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Mixing the roles | Lars Bang Larsen, 2002
At the moment, the Copenhagen art scene seems to be characterised by a new activity amongst young commercial galleries. In 2000, the 24 Year old Christian Chapelle started his not-for-profit space The Leisure Club Mogadishni. The former art student started out with an experimental line of contemporary art projects from Denmark and abroad, among other things hosting "The Fantastic Roadshow", broadcasts made by the homeless people's radio in Copenhagen. Last year, he commercialised the space, keeping the name that must be unrivalled in the business. More recently, Mogadishni has presented exhibitions by The Icelandic Love Corporation, Tor-Magnus Lundeby, Tiina Ketara and Gillion Grantsaan, and today the 'MOGA crew' has inserted itself in the marketplace and flies its flag in the art fair circuit. How did the gallery get that peculiar name, and what is the relaxed vision behind its homespun mythology? - I produced cartoons and texts when I went to art school. My style of writing and drawing fit into the universe of Øverste Kirurgiske ["Upper Surgical", an experimental writers' group], whom I visited in their offices in a defunct hospital. I had a text published in their magazine. When I started The Leisure Club Mogadishni I chose one of the figures from the cartoon "MOGADISNEY and Dickey" to name the gallery. However, MOGADISHNI seemed like a better name, and I would have ended in a copyright conflict with the Disney corporation had I kept the original name. Even though I was sure that I didn`t wanted to use their name, I wrote to the Disney Corporation about using it. They replied that the name was patented and that it was out of the question that it could be employed for other purposes. After that, I let them know that I was already using it as a name for my space and inquired what they intended to do. Disney declared that it would go the way of the court if I didn't back down. Christian Chapelle made his way into gallery business from the vantage point of his enthusiasm for mediating art, rather than through a collector's instinct. Through involvement in student politics and free-lance curatorial work, Chapelle found himself in a position where he spent more time disseminating rather than making art. Hence Mogadishni. But why the deicision to go commercial last year? -Non-commercial exhibition spaces in Copenhagen survive approximately 3 years, after which they close down due to financial problems. It is almost impossible to survive that way. It contributed to my decision to pass to commercial status that the public foundation The Development Fund - that used to support Mogadishni as a not-for-profit space - was slashed from one day to the next by the new right-wing government. Mogadishni profiles itself as a cutting edge, international gallery, with an ambition that - by choice as much as by necessity - goes beyond the national art market. This is also reflected in the gallery's line-up of artists. In order to stay competitive, a gallery with an international profile will have to work with artists from abroad. I don't like the idea that galleries take on a generation as soon as they are released from art school, and then use the obvious marketing options when appropriating a whole generation or a certain artistic direction. There should be a direction, but not regimentation. That is why half of Mogadishni's artists aren't Danish nationals and why more than the half are women. Conceiving of his role as a mix between that of the gallerist, the artist and the curator, Chapelle also produces experimental projects and publications. As a discursive elaboration on communicating and distributing art, Chapelle will next year publish a book on the role of the curator. Ironically confronting the double bind of productive roles in the art system, he often talks of himself as "the evil gallerist", and the opening exhibition for Mogadishni in its commercial incarnation was “Do You Trust Your Gallerist?”. The invitation card presented the kingpin himself, sporting a balaclava embroidered with flowers. But seriously, Chapelle, what separates gallerists from other producers in the art system? - Gallerists function as mediators between artists and institutions, and between artists and collectors. The gallerist is the link that it often takes to break through the wall between these agents. The gallerist operates like collectors, museums and artists on a market where the selling of works are a part of the game. The gallerist can in the best of cases pass on the artist's ideas and this may lead to a sale of the artist's works to a price that probably is better than what the artist would have been able to obtain had s/he tried to sell it on his/her own. Through selling art, the gallerist introduces the artist's work into contexts where the works may get an optimum of attention. This is of interest for the artist's career and can make sure that the content of the works reaches a bigger public.
Lars Bang Larsen, 2002
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Regardless of which of the cultural locations formerly known as 'centre' or 'periphery' you come from, the feeling of the action happening somewhere else than in the place where you are, is somehow a part of working with the visual arts. No matter how much of a local person you are, other cities seem to promise better exhibitions and a higher pulse; other art scenes have that special allure that keeps the wheels of our imaginations spinning. The nostalgia for the 'elsewhere' art scene holds true for Copenhagen as much as any other art scene. But maybe that elsewhere doesn't have to be in a different spot?