Exhibition opening at Hå Gamle Prestegård, Stavanger 28th of January 2017

KRISTINA DAUKINTYTĖ AAS and KARINA NØKLEBY PRESTTUN have had a close professional relationship since they met at the Department of Fine Art at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design (KHiB). Kristina graduated with a master’s degree in 2011 and Karina graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2009.
The common ground between these two artists is their interest in textiles. The materials serve as the foundation for an idea, which in turn take new directions and flourish into its own individuality and distinctiveness in the process. Both artists employ digital instruments frequently: Kristina through her work with digital jacquard-weaves, characterised by complex woven-in designs, and Karina through her computerized laser-cutter, but nonetheless in close dialogue with the textiles themselves.
For the last year, Kristina and Karina have been working with threads as a motif. For the their new exhibition at Hå Gamle Prestegård they’ve made a series of female portraits. The result may seem effortles but the woven pieces, woven on a digital jaquard loom, requires massive knowledge about weaving: bindings, yarn, colors. Not to mention weeks and weeks of digital work and testing.
The threads seems to take on a different role in each piece: Is it something to be shed? Is it hair, feathers? Or is it an extension of the body? A foreign element, maybe? Or something to change you completely?
In addition to the large-scale woven works, Kristina and Karina exhibits video, textile collage, and sculptural works.