Albertine i politilægens ventevlærelse
(Albertine at the Police Doctor's Waiting Room)
2006, 240 min DVD + 10 min CD

With the video work Albertine at the Police Doctor's Waiting Room , Ulrike Solbrig centers on the exceptional painting by the Norwegian artist Christian Krohg. First shown in 1887, it documents a case of police misconduct in connection with Norway's Contagious Disease Act. Literally focusing on the painting over the period of an entire day at the museum, the production itself takes on a performative dimension, as the visitors rushing to Edvard Munch's paintings, irritated by the video shoot, have their gaze redirected to the focal point of the camera. On a linked audio piece, heard with individual headphones, the ambient museum sound playing on loudspeakers, is simultaneously mixed with Solbrig recounting the story of her historical research and comments she gathered from people in Oslo.

Krohg's painting appeared about a half year after the publication of his naturalistic novel Albertine , which detailed the painting's background story. The novel and painting were a cause célèbre at the time and inspired a wave of political protest which added to the early revocation of the Contagious Disease Act. Solbrig's installation references Krohg's naturalistic style, as in her use of “real-time” in the long uncut video sequence and sound mix of the museum's day. Krohg's initial impulse, to give a neglected social injustice a public airing, is echoed here by reclaiming this explosive part of political art history for a contemporary audience.

Alan Marsik

The video installation has been presented at: SEXWORK Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin

Texts: Artist insert for the Swedish Feminist Magazine bang 2005/3 (in English) Interview about the case of Albertine with the Indian lawyer and human rights activist Vrinda Grover
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Press: Blaue Augen we-make-money-not art

Research support by Office of Contemporary Art Norway (support journal)

Videos: "Wer schmeißt denn da mit Lehm?" | DAS MOTIV | dogwatchingtv | TILL DAWN | Albertine at the Police Doctor's Waiting Room

Projects: social mental environmental (artist and curator) | UNWETTER | urbanacker.net | Interkulturelle Gärten Friedrichhain-Kreuzberg | SEXWORK, Kunst, Mythos, Realität (artist and curator) | TOURIST INFORMATION | Running the City, "Kartoffelackerstädte, Kuhirtenbürgermeister, Rübenökonomie. Perspektiven urbaner Landwirtschaft"

Texts: Artist insert for the Swedish Feminist Magazine bang 2005/3 (in English) | Subsistenzwirtschaft in der Großstadt, Gemeinschaftsgärten als Orte der Selbstorganisation am Beispiel New York | Leben auf der Visitenkarte, Der Luisenstädtische Park soll "wiederhergestellt" werden