A Doll's House #4 - Peace & Love (If You Want It) Issue

Dear ADH reader, Summer is here, and for many – including us

back into the words peace & love, and

– that means festival time. Though festivals

decided to dedicate this issue to it.

don’t only indicate unlimited music, beer and mud; it also means being confronted

Making fanzines and DIY products in

with politics in some way or the other, be

general are excellent ways of expressing

it in band lyrics, on someone’s t-shirt or at

your opinions, as is music, writing, art

Greenpeace’s festival stand.

and fashion.

The best example of a festival where protest

For this issue we are looking at the

played an important role is of course the

connections

legendary Woodstock festival of 1969,

and popular culture, focusing on how the

where anti-war slogans and peace signs

music festival has been an arena where

were nearly as prominent as the music

protest and culture unite. So, arrange a

played on stage. Since then, the “peace &

demonstration, set up a fair-trade clothing

love” expression has become something of

label, start a revolution from your bed – or

a cliché, and subject to many jokes about

have a think: What can you do yourself to

the hippie movement, as well as giving

contribute to the making of peace, in some

names to several silly consumer products

form or the other?

between

political

activism

with nothing to do with the message behind the expression whatsoever.

We’ll let you keep to yourself how you make love.

But to millions of people the issue of love and peace is of course not a joke, and

All our love and wishes for an

experiencing it merely a distant dream. We

amazing summer,

think it’s about time to put some meaning

Hilde & Astri

Contents:

A Doll’s House is:

On page 4 you will find “Peace, Love

Hilde Holta-Lysell - Editor

& Dirty Knickers”, an article about

Astri Barbala - Feature Editor

festivals, music and activism.

Jan Schjetne - Graphic design

Flip on further, to page 9, and read an

Danielle DeWitt - Illustrations

article, in Norwegian, about legendary rock historian Willy B. As if that wasn’t enough, you’ll find a photo story called Two Girls, One Peace

Editorial contributors: Henriette K. Johansen Henrik Holta-Lysell

placed conveniently on lucky page 13.

We’re fans of Lissie, so much so that we interviewed her and put the whole thing on

Contributing artists:

page 20.

Hilde Holta-Lysell

Remember the song “Venus in Furs”?

adollshouse.no/hilde

Well we have a photo story named after it

Tove Sivertsen

on page 28. It’s solid. Solid as gold.

tovesivertsen.com

In the spirit of the theme for this issue,

Jan Schjetne

Maja

has

photographed

story

called

“Garden

a

fashion

diggetydamn.com

of

Love”.

Danielle DeWitt

You’ll find it on page 32.

We love Yoko, and after reading the article on page 36, you will too.

You’ll love Barbara Kruger just as much after reading about her on page 42.

And finally Hilde shows us her version of a hippie bed-in. It all happens on page 47.

cargocollective.com/EHFO Maja Casablancas polkadots-vodkashots.blogspot.com

Special thanks to: Canon, Slottsfjellfestivalen and Skeidar

Last year marked the 40th anniversary for both the legendary Woodstock festival and John & Yoko’s ‘War is over!’ campaign. Music and festivals continue to be connected to activism, but can rock n’ roll really save the world?

By Astri Barbala

There are three things

are

to making money for the poor by turning

find

great hit songs into bad ones, and Bono

at a music festival, apart from

tries to eliminate AIDS in Africa by

the obvious contents of music, tents

selling expensive trainers and computers

and booze. The first is dirty underwear.

to those who can afford it through the

You will encounter it either popping

RED campaign (though he’d rather you

up halfway buried in the mud, on your

forget about his rather extensive tax

own body (gross!), or as an unpleasant,

avoidance), dissing the hippies while

aggravating odour from your fellow

he was at it: “Philanthropy is like hippie

festival buddies. The second is flags,

music, holding hands. RED is more like

which have served as either meeting

punk rock, hip hop, this should feel like

points or annoying view blockers at most

hard commerce.”

inevitably

you

fight over being picked out to contribute

likely

to

festivals since the 60s; the latter causing them now being banned from festivals

When Bono became punk rock?

such as Glastonbury. And then there is

Yeah, I don’t know either.

the third vital part of the festival: some mentioning of peace, politics and the

But music and activism were BFFs

need for social change.

long before the thought of such splendid marketing ideas. Woodstock and the

“No artist has ethical sympathies.

hippie generation do of course come

An ethical sympathy in an artist is an

to mind first. Billed as ’three days of

unpardonable mannerism of style. All

peace and music’, the festival saw career

art is quite useless”, Oscar Wilde once

defining performances from the likes of

wrote.

Janis, Jimi and the Who, plus a lot of

Many

musical

artists

would

strongly disagree, however, as having

drugs, STDs and political slogans

an ethical sympathy is all the rage in the

being exchanged between the

pop culture camp at the moment. Political

mere half a million people

candidates compete for the coolest band

present. The mottos of

to play at their election campaigns, artists

the 1960s are still

widely recognized

its anarchist ethos, which with varied

and well-used, and

degree of successful political messages

the peace camp outside

showed its ugly head in tabloids and

the Parliament in London looks

punk fanzines alike during the late 70s

like it is taken straight out of a

and early 80s, followed by hardcore

San Francisco hippie site from 1967’s

bands like Black Flag and Fugazi who

Summer of Love. But where the words

continued throughout to the 1990s.

