”The Departments of Anna Sörenson”  
Vernissage fredag 14 november 2014 kl 17–22
Öppet fredag–söndag kl 13–16, tom. söndag 30 november.
Gotlandsgatan 76, Stockholm. Buss 3 och 76 till Gotlandsgatan eller tunnelbana till Skanstull.

Press release:

We believe in power. Everyday we face power structures and we view them as natural boundaries of reality. We realize that some of us have more power than others, that power is something a lucky few get to have temporarily but that power also can be captured. In any case we expect power to be tied to responsibility and duty, that power would naturally subordinate the human needs and sensibilities. But is it that really how power operates?

The main topic, as I see it, in Anna Sörenson’s conceptual art piece “The Departments” is power. Since 2012 has she staged her performance “Your Application is Pending” (in Stockholm, Brussels, Miami) where she invites the audience to take part and with their contribution they themselves lay the ground for the logic of the procedure and the following analysis. To exercise power needs a clear set of roles and therefore constitutes collaboration.

The advantage in staging the mechanism of power in the context of an art exhibition is that no one will be hurt. But Anna Sörenson’s work shreds light on how something that looks like a ordinary situation truly engage us in a power play, where every one who takes part is ordering themselves in the power structure, whether he or she wants it or not.

Come and get a taste of power at Candyland the 14th of November!

Jean Ploteau

Born and raised in Stockholm, Anna Sörenson received her BFA from Umeå University in Sweden. In 2012, Anna received her MFA from Pratt Institute supported by her Fulbright Scholarship. 2014 she graduated from a.pass, a yearlong post-master program in performance art in Brussels, Belgium.
She assembled her first solo exhibition in the fall of 2012, at Ed Varie in New York City and has exhibited her work in Stockholm, Brussels, Berlin, New York and Miami. She currently lives and works in Stockholm.

”Surveillance Room”

Thank you everyone that came to ”The Departments of Anna Sörenson” in the exhibition ”Thresholds” at a.pass in Brussels. I had the most beautiful interviews I every had, great feedback and can’t wait to show my work at Candyland in Stockholm! See you 14th of November!

Thank you; Nicolas Galeazzi, security guard, Dep. of Love, Viktoria Myronyuk., Dep. of Desire, Damla Ekin Tokel and Dep. of Bad TV Stef Meul who made this collaboration so beautiful! Also thank to Steven Jouwersma our photographer and Camila Aschner Restrepo, collaborator in ”Thresholds”. I am also so happy we could publish ”The Therapy Sessions”, you can pick up a copy on Candyland or just send me a message, thank you a.pass for publishing it!

The Departments has become a great platform for collaborations! The Porridge Society as a part of Department of Porridge, a collaboration with Rares Craiut, that some of you might be familiar with, is planning our next Porridge Dinner in August, we will also soon have our on-line application ready on our website.

The Department of Desire has recognized the ”Public Disengagement Clinic” in full operation. We are happy to support the President of Operation, Dr. Damla Ekin, in her practice.

The Department of Bad TV is working together with the President of Censorship, Mr Stef Meul to index the wild range of existing media.  How bad can TV be at it’s worst? What is the worst TV you ever watched and how bad watching Bad TV be?

Visit our ongoing Bad TV archive and like us on Facebook.

For the latest issue of TUNICA magazine, no 3, the talented Karen Schaupeter was the guest editor. She invited many interesting artists from the Ed Varie- family to present  there work and I was interviewed by the amazing and great writer Lia Forslund and the article ”The order of things and all that” turned out super nice! Read it!

I am so happy I was able to show ”The Analog Database” at Youme Haus in Williamsburg in April. ”The Analog Database” is the third part of my Department series.

The Analog Database is an archive consisting of personal files of everybody interviewed during my performance ”Your Application is Pending.” In the file I gather application forms and transcriptions of the content of their interview together with a small watercolor portrait. The file as identification, is the file not very useful, it is not informative nor very similar to the real person. It is rather an archive of pointless knowledge, dreams and memories of semi-fictive characters. For me, an archive is an image of a society that wants to control their citizens, with a need to order information and create systems. My files are like a shadow archive, a reflection of the bureaucratic labyrinths and the mechanical production of information. I also want to bring forth the aspect of labor and how we value an endless task without purpose. There are currently approximately 70 files in the Analog Database.

