golden leg—bear in mind The Man with the Golden Arm, a novel about a drummer addicted to heroin written by Nelson Algren and adapted as a film by Otto Preminger—is of course also to be seen symbolically and underscores the elitist position of the man, whom one would not like to encounter either during the day or at night. Which naturally turns the title Liebermann once more in the direction of the ironic. Besides the grotesque and the humoresque, irony is a constant that runs through the entire oeuvre of the artist couple. It is also the bridge that leads to those sculptures whose titles allude to Dadaism, such as Dadakind, Großbruder (Dada Child, Big Brother) or Dadakind, Kleinbruder Dada Child, Little Brother, 2014 (Dada Child, Little Brother), both from 2014. As form smashers and [Dadakind, Kleinbruder] social critics, Enfants Terribles justifiably see themselves in the 110 x 35 x 95 cm tradition of Dadaism, and they even like to refer to themselves as Wooden frame, paper mache, black varnish, accessories and Neo-Dadaists. The works also display something extremely childlike video work No title [Ohne Titel] 43 s, loop, 2010 From the series Video Sculptures and infantile that, like Liebermann, always settles somewhere in the vicinity of the primitive and aggressive. Hence Enfants Terribles once again make subtle reference to historical factors that have influenced modern art and their own. It was artby children that the Brücke artists became acquainted with at the Völkerkundemuseum in Dresden, and Picasso and his artist friends at the Musée de l’homme in Paris, and which supplied them with inspiration for their art. Enfants Terribles draw all of that into their own sculptures, whereby they adopt Dante’s hellish scenes and Hieronymus Bosch’s scenes of torture for their own use as well. In the process, they resolutely convey their figures into the modern era in the same breath when they place them on skateboards or have them shoot at each other with plastic guns and slingshots.

28 29 Video

Medens Matvey Slavin og Nana Bastrup som Enfants Terribles i fællesskab planlægger og udfører deres aktioner samt skitserer og skaber deres fælles skulpturer og billeder, findes der i forbindelse med sidstnævnte bestemte områder og felter, som enten den ene eller den anden udelukkende selv udfører. Blandt de to kunstneres skulpturer er der nogen af dem, som ganske dragende ser videoer i vores sted. Disse videoværker er lavet af Nana Bastrup, der allerede som studerende i Hamburg, da hun endnu arbejdede selvstændigt, lavede adskillige fremragende korte film. Disse er absolut anbefalingsværdige og kan alle ses på Vimeo. „Der Denker und die Zeit“ (Tænkeren og tiden, 2014) er en sådan videoskulptur, The Thinker and Time, 2014 og samtidig en af duoens skulpturer, som endnu engang henviser til [Der Denker und die Zeit] en inkunabel i det moderne. Men hvor Rodins „Grubler“ (1882-84) 115 x 60 x 110 cm Wooden frame, paper mache, black varnish, accessories and støtter armen på knæet, lægger hovedet tænksomt på håndryggen og video work Time [Die Zeit] 14 s, loop, 2012 kigger drømmende hen for sig, så kigger Enfants Terribles skulptur From the series Video Sculptures på en lille skærm, som han holder i hånden. Man ser en 14 sekunder lang film af Nana Bastrup fra 2012, som samtidig er en performance. Den unge kunstner sidder ved et bord med en brændende avis i hånden. Hun læser roligt og fattet, mens den brænder op. Den på en gang besynderlige og fascinerende opførsel minder om surrealistiske drømme og actes gratuit: Bretons lyst til at affyre en revolver på det ligegyldige massemenneske og Dalis brændende giraf. Samtidig er det en højst uforglemmelig, ja filosofisk demonstration af, hvorledes tiden uigenkaldelig forsvinder, hvordan den „brænder op“, mens vi lever den. I en anden af Bastrups videoer som hænger sammen med skulpturen „Dadakind, Kleinbruder“ (2014)- nemlig „Ohne Titel“ (Uden titel), 43 sekunder lang fra 2010, ser vi kunstnerens ansigt på en femdelt split screen. Skærmen opdeler kunstnerens ansigt i flere dele på samme tid. Hver af dem fremstår med deres eget liv uden længere at høre sammen. Hvorimod en markant ind- og udånding på lydsiden henviser til at dette er præcist som i livet: Fragmentering, opsplitning, fremmedgørelse. På denne udsøgte måde får Nana Bastrup i sine film vist, hvad dadaismen egentlig handler om, hvad dens egentlige substans er bag alle løjerne.

