EXHIBITION TEXT

Annika Borg

punkt.kontinuum

Every day, a set of six dice is rolled 101 times. The number combinations are recorded and collected in an ever-growing archive: one spread per day, one binder per month, one shelf section per year.

Annika Borg’s art project «one and onehundred dice rolls a day» has been ongoing for more than 25 years. Her method functions as an extended performance in which dedication, ritual, and duration come into play. Equally, it is a way of generating a basic material for further transformation. The numerical material resulting from the dice rolls forms the basis for various visual forms and expressions, ranging from drawing and sculpture to animation and soundwork. Borg often works in series or other types of sequences and continuities – natural choices for highlighting the seemingly small yet significant and individual differences inherent in the material.

The artist works systematically with the numbers; she collects data, makes observations, and gains concrete experience. Over time, she has developed an increasingly deep sense of and understanding for the nature of the material and what lies latent within it. One could say it is an attempt to portray the inherent nature of chance. «punkt.kontinuum» presents works developed from 2017 to the present. In addition, the artist’s archive – containing the numerical material from the daily dice rolls over 26 years – is included in the exhibition. This enormous installation is continually expanding and is usually housed at the Archive Centre Dora in Trondheim.

The project began in 1994 when Annika Borg was still a student at the art academy. Since then, she has rolled the same six dice every single day. A die is a small object that represents chance by producing random number sequences. Like the conceptual artists of the 1960s, Annika Borg also creates rules for how the project is to be carried out.

Inspired by the die’s dot, the dot was the first form into which the numerical material was translated. A dot usually marks an endpoint at the end of a sentence, but in this case, it also signifies continuity. When six dice are rolled one hundred and one times, the number of possible combinations is almost infinite. Mathematically, the project can generate 46,565 unique variations of the first roll considered as a single roll. The number of unique variations of the next hundred rolls viewed as a group is, by comparison, greater than the number of grains of sand on Earth and greater than the number of stars in the universe.

In addition to the dot, Annika Borg’s visual language has so far taken the form of straight lines, wavy lines, and semicircles – all represented in the exhibition at Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art. The artist employs a digital working method in translating the numbers. Even though the digital work does not always end in a digital form, the sketches are always made digitally. This involves the manual placement of elements in a vector-based program – a process she calls «digital handicraft». This method gives her ample time to get to know her material in a very close and precise way, creating artworks that reveal the unique qualities of the numerical material.

Annika Borg (b. 1964) lives and works in Trondheim. She graduated from the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art and has held numerous solo and group exhibitions. She has participated in several competitions, carried out multiple public art projects, and is represented in the collections of Trondheim Municipality, Arts Council Norway, and Trøndelag County. Annika Borg has extensive experience as an art consultant and has served on numerous boards and committees within the Norwegian art field throughout her career as a visual artist. She was awarded the Norwegian Government Grant for Artists for the period 2017–2021.

Annika Borg has received support for «punkt.kontinuum» from Arts Council Norway, The Audio and Visual Fund, Trondheim Municipality, Regional Project Funds for Visual Art, and The Relief Fund for Visual Artists.

The exhibition is part of Meta.Morf X – Digital Wild / Chapter II – Trondheim Biennale for Art and Technology. This autumn, exhibition projects will be presented at Nordenfjeldske Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Babel Art Space, Kunsthall Trondheim, TEKS.studio, and Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art from 18.09 to 01.11.

Trøndelag Centre for Contemporary Art
2020

EVENTS DURING THE EXHIBITION PERIOD

Tuesday, October 6
Vitforum in collaboration with Vitenskapsteoretisk Forum, NTNU
A guided tour and lecture by Annika Borg: «Kunstneriske transformasjoner: fra tall til bilde, form og lyd».

Sunday, November 1
Artist talk between Annika Borg and artist Tina Jonsbu:
"Tanke og handling, handling og tanke" in collaboration with Trondheim Open.
Video recording of the artist talk (Norwegian only) >>