Björn Hegardt and Theo Ågren (works and lives in Berlin & Gothenburg, Sweden) have had an ongoing artistic partnership for nearly twenty years, with a common interest in exploring various natural and mythical phenomena. They explore space and the limits of space, often frozen moments in everyday surroundings and things that seem to have a life of their own. A recurring theme has been defying the force of gravity with the help of various tricks, resulting in site-specific installations.
The last years, the artist duo have pursued an artistic research project called “A Study of Free Fall & Levitation”. Within this project, the artist duo have given form to how levitation and free fall can, or may appear to, occur. It is also about failing – situations where everything collapses in free fall. At Scotty the artists will continue to investigate and explore some of the phenomenon connected to the theme, in an installation and in objects.
In collaboration with Broken Dimanche Press they will also release a new book about the project: A Guide to Gravity´s End A-Z
How did the Tibetan monks levitate heavy boulders?
What is Barophia and who was Qamar Ali?
The book is much more than simply a guide or glossary, it responds to the colossal themes of levitation and free fall through an artistic lens. The book contains artistic, scientific and mystical examples, reflections and fictional stories by different authors on the phenomena and history of gravity, weightlessness, levitation and their antithesis: the art of falling. It is a collage, a summary of the artists own experiments and investigations, that will take the reader on a journey that straddles the fictional and the real. Encounter stories in which humans, frogs and objects are capable of floating freely through space, be it through magic, cheap tricks, advanced technology or other, more imaginative methods. Research into levitation and free fall is currently being undertaken across a kaleidoscope of subject areas, from chemistry, physics and parapsychology all the way through to the arts.