30 31 Video

While Matvey Slavin and Nana Bastrup collectively plan and carry out their projects as Enfants Terribles as well as design and create their sculptures and paintings, in the case of the latter there are specific reserves and fields for whose handling either the one or the other is more or less exclusively responsible. Among the sculptures by the two artists, there are several that watch videos in our place—and because of this are all the more appealing to us. These videos are by Nana Bastrup, who as a student in Hamburg, when she was still working on her own, shot several outstanding short films. They are absolutely recommendable and can all be viewed on Vimeo. Der Denker und die Zeit (The Thinker and Time, 2014) is one such video sculpture and at the same time one of the couple’s sculptures that again operates with the referential character of a modern incunable. However, while Rodin’s The Thinker (1882–84), his right elbow propped on his left knee and his head pensively resting on the back of his hand, looks meditatively into space, the sculpture by Enfants Terribles is looking at a small screen in his hand. What it sees is a fourteen-second-long film by Nana Bastrup from 2012 that is at once a performance. One sees the young artist sitting at a table, a burning newspaper in her hand that she calmly and collectively reads while it goes up in flames. The disconcerting and yet fascinating act recalls Surrealist dreams and actes gratuit: Breton’s desire to shoot at an indifferent crowd of people, Dalí’s burning giraffes. At the same time it is a highly emphatic, even philosophical demonstration of how time irrevocably passes, how it “burns” while we experience it. Another video by Bastrup ties in with the sculpture Dadakind, Kleinbruder. In the forty-three-second-long Ohne Titel (Untitled) from 2010, we see the artist’s face on a five-section split screen. It likewise chops the artist’s face up into five parts. Each of them seems to lead an independent life and to no longer belong together, whereby a pronounced soundtrack composed of the sound of inhaling and exhaling points out that this is precisely life: fragmentation, dismemberment, alienation. In her video, Nana Bastrup thus exquisitely demonstrates what Dadaism is actually all about and what its original substance really is behind all the fun.

32 33 Dada Child, Little Brother, 2014 [Dadakind, Kleinbruder] 110 x 35 x 95 cm Wooden frame, paper mache, black varnish, accessories and video work No title [Ohne Titel] 43 s, loop, 2010 From the series Video Sculptures

