As a courtroom drama, Layla Berthuysen’s bags are a spectacular stunt

The art project is a desperate attempt to compensate for lost attention.

It’s been up and down this week Norwegian chat box at the “Democratic Disco” in Arendal. The program was so burdensome that only the most highly motivated people bothered to read it. But most people were caught off guard by the announced guest appearance: Laila Anita Berthuysen.

Directed by provocateur Morton Dravik, the consequences of a vicious trial against him are turned into an art exhibition called “Public Enemy.”

“Rarely has an exhibition left such a bad taste in my mouth,” wrote NRK’s ​​art critic Mona Bahle Bjerke – and thus the debate was ongoing.

Layla Bertheusen stayed A national phenomenon in a trial with a fascinating gallery of characters: a fallen justice minister, powerful supporters, a gang of toxic women – and not least: a glamorous defendant who communicates with the public through home-sewn bags.

The wild details certainly shouldn’t obscure the seriousness of the case: Bertheussen was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison for an attack on democracy, the most severe intimidation clause in Norwegian law.

He staged an assassination attempt of sorts against then-Justice Minister and roommate Tor Mikkel Wara (Frp) and sent threatening letters to his party colleagues Ingvil Smines Tybring-Gjedde and Christian Tybring-Gjedde. The attacks came as a result of the power-critical drama show “Ways of Seeing,” which took heavy fire at Vara and her political allies.

He appeared every day during the trial Berthuysen with a new bag with a different message. The bags took shape in conjunction with courtroom debates, portraying her as innocent, a unicorn, and “the girl who played with Elton.”

The back stunt was unique and brilliant, and maintained a really impressive high level. In court, the bags functioned as metacommentaries. But as an art exhibition years later, the project seems above all a desperate attempt to make up for lost attention.

Art critic Mona Bahle Bjerke calls The act is a “grotesque play”, and Berthuysen believes he is “a curious marionette” who is cynically exploited by Morton Travik, a real artist in the circus.

Morton Travik is known for his controversial art projects such as the photo exhibition “Miss Landmine” and the play “The Waste Commission”. His specialty is taking inflamed themes to the stage, and he’s made satirizing large parts of the art industry a kind of ritual.

Starting a talk showThe exhibition in Arendal at the same time as journalists from all over the country make the pilgrimage shows a clear sense of the times.

During the opening of the exhibition, the sound of popcorn rang out in the room. Travic knows what he’s doing. The investigation turned Laila Bertheusen into an enigma and a phenomenon. This project excites the audience in us.

You need to be more combustible to motivate yourself. The problem is not that the exhibition is grotesque. The problem is, it’s really bad.