Of 'Utopian Redux' sees Carly Rose Bedford transform the exhibition space into an immersive en artificial landscape that invites us to we understand as 'nature', as 'queer'. Carly Rose Bedford is the winner of the MK Award, which she received at the opening of the exhibition during Art Rotterdam.
Natural phenomena can be interpreted in many ways. But nature and the 'natural' have also become entangled in a narrative about what is 'normal'. According to this narrative, some bodies and certain behaviors are 'natural', while others are labeled 'unnatural'.
In reality, many of the narratives we believe in do not necessarily match what actually occurs in nature. From this observation, we can also ask ourselves what is actually 'nature' or 'natural'? Who has claimed these terms, and whose interests are served by them? These are the questions Bedford wants to ask.
If we recognize why society’s narrative of what is natural doesn’t work, can we break it? Bedford designed Utopian Redux as a space where we can experience a new understanding of nature, and where people of all bodies can find joy, healing, and peace.
About the artist
The artistic practice of Carly Rose Bedford (Australia/Netherlands) encompasses performance, sculpture, research and curating. Central to her work is the viewer’s bodily experience, which she intensifies by giving certain materials different connotations than we are used to. A material like cement can suddenly feel soft here. In this way, Bedford wants to give shape to a queer theme, and investigate the frameworks that influence the way we look at different bodies, without having to literally represent specific bodies.
Bedford studied at the Victorian Collage of the Arts in Melbourne and Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam (2015-17). Recently Bedford realized a performance for the 'Do Disturb' festival, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2017); a polyphonic stage 'Queer Is Not a Manifesto' in collaboration with Aynouk Tan, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2019); and 'She Put a Metal Rod in and Twists It' co-written with Gabriel Maher for MAD / The Sandberg Series, Sternberg Press (2019). In 2020 a residency will follow at Deltaworkers, New Orleans, through the Mondriaan Fund.
About the MK Award
Artists initiated the MK Award in 2012 as a tribute to the creative legacy of gallery owners Emmo Grofsmid (1951-2011) and Karmin Kartowikromo (1948-2011) of the former MK Galerie in Rotterdam and Berlin. Like them, the MK Award not only values the work and artistic position of artists, but also the role they play for the artistic community and society around them. The award consists of a sum of €5.000 and an exhibition.
Previous winners of the MK Award were Melanie Bonajo (2013), Gil & Moti (2015) and Peter Fengler (2017). For this latest edition of the MK Award, they were asked to nominate an artist who they find inspiring and relevant today. The other nominees were Quincy Gario and ieke Trinks. Carly Rose Bedford was nominated by Melany Bonajo, and chosen as the winner by a jury consisting of artist Karin Arink, Kunsthal curator Charlotte Martens and collector Jeroen Princen, chaired by curator/advisor Alex de Vries. They praised Bedford's multifaceted artistic practice and commitment to inclusion.