35 Anti-konsum

Allerede i titlen ses det, at „Frühstück im Grünen“ (Frokost i det grønne, 2014) forholder sig til kunst. Vi tænker på, hvorledes temaet er behandlet af Tizian, Monet, Manet eller Picasso. Enfants Terribles version viser os endnu en engang en kulsort figur. Hendes forbindelse til natur og sommer viser sig tydeligt i den limegrønne kjole hun har på, i de røde kirsebærblomster og i den skødesløse holdning hun har, og som man oftest indtager i naturen. Også hun holder en ipad (eller en smartphone) i hånden. Hun betragter en monitor, hvor endnu en video af Bastrup ses „Ohne Titel“ (Uden Titel, 2012), 1,12 minutter lang. Igen er kunstneren hovedpersonen. Men hendes frokost i det grønne kommer til skue som en klar afvisning. Hun sidder på jorden i en af byens parker, et klart citat ud af værkets kunsthistoriske kontekst, samtidig med man i baggrunden hører lyden af biler. Ved siden af hende ligger der madvarer: bananer, en agurk, gulerødder, kål, vin og vand. Hun tager en, derefter to bidder af en banan og kaster den væk. Det samme gør hun med de andre ting, hun har liggende ved siden af sig. Handlingen har både noget aggressivt og noget legende over sig. Bastrup Breakfast on the Grass, 2014 [Frühstück im Grünen] smider alt i retning mod en bænk i nærheden, hvorpå der står en rød 70,5 x 160 x 100 cm plastikkurv, som hun tilsyneladende har brugt, da hun bar tingene Wooden frame, paper mache, black varnish, accessories and ud i parken. Det virker som om, at hun forsøger at kaste tingene video work No Title [Ohne Titel] 01:12 m, loop, 2012 tilbage i kurven, hvilket hun ikke har meget held med. Alt ser ud From the series Video Sculptures til at flyve gennem luften, og hun laver et enormt kaos. Måske er det kun en leg, måske også en metafor for de anarkistiske forviklinger i den sociale struktur, som kapitalismen i sin neoliberale form uværgeligt fører til. Konsumkritik er i hvert fald et af Enfants Terribles kernetemaer, hvilket viser sig markant i deres aktion fra 2012 med det rullende svin. At dette dog altid var et af emnerne i Nana Bastrups arbejde tydeliggøres i yderligere to af hendes værker. For det første i en aktion i Altonaer Museum, hvor hun pakkede udstillingsvitriner ind i emballagemateriale for at henvise til den tiltagende kommercialisering af kunsten. Kunst som vare og som investering. Den anden i et projekt i København, hvor hun ud af et bjerg af papkasser formede en reolvæg med mange hylder. Det lignede både en intelligent form for genbrug og samtidig en overbevisende kritik af Minimal Art.

36 37 Anticonsumerism

As already indicated by the title, Frühstück im Grünen (Breakfast on the Grass, 2014) also responds to art. What comes to mind is the treatment of the theme by Titian, Monet, Manet, or Picasso. The version by Enfants Terribles once more shows us a pitch-black figure whose prominent connection to nature and summer is the little lime green dress she is wearing, as well as in a spray of red blossoms and her casual posture, which we are accustomed to assuming when we lay down outdoors. She, too, is holding a tablet (or a Smartphone) in her hand and looking at its display, on which another video by Bastrup is running: Ohne Titel (Untitled) from 2012, one minute and twelve seconds long. The artist is again the protagonist. But her breakfast on the grass comes across as a veritable denial. She is sitting in a municipal park on the ground, a clear reference to the art-historical context of the work, while the sound of moving cars can be heard in the background. There is food next to her—bananas, a cucumber, carrots, cabbage—and wine and water. She takes one, two bites of the banana and then tosses it away, which she does with all of the other things. Besides something aggressive, there is something playful about the action. Bastrup is throwing everything in the direction of red plastic basket on a nearby bench that she apparently used to carry everything to the park. One would like to think that she is attempting to put them back into the basket, which she does not succeed in doing however. Everything somehow flies all over the place, and she wreaks chaos. Birdman and Greedy Pig, 2014 Maybe it is just a game, but then again it might be a metaphor for [Vogelmann und Konsumschwein] the anarchic faults in the social fabric to which capitalism in 236 x 298 cm its neoliberal form inevitably leads. The criticism of consumerism Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin is in any case one of the core themes of Enfants Terribles, which Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins found pronounced expression in their 2012 project with the pig on wheels. That this has always been one of the themes in Nana Bastrup’s work is demonstrated by two further works. For one thing, a performance at the Altonaer Museum in which she enveloped the exhibition display cases with promotional packing material and thus pointed out the increasing commodification of art. Art as merchandise and investment. For another, an action in Copenhagen in which she fashioned a shelf unit with numerous shelves out of a mountain of promotional packing waste. It looks like an intelligent form of recycling and at the same time a striking criticism of Minimal Art.

