April 16, 2004
PETER BESTE
APRIL 23RD - MAY 15TH
PETER BESTE
NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL
This exhibition features photos, audio interviews and videos from the protagonists of Norway's Black Metal scene. For information about times, prices and how to get here, click :
PETER BESTE
NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL
Exhibition runs April 23rd – May 15th
Mon – Sat 12 – 6
Entrance free
The Horse Hospital's address is :
THE HORSE HOSPITAL
COLONNADE
BLOOMSBURY
LONDON
WC1N 1HX
020 7833 3644
popculture@thehorsehospital.com
www.thehorsehospital.com
Russell Square tube, come out of the tube then turn left, left, left...
Youth culture polarised in darkness in the 1990s. While kids in LA were smoking formaldehyde and gang-banging, in Norway, a group of self-proclaimed Heavy Metal Satanists burned fourteenth-century wooden churches and desecrated graveyards as part of their campaign to rid Norway of Christianity and revert to ancient Viking customs.
For some, the level of dedication and extremism didn’t stop there. Varg Vikerness, aka Count Grishnackh, from the band BURZUM, brutally murdered Euronymous, guitarist of influential Black Metal band MAYHEM by stabbing him in the head, back and neck 23 times. This was the first in a string of murders within the Black Metal scene.
Peter Beste has spent the last three years developing the definitive photodocumentation of Norwegian Black Metal. Beste's portraits capture the essence of Norway's biggest musical export, depicting the artists reverently as they seek to be seen, showing how Norway, one of the world’s most liberal cultures, has developed a subculture where the irony of Heavy metal is transformed, ironically, into a feudal heathenic state.
This exhibition takes Beste’s large –scale iconoclastic portraits of some of the bands – Satyricon, Gorgoroth, Darkthrone, Mayhem amongst others – and places them alongside interviews on listening posts by key protagonists -
Gaahl of Gorgoroth, Snorre Ruch of Thorns, Valfar of Windir, Rolf Armand Rasumussen, the minister of Åsane church which was burned down, Jorn Tunsberg of Hades who burned the church, Nattefrost of Carpathian forest, and Blasphemer, the guitarist of Mayhem who took Euronymous' place when he was murdered, alongside exclusive video footage of many of the bands performing.
From cartoonish "in-name-only" Satanism to orthodox Odinism and neo-Nazi beliefs to Nietzsche-esque philosophy, Metal, like the Devil, comes in many forms. To elucidate this month long exhibition, the Horse Hospital also brings you two key events to coincide – on Thursday April 29th, doors 7.30pm, an evening of reading by Adam Parfrey, editor of the Feral House imprint and publisher of Lords Of Chaos, a comprehensive book about the Black Metal scene, and Peter Sotos, notorious, celebrated author and ex-performer with one of the world’s most extreme bands, Whitehouse.
The following week we have the SODA KULTURE VISUAL OVERLOAD, three days of film programmed by kinoKULTURE in conjunction with SODA PRESSED fanzine, with films specially selected by stalwarts of the underground music and arts scenes, including
Avodah Books (Sammy Sumo / Kramer’s Ergo)
Daniel Clowes (Eightball / Ghost World writer)
Friends Forever (US noise rock in a van)
The Locust (insectoid grind horror)
Stephen O’ Malley (Burning Witch / Sunn 0))) / Khanate)
Paper Rad (Paper Rad Design)
KK Null (Zeni Geva)
Gary Panter (Jimbo / Pee Wee’s Playhouse)
Mr Quintron (NOLA musician / inventor extraordinaire)
Aaron Turner (Hydrahead Records / Isis / Old Man Gloom)
Warp Records
PEACE
Peter Beste is a freelance photographer who lives in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been exhibited in galleries in New York City (Riviera Gallery), London (Notting Hill Arts), and in Bergen, Norway (USF). This work has also appeared in magazines such as The Face (UK), Graphic (UK), Vice Magazine, Mass Appeal, Fluid (Poland), and numerous European and South American publications.
Some of the work can be seen at www.peterbeste.com
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posted by James on April 16, 2004 04:41 PM