KRISTOFFER MYSKJA
(Trondheim, 1985)
Kristoffer Myskja
Kristoffer Myskja creates kinetic sculptures of tremendous technical complexity. His intent,
however, is not that of producing brute exercises of technical dexterity, but rather that of
delivering an acute social message. Indeed, Myskja’s work might be read as a reminder of
the fact that the machine is still there, a way of making us think about our increasingly
machine-dependent existence. In a way Myskja is a kind of Bertold Brecht of technological
experience: he breaks the illusion of the theatre of our everyday life. Behind our activities,
he says, the machines are running. He also underlines this by leaving the contemporary
smooth, miniature, technology, and opting for a retro-style, full-sized. While computers and
cell-phones tend to shrink, Myskja’s machines are not diminished in size. He also opts for
a brass design, which might have been made 300 years ago. Myskja’s objects operate in a
time-span, one is inclined to think, which transcends both contemporary machines and
art.
Myskja moves in a machinic tradition in art that starts with the kinetic sculptures of Marcel
Duchamp, like the Bicycle Wheel (1913) and continues with the self-destructive sculptures
of Yves Tanguy and the gravity- or wind-driven sculptures by Alexander Calder. But while
kinetic artists usually work in abstract terms, Myskja tends to isolate human activities and
integrate them in a machinic time and logic, like smoking inSmoking machine and ageing
in Machine that use a thousand years to turn itself down. While an artist like Rebecca Horn
prolongs the human body, to investigate it, Myskja severs it from itself producing
autonomous, or semi autonomous, structures. The idea of the machine is one of the most
human metaphors imaginable but through his projects it becomes an aggregate for
analyzing sequences of human actions .
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2014
• Nilas Aas Kunstverksted, Inderoy • Hedmark Kunstsenter, Hamar 2013
• Galerie Mario Mazzoli, Berlin 2012
• Gallery K, Oslo 2011
• Ikon Gallery, Birmingham 2010
• Gallery F15 (Project Room), Moss 2007
• Gallery 7011, Trondheim
Selected Group Exhibitions and commissions
2015
• Belle Haleine Der Duft der Kunst, Museum Tinguely Basel • Commission: Åsveien skole og ressurssenter, Trondheim l 2014
• National grant for artists, 5-year working grant 2013
• Go With the Flø 2013 - Damien Hirst/Kristoffer Myskja, Studio Hugo Opdal, Flø • Kristoffer Myskja / Kristine Roald Sandøy, Kunstnersenteret Møre og Romsdal • LEIK - Sommarutstillinga '13, Seljord kunstforening, Seljord
• NOR 13 - Lydbasert kunst, Akershus kunstsenter, Lillestrøm • Commission: Kuben yrkesarena, Oslo
• Commission: Osterøy VGS (Highschool), Osterøy 2012
• Game of Life, Kristiansand Kunsthall, Kristiansand
• The Unseen - The Fourth Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou • -denied paticipation by the Chinese Government
• Billedkunstnernes vederlagsfond, 2 year grant 2011
• AUTOMATA A CAPPELLA, Galerie Mario Mazzoli, Berlin
• I Walk the Line - ULTIMA festival, The Norwegian Opera & Ballet / KHiO, Oslo • Vi prøver å planlegge det helt perfekt, Ingensteds, Oslo
• Give mE Your Eyes, Kunstverein Køln Mulheim, Köln
• Measure for Measure, CENTRAL BOOKING (Gallery II), New York • Ingrid Lindbäck Langaards grant
2010
• In your Face!,Gallery 7011, Trondheim
• META.MORF 2010 - New.Brave.World! - Gråmølna, Trondheim • Tegnebiennale 2010 - Lines on the Move, Momentum Kunsthall, Moss • Wenche Gulbransen og Kristoffer Myskja, Galleri Kunst1, Sandvika • Commission: Det norske oljeselskap ASA, Trondheim
2009
• Sonic Sunrises - Nordic Contemporary Art, Titanik Gallery, Turku, Finland • Sparebankstiftelsen DnB NOR grant show 2009, Oslo Kunstforening, Oslo • Young & Sound, Ciant Gallery, Praha, Czech Republic
• The Norwegian State Exhibition 09, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo • Residency: SUMU - Turku, Finland
• Anne and Jacob Weidemanns grant
• National grant for artists, 3-year working grant for younger/newly established artists 2008
• Electrohype, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden • Magiske systemer, Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø
• Kunstakademiets avgangsutstilling, Stenersenmuseet, Oslo • Hør, Akershus Kunstnersenter, Lillestrøm
• Ingrid Lindbäck Langaards grant • The Governments Miscellaneous grant 2007
• Juleutstilling, Lydgalleriet, Bergen
• Obergeschoss Dritter Finger Rechts, Norwegen Show • - Ballhaus Ost 3. Etage, Berlin, Germany
• The Norwegian State Exhibition 07 - Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo • Ingrid Lindbäck Langaards grant
2006
• FIGUR!, Trøndelag senter for samtidskunst, Trondheim • 7011 avd. Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfossen • The Norwegian State Exhibition 06 - Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
• The Norwegian Shipowners Association prize, The Norwegian State Exhibition • Intravision prize for best electronic artwork, The Norwegian State Exhibition 2005
• Turbulence, Galleri KIT, Trondheim • The Annual Trøndelag Exhibition 2005
Kristoffer Myskja, Splitting the mercury drop in order to find balance, 2013
Kristoffer Myskja, Governors, 2013
Kristoffer Myskja, Covering Up Gold, 2012
Kristoffer Myskja, Volubilis, 2011
Kristoffer Myskja, Giving back to Reservoir, 2010
Kristoffer Myskja, Interference Machine, 2009
Kristoffer Myskja, Machine that uses a thousand years to shut itself down, 2009
Kristoffer Myskja, Smoking Machine, 2007
Kristoffer Myskja, The sound of...(The sound of Cotton, The sound of coffee, The sound of Gold), 2006