38 39 Exhibition Man and Product [Mensch und Ware] 2012 Altonaer Museum, Hamburg

41 Laufbilder

På samme måde som Nana Bastrup med sine videoer på enestående vis har præget deres fælles skulpturer, så har Matvey Slavin præget de fælles Laufbilder med sine tegninger. „Laufbilder“ (løbe-billeder) er et begreb fra den særlige vokabular som Enfants Terribles hæfter på deres kunstneriske aktiviteter. Også her ses en fremragende strategi til at få opmærksomhed i kunstverdenen. Hvad de i øvrigt også får med disse Laufbilder, som i konception og komposition har til hensigt at fastholde mindet om kunstnerduoen. Udviklingen af billederne foregår i flere trin. Først udfærdiges en håndlavet model. Grundlaget for denne model og dermed dette Laufbild er et foto, som viser en tidligere udstillings- og performancesituation, hvor Nana Bastrup og Matvey Slavin enten alene eller sammen som Enfants Terribles optrådte i. Dette foto bliver trykt på genbrugspapir. Derefter begynder fællesværket at skride frem ved hjælp af arbejdsdeling. Slavin føjer sine tegnede og udklippede figurer til de tidligere udstillings- og performancesituationer ved at klistre dem på papiret. Han benytter fotoet til en vis grad som en scene, hvor hans figurkarakterer får begivenheder til at ske. Disse giver Bastrup så en koreografi med en særlig slags collage, gennem hvilken hun understreger, dirigerer og aktiverer begivenheder og forbindelser mellem rum, ting og personer på billedscenen. Det vil sige, hun klæber i første omgang ikke noget på billedet som Slavin, men klipper først ud. Linjer og flader bliver fremhævet af det farvede papir, der klistres på billedets underside. Hvor Slavin bearbejder billedets overflade, bearbejder Bastrup undersiden. De farvede linjer, der løber gennem billedet, skaber kommunikationslinjer, som betragteren følger efter i sin afkodning. Gennem farvede flader defineres og karakteriseres personer og ting nærmere, og koloristiske sensationer opstår frem for alt i Slavins blyantstegnede figurer. Så snart modellen er færdig, bliver den fotograferet, lagt ind i computeren og trykt på robuste presenninger. Hvis man vil, kan man sagtens gå på dem, uden at værket tager skade. Det er jo „løbe-billeder“. Forud har kunstnerne udstyret billedkanterne med detaljer om deres fremgangsmåde, passende til en moderne etik om ikke at narre betragteren til at tro, at et x er et y. Disse viser hvilke farver og mønstre Bastrups anvendte papir har, hvilken tykkelse blyant Slavin har brugt, og hvilken udstillingssituation der her er tale om.

Running Images, 2014 [Laufbilder] 236 x 176 cm Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins

42 43 Laufbilder

While Nana Bastrup has prominently left her mark on their collective sculptures with her videos, Matvey Slavin has left his on their collective Laufbilder with his drawings. Laufbilder—walking pictures—is a term from the particular vocabulary of Enfants Terribles that accompanies their artistic activities. Another outstanding strategy for the purpose of drawing attention to themselves in the operating system of art. Which incidentally is what the Laufbilder also do, which in terms of their conception and composition are laid out to, among other things, keep one’s memory alive of the works by the artist duo. The development of the Laufbilder takes place in several steps. It begins with the production of a model created by hand. The basis of the model and thus of the Laufbild is a photograph of a past exhibition or performance situation in which Nana Bastrup and Matvey Slavin were active either individually or collaboratively as Enfants Terribles. This photo is copied onto recycled paper, after which their collective work progresses. Slavin introduces figures he has drawn and cut out into the colored exhibition or performance situation from the past, which he sticks to the sheets of paper. In a sense, he uses them as stages on which an event develops by means of his characters. Bastrup then adds a choreography using a special form of collage with which she accentuates, directs, and accelerates what is occurring on the visual stage and creates connections between space, objects, and persons. In the process, she does not primarily stick anything to the picture like Slavin but first of all cuts something out. Lines and surfaces that she then highlights by means of colored paper that she sticks to reverse side of the picture from below. While Slavin fashions the picture from the top down, she works on it from the bottom up. The colored lines that run through the picture create lines of communication that the viewer’s eye follows in order to decipher them. The colored surfaces more closely define and characterize objects and persons, creating coloristic sensations above all in Slavin’s penciled-in figures. As soon as the model is complete, it is photographed, stored on the computer, enlarged, and printed on robust tarps. If one wanted to, one could even walk on them without damaging the works. After all, they are “walking pictures.” The artists have provided details about their media on the edges of the pictures beforehand, which corresponds with the artistic ethos of the modern era of not putting anything over on the viewer. They show what colors and patterns the sheets of paper used by Bastrup have, the grade of the pencils Slavin used, and which exhibition situation each of the pictures makes reference to.

