Messages from the Unseen. Matthew Buckingham, Joachim Koester
30 September - 26 November 2006

Matthew Buckingham (born 1963 in Iowa, USA) and Joachim Koester (born 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark) are frequently seen on the international art scene. Lund Konsthall now offers audiences in Sweden a first comprehensive selection of their recent work.

Both artists allow themselves to become fascinated by history and literature. They have both worked with photography, film, video and text. They have a lively interest in the conceptual development of art. They pay much attention to visuality, but don't take anything for granted about how pictures tell stories.

Matthew Buckingham and Joachim Koester share a motivation to test the relation between art and the narratives that exist outside, around and behind images. How much background information do artists want to show in their images? Can these images even become a background for information?

The exhibition consists of film and slide installations and series of photographs with accompanying texts. It becomes a speculative investigation, through both image and text, of what happens between the seen and the unseen, the outspoken and the unspoken. Its title was borrowed from a spine in the library at the College of Psychic Research in London, an awe-inspiring collection of obscure literature.

Two illustrated books are published for the exhibition. The book about Matthew Buckingham (208 pages) contains an essay by Janet Kraynak, an interview by Jennifer Allen and presentations of the artist's works from 1992-2006. It was supported by the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation in San Francisco. The book about Joachim Koester (224 pages) contains an essay by Hal Foster, an interview by Anders Kreuger and presentations of the artist's works from 2003-2006. It was supported by the New Carlsberg Foundation in Copenhagen.

The books are edited by the exhibition's curator Anders Kreuger and published by Lund Konsthall and Veenman Publishers in Rotterdam.

Matthew Buckingham cv
Joachim Koester cv