Shoplifter's Nervescape

Nervescape is a colorful, organic, and beastly installation by Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir aka Shoplifter with sound by Kría Brekkan in the Clocktower's upper gallery.

Arnardottir makes sculptures, drawings and installations with various materials, including large amounts of multi-colored synthetic hair, which explore themes of vanity, self-image, beauty and beastly mythology, as well as notions of obsession and fetish. For her installation at the Clocktower, Arnardottir uses an existing metal structure in the upstairs gallery as a skeleton for a colorful, organic, and at times beastly installation that engulfs the space, and creates a fantastical landscape which viewers can enter and interact with.

Mythology from Arnardottir’s upbringing in Iceland serves as an abstract inspiration for her work, along with the idyllic landscape of American painting, and notions of fairytale drama. The installation will be the site for opening performances, and invite viewers to dwell in the artist’s imaginary world of paradoxical impressions such as beauty and horror, nature and the supernatural. Icelandic vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Kría Brekkan provides an elusive, environmental soundscape which will evolve over the course of the exhibition.

Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir aka Shoplifter is an Icelandic artist based in New York. She makes sculptures, drawings and installations with various materials and found objects that take on themes relating to vanity, self-image, fashion, beauty and popular myths, often touching on notions that come close to obsession or fetish. Her body of work as a whole exists in the gray area between visual art, performance, and design and has been shown and published in many countries and numerous publications. Together with the artist collective a.v.a.f. (assume vivid astro focus) she was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 2008 to create a large window installation in New York, and she represented Iceland, alongside Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, at the Liverpool Biennial in UK in September 2010. She is the recipient of The Nordic Award in Textiles 2011 and was recently awarded The Prins Eugen Medal for artistic achievement from the King of Sweden.

Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir (aka Kría Brekkan, born January 5, 1982) is an Icelandic vocalist and classically trained multi-instrumentalist. She is best known as a former frontperson of múm, and later on for collaborating with former husband David Portner as Avey Tare & Kría Brekkan.

Shoplifter's Nervescape Opening, Kria Brekkan Performance

Selected photographs from the opening of Shoplifter's "Nervescape," Kría Brekkan's sound performance, and Dave Adler's "Prisoner Fantasies: Photos from the Inside."

Cibelle Performs

The Clocktower Gallery & Radio and the artist Shoplifter welcome the Brazilian born tropical-punk delight Cibelle for a performance in our upper gallery, where she creates a sound and performance piece inside Shoplifter's wild installation, Nervescape. About this Cibelle writes: The world ended. The last whistle blew. The moon waned away, the sun plunged so low it burned out of the sky, and a last wave took out the planet. You’re one of the lucky few who escaped to another galaxy. But sometimes you can’t resist climbing into your spaceship and coming back to see all that’s left of your old Earth: a jungle on a floating rock, where monkeys are mutated by the acid rain, birds are turned to neon and the ocean drips into nowhere. And where a paradise nightclub band is playing at the last cabaret in town, the Las Venus Resort Palace Hotel. This scorched old bar has become the only hangout for anyone who’s left, and they’re all partying like it’s the end of the world - because it is - lulled by the sultry sounds of the enchanting hostess Sonja Khalecallon and her band Los Stroboscopious Luminous. As she sings and shimmies, it tastes like a cocktail so sweet, so sad, so seductive, that you will forget all others. Welcome to the pleasure zone to end all pleasure zones. But please remember: don’t feed the monkeys!

Closing Celebration for Shoplifter's Nervescape with Hess is More and Listening Center

Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir aka Shoplifter welcomes two fellow artists to perform in her Nervescape installation to mark the end of an hugely colourful and hairy era in the Clocktower's Upper Gallery. The installation hosts a live set by David Mason aka Listening Center to celebrate the release of his debut album and also an 'almost unplugged' set by Hess Is More. More info on the musicians below. The event takes place at the Clocktower Gallery in Tribeca on November 8th at 6pm, no admittance after 7pm. RSVP is required to events@artonair.org Other project rooms and exhibitions also on view including the Gamelatron. Facebook Event Link: http://on.fb.me/RBfU0o
Listening Center is the alias of drummer and electronic musician, David Mason. Drawing primarily from influences such as the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, lost film/TV soundtracks, and Kosmische Musik, Listening Center presents a patchwork of imagined pasts/futures, in which the listener can make his or her way through an undergrowth of dream-like melodies and electronic sound palettes which have the effect of being now reassuring, now unsettling.

Hess Is More & Listening Center (Live)

Drummer/electronic musician Listening Center (David Mason) opened the closing celebration for Shoplifter's 2012 Nervescape installation at the Clocktower Gallery, followed by Hess Is More (led by Mikkel Hess). Recorded live on November 8, 2012 in our upper gallery. Listeners can use the fast forward feature in the player to select between sets. Mikkel Hess is a Danish musician and composer, whose primary instrument is the drums. However, Hess always brings with him a variety of musicians to add to his sound, including xylophonists, sax players, synthesizers and more - all of which can be heard here. Listening Center draws his inspiration from a melange of influences, including the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, lost film/TV soundtracks and Kosmische Musik. Featuring "dream-like melodies and electronic sound palettes," Listening Center's music is at once a reassuring, yet unsettling experience.