Tobias Bernstrup

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Tobias Bernstrup (born 1970 in Gothenburg, Sweden) is a contemporary artist working with videos, interactive works, live performances and electronic music. He received an MFA from Royal College University of Fine Arts Stockholm in 1998, where he also met up with artist colleague Palle Torsson.

Tobias Bernstrup belongs to a new generation of visual artists who produce music and perform it, and who consider this process as part of their practice as visual artists. Using the visual language of pop culture, video games, Sci-fi, classicism and gothic noir, he has created his own unmistakable stage persona with gender-crossing live performances dressed in elaborate costumes of shiny rubber and heavy make up. In videos and animations often inhabited by his digital alter ego/avatar and in live performances where the artist dresses as a computer game character, he raises questions about representation of identity, the body and physical space in both virtual and non-virtual realities, closely linked to critical ideas of irrealism and simulacra.

In 1995 Bernstrup worked in close collaboration with artist Palle Torsson, receiving international recognition as among the first visual artists to use computer games in their art practice. Their project Museum Meltdown consisted of a series of site specific computer game installations in European art museums. Using the graphics engine of existing video games such as Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake and Half-Life they transformed the museum architecture into violent first person shooter games, allowing the museum visitor to wander around a virtual version of the museum killing people and blowing up masterpieces. Torsson and Bernstrup's early video game based projects and game representations of museums have subsequently been followed up by other by artists such as Florian Muser & Imre Osswald, Felix Stephan Huber (Germany), Feng Mengbo (China) and Kolkoz (France).

Since the end of his collaboration with Torsson, Bernstrup has continued working with game environments, making reconstruction of existing urban spaces such as Berlin's Potsdamer Platz and Paris' La Défense. Focusing on the artificial quality of the surfaces, he linked these virtual spaces to his digital alter ego and music both in animated videos and in live performances. Several of his songs from videos and performances have been released by museums, galleries art institutions on CD or vinyl. As a recording artist Bernstrup is also known for his close collaboration and electronic compositions for Swedish video artist Annika Larsson.

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[edit] Notable works

  • (1995) Museum Meltdown I [1] computer game, Arken Museum of Modern Art (with Palle Torsson)
  • (1997) Museum Meltdown II [2] computer game, Contemporary Art Centre of Vilnius, (with Palle Torsson)
  • (1999) Museum Meltdown III [3] computer game, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (with Palle Torsson)
  • (2000) Tonight Live, video animation
  • (2001) Potsdamer Platz (Unreal Edit), computer game, Biennale De Lyon 2001
  • (2002) Nekropolis, computer game, Palais de Tokyo
  • (2004) XSEED 4000[4], computer game

[edit] Discography

  • (1997) Heat of the Night, CD-R, rare ed. of 25
  • (1998) Images Of Love, CD-R, rare ed. of 100
  • (2002) Re-Animate Me, CD, published by Färgfabriken, Stockholm, FF-001
  • (2002) 27, 12" vinyl maxi single, Tonight Records, TR-001
  • (2002) 27 - collector's edition, 12" vinyl, rare ed. of 100
  • (2003) Ventisette, 12" vinyl maxi single, Galeria Sogospatty/Tonight Records, TR-002
  • (2002) Ventisette - collector's edition, 12" vinyl, rare ed. of 100
  • (2005) SUV, mp3 single, Tonight Records,TR-003
  • (2005) Killing Spree, CD, published by Kunsthalle Nürnberg/Tonight Records, TR-004

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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