”There is beauty
and death in the eye of the beholder”
In the Eye of the Beholder is the title for
a video triptych by Lena Mattsson that portrays legendary publisher and writer
Bo Cavefors. The title emphasizes the complexity of the portrayal due to the
presence of artist and curator Ola Åstrand. The relationship between Åstrand
and Cavefors remains undefined throughout the story, with Åstrand appearing
like a silent witness as Cavefors tells us about his eventful life. This
relationship is complicated even further by the soundtrack of the triptych – a
newly composed rock score by musician, philosopher and art critic Conny C-A
Malmqvist, which amplifyes Cavefors’ hedonistic way of living – sex,
philosophy and rock’n’roll.
The concept of “the eye of the beholder” refers to how
perception, say of beauty for instance, is defined through the eyes of the
viewer, and is thus highly subjective. But the term can also be used when
someone who is sentenced to death is offered a blindfold before the noose is
tightened. This is not to spare the condemned suffering – on the contrary, by
avoiding the gaze of the victim, the hangman is ‘protected’ from personal
responsibility.
There lies thus both beauty and death in the eyes of
the beholder, something that Lena Mattsson’s piece is very much about. The
piece reminds me of the 18th century philosopher Thomas de Quincey’s aesthetic
point of view: a work of art depicting a murder shall not tell of the murder
but rather be the murder in itself. When you observe the scene of a murder it’s
not through the perspective of the victim but rather the murderer’s – the beholder. De Quincey meant that if you
were to adopt the viewpoint of the victim, the horror would be so overwhelming
that to render an aesthetic experience would be impossible.
Lena Mattson does not regard Bo Cavefors as a victim,
however. Folket i Bild/Kulturfront describes him, in a preamble from 2004, as
follows: ”Bo Cavefors is the ex publisher whose sprawling and provocative
publication riled the establishment to the point of where he was deemed to be
silenced”. Mattsson’s focus lies elsewhere. She claims she is examining the
rock’n’roll myth: ”All three video pieces are synchronized to a surreal
rock’n’roll triptych that envelops the viewer and both visualizes and
illuminates the myth”. Agreed, but it’s also tempting to think that Mattsson
stages a kind of mouse-and-cat game: In whose eyes exactly is the observation
created?
Bo Cavefors is a nomadic free-thinker who is
impossible to pin down and easily pigeonhole. Without entering into specifics,
he has never shied away from extreme opinions found in both left- and right-wing
politics, both personally and
professionally. When, on top of that, he throws in taboo questions
regarding sexuality and religion, Cavefors is easily perceived as a
controversial and politically incorrect intellectual.
Lena Mattson’s
surreal rock’n’roll staging becomes a thought provoking resonator for this
controversial figure. The Nigerian author Ben Okri’s book A Way of Being
Free (1997) comes to mind. Okri suggests that the term “dialouge” is not
first and foremost founded on agreement but rather on misunderstanding.
Agreement is often implicit and
confirms
stereotypes. Misunderstandings can be dangerous but if we can agree on a mutual
arena (a museum, a theater, a newspaper, etc.) where you are allowed to ask the
question “What do you mean?” without being lynched, then misunderstandings can
lead to new ways of thinking and new conclusions. Therefore, the role of the
artist, the poet and the intellectual is dual. He or she should,
on the one hand, be able to express their vision, but on the other hand they
must also represent a place where different opinions can meet.
In the Eye of the Beholder was
originally made for the exhibition I Want to Hold Your Hand, which was
recently held at the Borås Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition presented thirty or so Swedish artists that
had been inspired by different kinds of rock music. Lena Mattsson
interpreted it: “Bo Cavefors is, in spite of his claim of being totally
unmusical and belonging to another cultural field, a person who, as we say in
Skåne, rockar fett (totally rocks)!”
But the piece
works just fine separated from the original context of that exhibition. The
intricate scene unfolds into a labyrinth of gazes ultimately belonging to eyes
of the unknown. The installation becomes a place where anything can happen –
where anything is allowed to happen. Just like the place Bo Cavefors himself
created with his wayward publishing house. A place not taken
for granted but one which must be conquered and reconquered time and again.
John Peter
Nilsson