Exhibition [Inszenierte Traüme II/II] 2013 Galerie Kurt im Hirsch, Berlin 44 45 Running Images [Laufbilder] 2013 70 x 50 cm Pencil, collage and inkjet-print on paper From the series Laufbilder 46 47

Joker

For at gøre det håndgribeligt, kigger vi nærmere på et par Laufbilder, som alle er opstået i 2014. Først det Laufbild som har udgangspunkt i den aktion, som fandt sted i 2012 i sammenhæng med Louise Bourgeois’ „Maman“. Her starter dette essay, og her fødes også Enfants Terribles. Sceneriet på dette Laufbild med den statementagtige og ikke særlig overraskende titel „Der Joker“ (Jokeren, 2014), er et foto, som dokumenterer aktionen på plateauet mellem Hamburger Kunsthalle og Museum der Gegenwart. Vi ser her Bourgeois´ monumentale edderkop og kunstnerparrets små edderkopper. Kunstnerne selv ses stående i baggrunden foran Kunsthallens facade mellem „Mamans“ kæmpestore edderkoppeben, som ikke kunne være mere signifikant. Ikke så langt derfra står et par tilskuere. I dette foto har Matvey Slavin nu indsat groteske figurer, som henviser til situationer, man kender til, hvis man er fortrolig med stedet. På pladsen mellem kunstbygningerne elsker unge mennesker nemlig at samles og vise deres kunnen på og med skateboards. Det er tydeligvis to af disse personer som Slavin har tegnet. To af de andre han har kreeret, er i gang med en noget teatralsk selviscenesættelse. En gående splejset mand som Bastrup har klædt på med en grøn støvle, er i fare for at falde ned i et hul. En tyk hermafrodit poserer i en stilling som taget fra en akademisk tegneklasse. Fra hans brysteholder snor en lyserød tråd sig sammen med et af benene på den lyserøde kæmpeedderkop. Bastrup har dyppet „Maman“ i en lige så venlig og iøjnefaldende lyserød. Hele scenen er lagt an på synlighed. Det er som i virkelighedens verden. Der er dem som ser, dem som bliver set og gerne vil ses. For de sidste afhænger hele deres status og betydning deraf. Den som ikke formår at blive set og opdaget i kunstverden, har tabt på forhånd. Enfants Terribles har forstået det og brugt denne viden i praksis. Det er deres joker. Det er også jokeren i billedet, som ikke særligt overraskende optræder i form af en af duoens små edderkopper. Ligesom jokeren i et kortspil oftest afgør sejre eller nederlag, foregår det således også i livet og i kunsten. Der optræder han tit i form af en frelsende idé, som influerer gunstigt på kunstens eller livets spil. Enfants Terribles fik den, og jokeren legemliggør den. Derfor blafrer han også som stolt fane i billedet og optræder som lykkebringer i andre af kunstnerparrets scener og Laufbilder.

