Text for Radio Sick, Artissima, Present Future, 2009

Nina Beier and Marie Lund (*1976, Aarhus, Demark / * 1975, Hundested, Denmark)
The work of Berlin and London based artists Nina Beier and Marie Lund is often typified by and a consequence of collaboration, yet individually authored works are also co-opted into and much part their practice. Their work functions as a challenge, pushing the understanding of what constitutes artwork and art object and where performance, the performative and the roles of perception and interpretation are regularly reassessed, redesigned and reinvigorated.

Nina Beier and Marie Lund both studied at the Royal Colege of Art, London. Their recent solo exhibitions have taken place at De Vieesthal, Middleburg; Croy Nielsen, Berlin; Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City and Laura Bartlett, London.

Tomas Chaffe (*1981, Nottingham, UK)
Nottingham based artist Tomas Chaffe’s practice intends to act in response to the social and cultural issues, as well as environmental aspects – on both a specific and more pervasive level – that shape, define and work upon a particular context. His works seek to explore the mechanisms that affect the reception of art and in addition set out to question what defines spaces of art display and the display of art. His work for Present Future will elevate several lacking points of view in the context of the art fair, both conceptually and quite literally.

Currently based in Nottingham, UK, Chaffe has exhibited in a variety of venues including Tulips & Roses, Vilnius; Moot, Nottingham; Johann Konig, Berlin; Cac, Vilnius and Kadist Art Foundation, Paris.

Gintaras Didžiapetris (*1985, Vilnius, Lithuania)
Deliberately eschewing a few key methods of dissemination synonymous with the communication of a contemporary art and the promotion of an artist’s career, Didžiapetris and his work throws the acts of elucidating and viewing a work of art into question and revision. Memory, time and the representation of, seem the primary points of investigation and redefinition for the artist, whose work also regularly addresses and pushes out from an exhibition’s concept, theme or thesis.

Didžiapetris lives and works in Vilnius. His recent solo exhibitions have taken place at Tulips & Roses, Vilnius and Cac, Vilnius. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions including those held at Artists Space; New York, De Appel, Amsterdam; Johann Konig, Berlin and CIC, Cairo.

Dan Rees (*1982, Swansea, UK)
Rees’ work harnesses a nostalgic, biographical and humorous approach to the construction of art. Erudite yet seemingly casual, his work spans a variety of mediums. Filmmaking, photography, sound and more recently sculpture and painting, are brought in to tie a bond between his family and the family of conceptual art, as well as popular figures and his hometown of Wales, often as a play on art and art making itself.

Based in Berlin, Rees’ solo exhibitions have taken place at Tanya Leighton, Berlin; Art 40 Basel; Galerie Andreas Huber and T293, Naples among others. He has participated in group exhibitions at ProjecteSD, Barcelona; Croy Nielsen, Berlin; Tulips & Roses, Vilnius and Yvon Lambert, Paris.