Portugal: FALSE HOPE AND EMPTY THREATS by Einar Grinde
Article written by Simone Brunstad & Kim Noguera Gabrielli
At SKOG we are really proud of Einar Grinde’s first solo exhibition with the NAVE Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal. It is SKOG’s first collaboration with a Portugues gallery.
Einar Grinde's FALSE HOPE AND EMPTY THREATS presents a series of works that question the role of social activism in the future.
When will be the next revolution? Not here, not now? Will be virtual or online?
What are our demands and what will be our slogan?
Using classical symbolic tools of class and popular activism, Grinde explores what a plausible revolution looks like.
At a time when propaganda has moved from the streets to the virtual space, how can we come to an agreement on the terms and conditions of our demands? And who is funding the next revolution?
Disagreements in a present days that more than dialogue encouraging, intensify the problem without any resolution guarantee due to the only fact that we are unable to identify the speakers who announce an frivolous scream.
The false closeness through apparently democratized virtual media elevates unregulated freedom that noisily throws many problems to the wind - often in an ostentatious and spectacular way, but which unfortunately does not lead to social pacification.
History cannot be written without unquestionable values, consciously clear or unconsciously hypothetical.
Values cannot exist without an reviewer and the only one that society knows, is the human being.
Einar Grinde (b. 1989) is a Norwegian artist based in Trondheim, primarily working with installation art and sculpture. Grinde explores themes of power, class hierarchy and history in his works – with a focus on transformation in both a historical and cultural sense. In recent years, Grinde has particularly had a big fascination for horses and their symbolism in art. According to the artist, horses have had a shifting role from a vital tool in agriculture and warfare to a symbol of prestige and sport. For example – a ploughing horse was once essential to farming, but now they might be seen stripped of their utility. The horse is now – for many – a symbol of elegance and control, whether they are showcased in competitive dressage competitions or kept as a status symbol. Through his work, Grinde emphasizes the ethical considerations opposed to the aesthetic side – mixing classical sculptural techniques with contemporary materials like everyday objects that we often tend to throw away or take for granted.
Grinde earned his bachelor's degree at the Bergen Art Academy (NTNU), and later completed a master's in Fine Art and NTNU's faculty of Architecture and Design. His works have been featured in SKOG's exhibition Nordic Fragments, where he showcased some of his distinctive works with the recurring horse motif – reflecting on their neglected shifting cultural and historical roles. These motifs were also featured at Høstutstillingen in 2021.
This text is based on an interview with Einar Grinde conducted by William Schalla, BA student in; Art and Dissemination at OsloMet, on September 18, 2024.