49 Joker

To make it more tangible, let us turn to several Laufbilder, all of which were created in 2014, the first being one whose starting point was the project from 2012 that was developed in connection with the Maman by Louise Bourgeois. This essay begins with it, and it also marks the birth of Enfants Terribles. The visual stage of this Laufbild with the programmatic and hardly surprising title of Der Joker (The Joker, 2014) is a photograph that documents the project on the plateau between the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Galerie der Gegenwart. What we see is the monumental spider by Bourgeois and the small spiders by the artist couple standing in the background in front of the façade of the Kunsthalle between the Maman’s giant spider legs, which could not be more meaningful. Several spectators are standing close by. Matvey Slavin has placed grotesque characters in the photo that indicate an occurrence known to those who are familiar with this site. Youths love to assemble on the square between the two art venues and demonstrate their stunts with and on skateboards. Two of the figures drawn by Slavin clearly refer to this. Another two, also drawn by him, are engaged in more of a theatrical self-presentation. A scrawny man staggering about, whom Bastrup has dressed in a green boot, is at risk of falling into a hole. A chubby hermaphrodite is posing like a nude model in an academic drawing class. A pink thread spans The Joker, 2014 from its bra to one of the pink legs of the giant spider. Bastrup [Der Joker] immersed the Maman in a friendly yet conspicuous pink. The entire 236 x 323 cm scene aims at visibility. As in real life, there are those who see Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin and those who are seen and want to be seen. Because for the latter, Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins their status and importance depend on it. Those in art who do not succeed in being seen and acknowledged have already lost. Enfants Terribles have realized this and put this knowledge into practice. That is their joker. It is also the joker in the picture, who unsurprisingly appears in the shape of one of the small spiders created by the duo. Just as the joker often enough determines victory or defeat in a card game, the same applies in life and in art, where it regularly appears in the form of a brilliant idea that has a favorable influence on the game of art or the game of life. Enfants Terribles had it, the joker embodies it. This is why he also waves as a proud banner in the picture and serves as a lucky charm in other scenes and Laufbilder by the artist couple.

50 51 Kunst og liv

Skateren som symbol på kunstneren i udvidet forstand, i kunsten som i livet, optræder også i Laufbild „Auf der Kante“ (På kanten, 2014) foran en væg med Nana Bastrups serie „Memorizing“. Tematiseringen af kunstbranchen, ikke i autistisk, hermetisk og narcissistisk forstand, men som social og politisk metafor, hører til et af Enfants Terribles foretrukne temaer. I Laufbild „Blablamann und seine Bewunderer“ (Bla-bla-mand og hans beundrere, 2014) har Slavin placeret et besøgende par med barn i en udstilling med værker af kunstnerduoen. Ærefrygtigt lapper de en kunsteksperts ord i sig, som han med nærmest guddommelig autoritet prædiker fra en piedestal. Han kunne dog ligeså godt have været en af de berygtede folkeforførere, der op til i dag forfører massen med ideologiske paroler. Bare et af eksemplerne på, hvordan Enfants Terribles billedfortællinger griber fra kunsten ud i livet. Et andet eksempel er Laufbild „Spinnen und Mitbewerber“ (Edderkopper og rivaler, 2014), som igen på baggrund af deres Hamburger installation, viser den nådesløse konkurrence som hersker i kunstsystemet præcist som på andre livsområder. Overordnet bliver det, når man vedbliver at kigge på duoens billeder, mere og mere tydeligt i hvor høj grad kunstbranchen bliver brugt til at læse og forstå samfundet og livet på. Der „Grußmann“ (Vinkemanden, 2014) er en karikatur af alle dem, som først føler de eksisterer, når de kender alle og bliver genkendt af alle. „Maestro und sein Schüler“ (Maestro og hans elev, 2014) illustrerer, hvor meget efterligning definerer vores handlinger i stedet for kreativitet - ikke kun i kunsten. Der „Kritiker“ (Kritikeren, 2014) som selvsikkert ser kunsten i spejlet af sin egen anmeldelse, bliver en prototype på alle dem som skal teste, vurdere og sortere os i livet. Når Enfants Terribles lidt eventyragtigt hånd i hånd og med lette hjerter og fodtrin flygter fra ham, så opfordrer de også til modstand ligesom i deres Laufbild „Professor Nein“ (Professor Nej, 2014). Modstand i alle former iscenesættes i disse værker af Slavins spidse blyant, som han i traditionen fra f.eks. Jacques Callot, Wiliam Hogarth, Honoré Daumier bruger til at spidde den menneskelige svaghed og forfængelighed, sin egen ej undtaget, for på denne måde, at vise sig hærdet overfor enhver autoritets intimidering og krav.

