Karl Holmqvist and Klara Liden

In a large Roman apartment on Via dei Mille, the Indipendenza gallery hosts “Lavoro” (Work), a collaboration between Karl Holmqvist and Klara Liden. This project, originally exhibited in 2016 at the Kunstverein Braunschweig, now includes a new combination of works, some on view for the first time, as well as older installations and videos, such as Nhite Woice, 2015, in which Holmqvist and Liden improvise a synchronized dance. The dialogue underlying the exhibition, activated by twenty-nine works overall, opens with the interaction between Linden’s emblematic Poster Painting, 2012—layered, painted sheets of paper—and Holmqvist’s Untitled (Arena), 2016, a carpet held to the floor by four stuffed animals placed at the corners. In the maze of rooms are new site-specific environments, including Untitled (¿QUE?), 2017, a structure by both artists comprising two suspended cardboard boxes covered with black magic marker, and Untitled (Divisorio), 2017, a wood fence by Liden that extends toward the city, creating a private corner for reading and reflection. Liden’s homage to Rome continues with two works made on-site: Untitled (Trash Can), 2017, a cast-iron trash basket holding images of the capital city, and Untitled (When in Rome), 2017, whose polystyrene bench is a replica of the marble seating in a city piazza. Throughout, Holmqvist’s pieces dialogue with the exhibition space itself via canvases that depict the room and a long wall-drawing with the phrase “The Whole World.” The show also features a collaboration between Holmqvist and Icelandic artist Mundi Vondi that consists of two wool blankets, Untitled (Putin Blanket) and Untitled (Persian Blanket), both 2016.

Translated from Italian by Marguerite Shore.