Tobias Bernstrup (born 17 July 1970 in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
) is a Swedish
contemporary artist working with
videos,
interactive
Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...
works, live
performances and
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
. He received an
MFA from Royal College University of Fine Arts
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
in 1998, where he also met up with artist colleague
Palle Torsson.
Work
Tobias Bernstrup belongs to a group of visual artists who produce music and perform it, and who consider this process as part of their practice as visual artists. Using the visual language of pop culture,
video games
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
,
sci-fi
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
,
classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...
and
gothic noir, he has created a stage persona with gender-crossing live performances dressed in elaborate costumes of shiny rubber and heavy make up. In videos and animations often inhabited by his digital alter ego/
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...
and in live performances where the artist dresses as a computer game character, he raises questions about representation of identity, the body and physical space in both
virtual and non-virtual realities, closely linked to critical ideas of
irrealism and
simulacra.
His video and live works are interconnected, however, while his videos focus on the extreme and exaggerated, his presence on the stage is a more modest physicality. His virtual world allows for one's desires to be realized within the realms of the “game,” whereas on stage, Bernstrup's presence limits the viewer to his style and specificities. His external appearance of fetish and
cross-dressing, including buckles and skin-tight rubber, is tame compared to transgressions of the individual.
In 1995 Bernstrup worked in close collaboration with artist Palle Torsson, receiving international recognition as among the first visual artists to use computer games in their art practice. Their project ''Museum Meltdown'' consisted of a series of site specific computer game installations in European art museums. Using the graphics engine of existing
video games
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
such as ''
Doom'', ''
Duke Nukem 3D
''Duke Nukem 3D'' is a 1996 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by 3D Realms and published by FormGen for MS-DOS. It is a sequel to the platform games ''Duke Nukem (video game), Duke Nukem'' and ''Duke Nukem II'', published ...
'', ''
Quake'' and ''
Half-Life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay.
Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to:
Film
* Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang
* ''Half Life: ...
'' they transformed the museum architecture into violent
first-person shooter
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
games, allowing the museum visitor to wander around a virtual version of the museum killing people and blowing up masterpieces. Torsson and Bernstrup's early video game-based projects and game representations of museums have subsequently been followed up by other by artists such as Florian Muser & Imre Osswald, Felix Stephan Huber (Germany), Feng Mengbo (China) and Kolkoz (France).
Bernstrup has continued working with game environments, reconstructing existing urban spaces such as
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
's
Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building, Reichstag (Bundestag, German Parliament Building), and ...
and Paris'
La Défense. Focusing on the artificial quality of surfaces, he linked these virtual spaces to his digital alter ego and music both in animated videos and in live performances. Several of his songs from videos and performances have been released by museums, galleries art institutions on CD or vinyl. As a recording artist Bernstrup is also known for his close collaboration and electronic compositions for Swedish video artist
Annika Larsson and his track playing in the Music Locker Club and on Music Locker Radio in GTA Online.
Exhibitions
* (1995) Museum Meltdown
computer game,
Arken Museum of Modern Art (with Palle Torsson)
* (1997) Museum Meltdown I
computer game, Contemporary Art Centre of
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
, (with Palle Torsson)
* (1999) Museum Meltdown II
computer game,
Moderna Museet,
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
(with Palle Torsson)
* (2001) Potsdamer Platz (Unreal Edit), computer game, Biennale De Lyon 2001
* (2002) Nekropolis, computer game, Palais de Tokyo
* (2004) XSEED 4000
:de:X-Seed 4000, computer game
* (2009) performance ASFR at Madre Museum of Contemporary Art, Naples, June 26, 2009
MADRE
Discography
* 2021 “Petrichor” LP, CD, Nadanna Records.
* 2018 “Technophobic” LP, CD, Nadanna Records.
* 2017 "Utopia" 12", DiscoModernism.
* 2015 "Romanticism" LP+12" and CD, Gooiland Elektro/Tonight Records.
* 2013 "Destruction" 12" EP, Gooiland Elektro/Enfant Terrible.
* 2012 "Sing My Body Electric" CD/LP/MC, Other Voices Records.
* 2011 "Strangeland" with Martial Canterel, 7" vinyl single, Mannequin Records.
* "Fat Boy" with Saralunden, vinyl 12" EP, Enfant Terrible.
* 2010 "1984", vinyl 12" EP, Enfant Terrible.
* 2009 "Hitman", mp3 single, Black Leather Records, BLR-018.
* 2008 "Midnight Blue", 12" Vinyl single, Falco Invernale Records, FIR-001.
* "The Wierd Compilation vol.II: Analogue Electronic Music 2008", Wierd Records.
* 2007 "Neon Love", 12" Vinyl single.
* "Neon Love", collector's Edition", 12" Vinyl single (edition of 100).
* "Enemies of The Earth" CD-single multiple, North Drive Press #4.
* 2006 "Wierd Compilation 1", Wierd Records, VR-001.
* 2005 "Killing Spree", Audio CD, Produced by Kunsthalle Nürnberg.
* "SUV", mp3 single.
* 2003 "Ventisette", Italian version, 12" Vinyl single.
* "Ventisette", collector's Edition", 12" Vinyl single (edition of 100).
* 2002 "Re-Animate Me", Audio CD, Produced by Färgfabriken.
* "27 remix", 12" Vinyl single (edition of 500).
* "27 collector's Edition", 12" Vinyl single (edition of 100).
* 1998 "Images of Love", Audio CD-R (edition of 20).
* 1997 "The Heat of the Night", Audio CD-R (edition of 25).
References
* http://www.manetas.com/txt/movingandshooting.html written by
Miltos Manetas for a show by Palle Torsson & Tobias Bernstrup called Museum Meltdown (22 May - 19 August 1999) at Moderna Musee,in Stockholm Sweden.
"Museum Raiders", ''The New York Times''* ArtNews Nov, 2004 http://www.marcspiegler.com/Articles/ArtNews/ArtNews_Feature_2004_11_Bernstrup.pdf
* http://www.selectparks.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=list_pages_categories&cid=1
*
Artistic computer game modification
External links
The Official Tobias Bernstrup Web Site Tobias Bernstrup Fan Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstrup, Tobias
1970 births
Living people
Swedish performance artists
Swedish video artists
Swedish contemporary artists
Artists from Gothenburg
Royal Institute of Art alumni