53 Art and Life

As an emblem of the artiste in a wider sense, in much the same way in art and in life the skateboarder also appears in the Laufbild Auf der Kante (On the Edge, 2014) in front of a wall of Memorizing pictures by Nana Bastrup. One of the preferred themes of Enfants Terribles is addressing the art business, not in an autistically hermetic and narcissistic fashion but as a social and political metaphor. Slavin placed a couple with a child visiting an exhibition of the artist couple’s works in the Laufbild Blablamann und seine Bewunderer (Blah-Blah Man and His Admirers, 2014). They are reverently listening to the words of an art exegete enthroned high above them on a plinth, apparently being spoken with divine authority. However, it could just as well be one of those notorious Pied Pipers who to this day deceive the masses with ideological slogans. Only one example of how the pictorial narratives by Enfants Terribles reach out from art into life. Another one is the Laufbild Spinnen und Mitbewerber (Spiders and Competitors, 2014), which once more demonstrates against the background of their installation in Hamburg that merciless competitive pressure enslaves the art system in much the same way as other areas of life. In general, when viewing pictures by the duo it time and again becomes noticeable how much the art business serves as an example for the purpose of reading and understanding society and life. The Grußmann (Hello Man, 2014) is a caricature of all those who do not begin to exist until they know everyone and are recognized by everyone. Maestro und sein Schüler (Maestro and His Student, 2014) illustrates how much imitation defines our actions instead of creativity, not only in art. The Kritiker (Critic, 2014), who smugly contemplates art in the mirror of his own review, becomes the prototype of all those who test, evaluate, and pigeonhole us in life. When Enfants Terribles, a little fairytale-like, light- heartedly escape from him hand-in-hand and at an easy pace, they also encourage us to put up resistance; the same holds true for their Laufbild Professor Nein (Professor No, 2014). Slavin’s sharp pencil stages resistance in all possible forms in these works, which he uses to impale human weaknesses and vanities in the tradition of Jacques Callot, Wiliam Hogarth, Honoré Daumier, and others, and in doing so demonstrates his immunity to any form of authoritarian intimidation and appropriation.

Blah-Blah-Man and His Admirers [Blablamann und seine Bewunderer] 2014 200 x 137 cm Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin, Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins 54 55 Spiders and Competitors, 2014 [Spinnen und Mitbewerber] 200 x 265 cm Hello Man, 2014 Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin [Grußmann] Edition: 5 200 x 250 cm From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins

56 57 The Critic, 2014 [Der Kritiker] 236 x 404 cm Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins

Maestro and His Student, 2014 [Maestro und sein Schüler] 200 x 254 cm Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins

58 59 Professor No, 2014 [Professor Nein] 200 x 219 cm Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins

