Karin Westeman, 'All are trying to communicate', Helsingborgs Dagblads, Sept 6, 2008
(courtesy and apologies of google translation)

Subject Index
Malmö Art Museum

After my visit in Malmö Art Museum and the exhibition Subject Index are two words in capital letters in my notebook: COMMUNICATIONS and TRK.

The desire to communicate and make ourselves understood is strong but the process can be difficult and it is easy to be misunderstood, or to misunderstand and sometimes may find their way. And that is how I feel when I first related to me in utställningsrummet; I'm looking for a message among the exhibition works.

I know communication, but can not hold on to it and arrive at what it is, it becomes a kommunikationschock where it is difficult to analyse out what is what. It may be the source of heat in space, as a sweltering summer in New York who followed with curatorn Gabrielle Giattino. She has put together the exhibition with seven artists from New York and Paris in the form of a residency that are included in the project "Far Away So Close". My headache is even a reminder that Malmö really need an art museum with more suitable premises. But when it becomes too hot, it's easy to fly into the museum's exhibition stylistic and breathe a sigh of relief among rococo works although I yearn back soon, for despite the heat feels the exhibition as a breath of fresh air.

And I begin to realize that we are talking about track. Traces of the artists and curatorn, by events and processes and that it is not the message that is important but themselves kommunikationshandlingen and the songs we leave this behind us. I look at Marcelline Delbecqs video of a lush green garden and listen to the story of an old house and it is as if it wants to tell his story to me. It is the start I get into the exhibition and find my own communication with the works. Ellie Gas bildberättelse about his stay at an Antarctic expedition is fascinated. Full of mysterious songs and messages in the form of blurry photographs and maps, she seems to try to carve out a picture of a world that is difficult to predict at the same time as using today's technology is close.

Erica Baum photo of indexkort from the library, which belongs to The Frick Collection in New York gives the words second meanings than the works of art for which they describe. Here you get yourself in something that is reminiscent of a play on words to create a perception of the words and what they may mean. The work has given his name to the entire exhibition and is one of several showing that they must master certain skills to communicate and understand the language used for communication.

Daniel Lefcourts works similar to Braille or different statistical system that can be used to impart knowledge, fixed patterns that do not say anything if you do not master the technology to read the message. Even Klara Hobza working on this theme when she was with the help of a antennmast from the 1920s that she found in the museum's collections captured by radio waves and morsesignaler around the Malmo. Can we not decode, for example, morsesignaler has no use of communication they provide.

So will communicate also a question of power, the more communication a mastery of the greater power has been and can carve out a greater understanding. In view of this, it is a little sad that I during my visit not find any text on the exhibition or if the project it's in. A project inviting curators to Sound region to make an exhibition and come into contact with art, but which also seeks to pay attention curatorns role in today's art world. An interesting project that also soon come to Helsingborg and Dunkers, but that would need more presentation.

At the end of my visit, I am nevertheless pleased to have experienced a playful, yet balanced exhibition with an exciting mix of expressions that make it open to interpretation. But the exhibition also shows that communication is one of the most difficult that is, we lack is constantly in communication with each other and with ourselves. "Subject Index" shows the human need to communicate and that the most important thing is not always about the message go forward without us whatever happens will continue our search for communication.