The exhibition The advantages of depression (season four) shows works where collection and archiving processes played a central role in an individual’s recovery from depression. The material used as a starting point was collected during a period of severe depression, as a survival mechanism. The collection took place in front of the screen in bed and outdoors, in the form of screenshots of subtitles from TV programs and physical stones. In parallel, the artist wrote field notes that described both the interior and exterior surroundings. The works shown in the exhibition at Bærum Kunsthall are adaptations of this archive, where additional text and a visual world of symbols have been added.
The advantages of depression is an ongoing project, where the same archive material serves as a starting point for works in different techniques and constellations. Each showing of the project is presented as a season, a nod to the series format. Individual performances appear in between seasons, but can also be part of a season. At each screening, something new is added, either in the form of physical adaptations of works from previous seasons, newly produced works – or through changes in titles and compositions.
Hedda Roterud Amundsen (b. 1989) works between Oslo and Moelv in Ringsaker. She is a trained visual artist at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore (BA, 2009 – 2012) and the Art Academy in Oslo (MA, 2012 – 2014). Her work has been shown and/or performed at, among others, Oplandia center for contemporary art (Lillehammer), INSTINC (Singapore), Tenthaus (Oslo), Studio 17 (Stavanger), Mazovian Museum (Płock, PL), Kvinnemuseet (Kongsvinger), Norwegian Sculptors Association (Oslo), Kunstbanken (Hamar), Podium ( Oslo) and the Institute of Contemporary Art (Singapore). Roterud Amundsen also has broad experience in art communication, from both his own work and that of others. Through e.g. Vestfossen Art Laboratory, the Art Bank and DKS. From 2020 – 2023, she was the day-to-day manager of UngKunst (deepening measures for the cultural schools in Viken). She has published several artist books on her own publishing house, such as distributed through B*stard art bookstore. Selected titles include “Dagny Juel Army” (2023), “The advantages of depression (season one)” (2021) and “The relational aspect increases in complexity when there are several different types of borders that are crossed” (2019).