61 Historiebilleder

Også „Der Eindringling“ (Den ubudne, 2014) kan læses som en parabel på en ambivalent måde. Billedet viser, hvorledes en tydeligvis sindssyg person er trængt ind på en udstilling med et konsumkritisk værk af Nana Bastrup. En mand som truer med en kniv. Han har sandsynligvis allerede jaget alle mennesker undtagen to på flugt. Eller måske var der fra begyndelsen af kun de to. En af dem prøver at bringe sig i sikkerhed højt oppe, hvor han i yderste nød udsender SOS signaler, mens en ung kvinde med krydsede ben sidder ganske roligt på et bord. Da den blå himmel bryder igennem taget i galleriet, bliver den kriminelle handling i billedet til et manifest, hvor kunstnerne beder om mere luft og kunstnerisk frihed. Pludselig ser vi deres værk som en protest mod alle slags samfund som udelukker andre. Enfants Terribles ved udmærket, hvordan man værger sig mod disse. Alene deres alliance viser det. At slutte sig à deux sammen er et virksomt middel til at gøre sig stærkere. Laufbild „Perfektes Teamwork“ (Perfekt Teamwork, 2014) annoncerer programmatisk dette. En person tumler som i et vellykket slapstick mod en dør, samtidig med en anden falder ud af en anden dør. Men i midten bliver en hybrid af de begge stående – en hybrid af Nana Bastrup og Matvey Slavin. Lette at genkende på deres seksuelle attributter som på videokameraet, blyanten og papiret. I deres billede har de to endnu en gang formået at stå samtidig på sejrssoklen. Takket være deres samarbejde, men også deres flid og udholdenhed, som også atelier- og udstillingsbilledet „Die Fußarbeit und der Blitz“ (Fodarbejdet og blitzen, 2014) handler om. I Enfants Terribles terminologi samler egenskaberne sig i begrebet „Fußarbeit“, selvom dette uden diskussion er omsluttet af de to kunstneres intelligens, hvilket hele serien af Laufbilder beviser. Det er personlige historiebilleder der i en løbende kronik viser, hvad de allerede har udrettet i deres korte kunstnerliv. Hvert nyt billede bliver en påmindelse om tidligere performances eller udstillinger. Og hver ny udstilling afgiver et motiv til et nyt billede. Dermed bringer de to kunstnere på genial vis ikke blot de nye værker på tale, men vækker samtidig nysgerrigheden i forhold til tidligere arbejder eller holder disse i frisk erindring.

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History Paintings

Der Eindringling (The Intruder, 2014) can be read in an ambivalent way as a parable. The Laufbild shows how what is obviously a madman has invaded an exhibition of anticonsumerist works by Nana Bastrup made of cardboard. The man is wielding a knife. He has apparently already put everyone else to flight except two people. Or perhaps there were only these two from the outset. One of them is trying get out of harm’s way at a lofty height, from where he is sending out an SOS in extreme distress, while a young woman sitting on a table with her legs crossed remains completely calm. When the blue sky breaks through the gallery’s roof, however, the criminal case in the picture becomes a manifesto with which the artists demand more space and freedom in art. With their work, they suddenly mount a crusade against any kind of society that excludes others. Enfants Terribles know very well how to take a stand against this. By means of their very alliance. Their coalition à deux is an effective means of increasing their strength. The Laufbild Perfektes Teamwork (Perfect Teamwork, 2014) programmatically announces this. As if in a priceless slapstick, one of the figures tumbles through a door, while another one tumbles out of another door. However, in the center of the picture a hybrid of both—of Nana Bastrup and Matvey Slavin—remains standing on a plinth. Easily recognizable by virtue of their sexual attributes as well as a video camera, pencil, and paper. In their Laufbild, the two made it onto the plinth of veneration once before. Thanks to their collaboration, but also The Intruder, 2014 thanks to their diligence and their tenacity, of which the studio [Der Eindringling] and exhibition picture Die Fußarbeit und der Blitz (Footwork and 236 x 297 cm Lightning, 2014) gives an account. In the terminology of Enfants Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin Terribles, the term footwork encapsulates these qualities. Whereby Edition: 5 they are undoubtedly arched over by the intelligence of the two From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins artists, to which the entire series of Laufbilder testifies. They are personal history paintings that in a permanent chronicle demonstrate what Nana Bastrup and Matvey Slavin have already achieved in their short life as artists. Each new work is evocative of a previous project or exhibition. And each new exhibition or project provides a motif for a further picture. Thus with their new works, the two artists not only brilliantly draw attention to themselves; at the same time they arouse people’s curiosity to become acquainted with older works or bear them in remembrance.

64 65 Perfect Teamwork, 2014 [Perfektes Teamwork] 236 x 329 cm Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins

67 Fußarbeit und der Blitz, 2014 [Footwork and Lightning] 236 x 325 cm Photo print on a vinyl tarpaulin Edition: 5 From the series Laufbilder - Digital Gobelins

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