ROBERTO EKHOLM.
An interview with the multifaceted artist and curator of MOCA Museum.
WHO’S ROBERTO WHEN HE’S AT HOME?
That’s exactly what we were thinking when we first came across Roberto’s ‘Supine, Fresnal Equations’ sculpture, a stainless steel mirrored sphere I fell in love with due to its ambiguity.
We dug a little deeper and came to learn that Roberto is a man of many talents, a member of the RSS (Royal Sculpture Society) an artist, dancer, photographer and curator - and all of which he thrives at.
‘Supine, Fresnal Equations’ 2019.
Silicon, rubber, pigment, stainless steel polished mirror sphere. 110x55cm.
‘Roberto Ekholm studied at Laban Centre and Goldsmiths College, London. His work includes performances, sculpture and photography drawing on our present ideas about identity through discourses of medicine and th body and our environment around us.
Ekholm has also curated Happy Hour '(Kristine Hjellegjerde London) and worked as a dancer and assistant choreographer with Lulu’s Livingroom.
His work is feature in the three Thames & Hudson publications ‘THE WORD is ART’, ‘NATURE MORTE’ and ‘MIRROR MIRROR’. He is also the director of ECKO London.’
- robertoekholm.com
Roberto invited us to the Frieze week VIP breakfast viewing of David Van Eyseen’s Encounter at MOCA London and took the time to share some insights into his creative journey with us.
We discussed all things from art, performance and what it means to remain conscious in the creative industry whilst building confidence as an artist.
Roberto Ekholm
“The market is not interested in change, they want a style, and that can hinder the creativity.”
Anchor Forward (End of Beginning)
Movement performance from the documentary Blood, a film by Satvinder Bahar.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO DANCE?
My mother took me to Saturday Night Fever when I was 8 years old and it was to the 9pm which showing was extremely late!
I was super excited about that and left knowing that I wanted to be a dancer… From that point on, everything I chose to do allowed me to live a creative life.
I never planned to be a curator this just happened from progression, from growing. But I realised it comes off the back of being a choreographer and how I like to work with all different types if people, so dance has linked me to that way of thinking.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT?
After many years of not dancing, I’m finally coming back to dance. My interest in this now is the question on how we really see and experience dance .
At Laban I did installation dance pieces and I think it’s similar now with augmented reality where you can see someone dancing in your living room, but also repetition and really staying in that focus.
I’m also pushing and exploring how my dance body can become sculptural and cinematic in this new medium.
(DIRTY KNOB) HANDLE, 2023.
Victorian morose doorknob. Polished chrome, sealer, screws.(DIRTY KNOB) HANDLE, 2023.
Victorian morose doorknob. Polished chrome, sealer, screws.
“I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS PIECE 20 YEARS AGO BUT DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT. I HAD THIS IDEA WITH THE HANDLE, IT’S THIS KNOB AND THE LANGUAGE, I LIKE PLAYING WITH LANGUAGE, IT’S CHEEKY, IT’S FUNNY.”
Roberto’s latest piece ‘Dirty Knob’ is being featured in Michael Petry’s Mirror Mirror. The play-on-words piece consists of a metal doorknob fixed to a wall rather than a door, bringing a thought provoking element to something quite mundane and overlooked in everyday life.
The handle appears crips and clean on first instance with only a ‘smudge’ positioned directly in the centre which is infact Roberto’s fingerprint carefully embedded to create a deep imprint of his identity. The word ‘knob’ is often used as a slang word for penis throughout the UK, with ‘dirty’ referring to those who are HIV positive, whilst ‘clean’ refers to the that are negative within queer language.
Mirror Mirror: The Reflective Surface in Contemporary Art, Michael Petry.