I want to thank everyone who came out and made the opening of The Neverending Index, a selection of my ongoing work: Neverending Book at Ed Varie, so great! I had a lovely time! Thank you Karen, Courtney and Brian for making the gallery so great and thank you Conrad for all the beautiful pictures!

The show is up until May 4th and for you who want to swing by, I will be in the gallery April 20th when the magazine TUNICA launches their new issue, featuring an interview with me by the lovely Lia Forslund!

Welcome the 10th, 6-9pm @ edvarie!!!

Neverending Index is a conceptual project that began in 2010 exploring the ideas of painting with water based media, collage, and text. The work explores a narrative that is more than an ordinary scrupulous examination of one’s consciousness but also a reflection of Sörenson’s process and the relationship between mediums. Her paintings are minimal and geometric but never rigid with freeform objects effortlessly floating, merging and sometimes imposing upon one another within their condensed space.

The impalpable elegance of the forms guide the viewer through a myriad of emotions while her transcendent use of watercolor are the legend to the landscape of the human condition: melancholia, hope, anxiety and loneliness, while maintaining a sense of equilibrium and fluidity within the confines of her paintings.

Sörenson received her BFA at Umeå University in Sweden and her MFA from Pratt Institute in New York. Her work has traveled the globe in select group and solo-exhibitions in Berlin, New York, Stockholm, and Umeå. She has been awarded numerous scholarships including the International and Fine Art scholarship from Pratt and a Fulbright scholarship. Sörenson just completed a post-masters program in Brussels; Neverending Index will be her second solo show with Ed.Varie. Anna Sörenson is based in Stockholm.

Neverending Index will be on view at Ed. Varie from April 10th through May 4th. For additional information, please contact the gallery director, info@edvarie.com.

Starting form John Cage score ”Fontana Mix” I created a series of variations of Cage four original drawings/ diagram. The line, the grid, the dots and a typographical drawing, very simple and beautiful.

This I made with a copy machine and pencils, three different kinds of paper, cut outs and tape.

I am proud to announce that the catalog ”Suitcase Paintings” is now available at the Japanese on-line book store Vermikko Books. The catalog was made in Stockholm, in March 2013, together with the talented graphic designer and architect Christian Lindquist. We are thrilled that Vermikko Books likes our work!

If you are in New York during Christmas, drop by Ed Varie on the lower east side and pick up a copy of ”Garden Variety”, a lovely catalog produced for the New York Art Book Fair in September 2013. Ed Varie wanted to commemorate their greenhouse installation of the Plant/Book Store at MoMa PS1, and launched a special Ed. Varie publication of 36 artists work from around the globe. I am very happy to be a part of it!

The artist in ”Garden Variety”

Manhattan based gallery Ed Varie invited me to take ”Your Application is Pending” to their beautiful exhibition ”PRESERVATION” during Miami Basel. As part of the ongoing dedication of Ed. Varie to integrate and motivate vast communities of artists, the exhibition ”PRESERVATION” seeked to conform to the given landscape of South Beach, not altering, but weaving itself into a pre-existing private residence. To create a stronger and more sincere bond between the contemporary art community and South Beach, private home and residence at 2120 Sunset Drive, Sunset Island #4 was graciously lent by 4th generation South Beach natives and South Beach Preservationists, the Robarts Family.

I was happy to be included in the group of amazing artists; Mark Delong, David Brandon Geeting, Priscilla Jeong, Bryan Krueger, Lee Maida, Jake McNulty, Evan Robarts, and Grant Willing. A big thank you to RAVA films that helped me with documentation, to Ed Varie who made everything happen and to everyone who participated and made the 3rd edition of ”Your Application is Pending” interesting and challenging.