SCIVIAS
By going into two historical figures who, for various reasons, lived and worked in ascetic monastic life, Petrine Vinje with the exhibition SCIVIAS focuses on the active life as an artist and woman. The diverse church teacher and mystic Hildegard von Bingen's (1098-1179) life in the two monasteries she ran along the Rhine in the 12th century, is set against ideas taken from the modern nun Sr. Teresia Benedicta av Korstet, also known as the philosopher Edith Stein (1891-1942). In the video work "Endliches und Ewiges Sein" which Vinje has made in collaboration with Maren Dagny Juell, Stein's philosophical discussions about the object, the subject and its inherent spirit act as guiding or misleading principles for a possible understanding of art's being, spirit or creativity. Through building sculptures and constructions, Petrine Vinje looks at the body's status in constructed spaces, our relationship to motives and the flow of meaning and intentions from and to the political subject. In this exhibition, Petrine Vinje draws on elements from illuminated manuscripts, a thematic development after her many years of study in other linguistic and historical sources. At the same time, the works also reflect the artist's pubertal fascination with asceticism and the possibility of devoting one's life to an idea. Petrine Vinje explores architecture, motifs and language as meaningful and telling elements. She has an overall focus on the imagery used to build up religious, political and historical hegemony and she is interested in the relationship between material and idea. Vinje participated in The Norwegian Sculpture Biennale 2013, with the project Anatomical Theater, and has had solo shows at, among others, The Cultural History Museum, NoPlace, SOFT gallery, Akershus Kunstsenter and Kunstnerforbundet. In 2015-16, Vinje got The German work and residency scholarship Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia from the Bayerisches Saatsministerium für Bildung, und Kultus, Wissenschaft und Kunst. Vinje initiates and curates the KORO / URO project MMMMM Alone (of all her sex) at UiO, which opens on 7 September.
The exhibition is supported by Kulturrådet.
