Dreamworld takes a look at the media landscape, television and TV advertising in the early 2000s. The exhibition questions which forces control our perception of the world, and how our ideals, dreams and values are constructed and deconstructed. It takes six families’ relationships with television – interpreted by six artists – as its starting point. These families come from different parts of Sweden, and have different backgrounds. The only thing they have in common is that they do not work in the media.
The artists lived with the families for a limited period, and asked themselves: How do the family members use television? What do they watch? How are they affected, and how is their world shaped? The artists’ encounters with the families have resulted in six rooms of installations, photographs and films.
Dreamworld is an art project with both documentary and sociological elements. It revolves around social interaction, media stereotypes, and the image as oppressor and liberator. Does television create knowledge gaps? What is the actual difference between news and soaps? What role does the medium of television play in the development of society? How do television and advertising affect gender roles?
The exhibition aims to show that the most important images and stories are found in the everyday lives of ordinary people, and that art can pick them out, making them clearer and deeper.
Participants:
Ola Esping (born 1965) is a Stockholm-based set designer. His work includes the conception and realisation of the För kännedom installation at Lunds Konsthall in 1996.
Stina Opitz (born 1944) is a visual artist from Gävle who works in Linköping. She has exhibited at Moderna Museet, Norrköping Museum of Art, and internationally.
Rikard Silwärn (born 1966) is a visual artist from Malmö. He has worked with journeys of exploration and large collective art projects.
Susanne Walström (born 1965) is a photographer who has exhibited at Moderna Museet, Göteborgs Konsthall, and the Museum of Work.
Karin Wegsjö (born 1968) is a set designer and filmmaker from Stockholm. Her film The Discreet Charm of Bucharest was nominated for a Swedish film industry Guldbagge Award in 1998.
Kajsa Wiktorin (born 1963) is a freelance filmmaker. In 1998, she made the short film My Uncle for Sveriges Television.
Dreamworld was produced by Virserums Konsthall. The exhibition includes a catalogue with texts about the medium of television by contributors including Anja Hirdman, Fredrik Bergman, Maria Edström, and Bo Reimer.