‘peace’ and ‘love’ seemed to mean something 40 years ago, they have now

The 80s saw new issues being

become clichéd and more connected to

dealt with, and AIDS and gay

naff consumer products than protest music,

rights were often subjects

which soon found different breeding

of

grounds and music styles. Whereas Bob

protest music. Rap

Dylan, Joan Baez and the folk singers

and hip hop was

had been connected to the civil rights

on the rise and

movement in the early 1960s, and the

songs

rock of Jefferson Airplane and John &

“Fuck tha Police”

Yoko in the later years of the decade, the

(1988) by N.W.A

1970s saw a new generation of radicals

and Public Enemy’s

playing flutes around the campfire,

“Fight the Power” (1989)

neglecting the “tune in, turn on, drop

commented on the discrimination

out” mantra, as frying ones brain would

and poverty of the black community in

be bad for the revolution. Soul music

America.

the

decade’s

such

as

had established itself as an important part of popular music, addressing the

In 1991 the formation of Rage

Vietnam War and racial discrimination.

Against the Machine was the beginning

Good

Starr’s

of many years of strong political messages

“War” (1970) and Marvin Gaye’s 1971

from the LA band, and Zach de la Rocha

album “What’s Going On”. Then there

& co. has probably been the most

was of course also the rise of punk and

important band of the last 20 years when

examples

are

Edwin

it comes to protest music. We must also

Environmental

issues have also

not forget the sexism and homophobia

gained a few fans among celebrity

being tackled by the Riot Grrrl movement

musicians, and “being green” is nearly up

and singer-songwriters like Ani diFranco,

there with ‘being skinny’ or on the list for

as well as Sinéad O’Connor’s harsh

the next Mulberry it-bag. Festivals have

criticism of the Catholic Church ruling in

been important arenas for addressing

her native Ireland.

environmentalism, taking over from the anti-war movement as the political issue

In the Noughties there was one issue

that

musicians

particularly in

to address for festival arrangers and

were

visitors alike, launching so-called “green

interested

festivals” with an emphasis on recycling

showing discontent

their

and organic food.

for:

The

American-

We know that Bono and Ms. Ono

led

bombings

think so, but can music – and music

of

Afghanistan

festivals – really make a difference?

and

Iraq,

and

There is no doubt there is a lot of image

the politics of one

building involved in the contemporary

certain

American

artist-as-activist trend. It is simply cool

president in general,

to care, and “do what I say, not what

made artists such as the

I do” seem to be a secret mantra of

Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam and Bruce

several of the involved. Many of the

Springsteen join the Vote for Change tour

so-called peace activists at Woodstock,

in 2004. The Rock Against Bush project

for example, probably wouldn’t have

was launched the same year, mobilising

noticed if the whole festival camp was

punk and alternative bands to unite

blown up by the US military, let

attempting to create a counterculture

alone have anything clever to

music movement similar to that of the

say about it apart from the

1960s.

odd “peace out, man” while

lighting

up another spliff. And the übertrendy,

Just turn on MTV and it is evident

organic food-eating earth lovers of today

that sex, drugs and violence are

would probably rather keep their frequent

much more “fun” to care about

private jet usage out of the tabloids, as

than questions of peace, poverty

well as a very un-environmentally friendly

and injustice. However, there is a lot

use-once-and-throw-away shopping habit.

of social commentary to be found within contemporary pop music, in the lyrics

The activist tradition of Bob Dylan

of everyone from Eminem to Christina

and his fellow 60s activists is not anymore

Aguilera. The personal rather than the

alive and kicking in the sense that there

political seem to be ruling the charts, to

is an explicitly political message in the

many old hippies’ disappointment.

mainstream music reaching a wide public.

So, can rock n’ roll save the world, At the beginning of a new decade,

then? I’m tempted to say; the answer, my

one can wonder where the protest music

friend, is blowin’ in the wind. But I will

has gone. Musicians that aren’t in the

be a bit more precise. Musicians can

“underground” category now leave their

undoubtedly get a message out to a much

political beliefs out of the recording studio,

broader public than politicians can, both

and instead project them on stage, if they

with the messages of their songs and

do at all. So even though there are still

addressing issues from the stage on gigs

artists mentioning the evils of poverty and

and festivals. They can create awareness

war, there is not really any mainstream

around an issue in ways that actually

protest music as such.

make young people think that fighting for the world’s future is, in fact, pretty cool.

And that, if anything, is definitely a start.

B y l l i W

- tatt på senga

Willy B. Kjent som Norges mest krediterte rockehistoriker, med seks bøker og X antall utgivelser om norsk rock, blues og populærkultur på nakken. En rockearkeolog med stålpeil på norsk og internasjonal musikkscene. En karakter og personlighet, kjent på Oslo-scenen for sin (Wikipedia-sitat) ”til tider utagerende og særegne spillestil”. Vi ville ha han på forsida. Det skulle portretteres i storartet stil, og snakkes om rock n’ roll, festivaler fra svunne tider og hippieaktivisme. Men så kom livet og pustet både han og oss i nakken, og vi ble begge tatt på senga. A Doll’s House ringte Willy B. en varm sommerdag i juni.

Tekst: Henriette Kværneng Johansen

- Hei, er det Willy B., kultur- og

Willy B. er nysgjerrig på A Doll’s House,

rockehistorikeren?

hvem vi er, hvor mange, hvor mange

- Ja, noe slikt ja.

utgivelser. Han synes det er bra. Det høres

Presentasjon. Agenda. Litt forklaring

helt flott ut, sier han. Han synes det er viktig

hvorfor. Når vi må ha det ferdig? Ganske

at folk gjør noe her i Norge.

snart. Hadde passet bedre å møtes uti juli

- De fleste sitter jo bare på ræva og klager

engang. For Willy B. er ikke i Oslo

over hvor ille alt er, jeg mener... Da er det

slik han pleier. Han befinner seg

bedre at folk får ting gjort.

på Gjøvik. Der har han vært i åtte uker nå. Han ligger til behandling.

Første nummeret av Yellow Submarine kom

Strålebehandling. Men han har truffet

ut i 1996, den andre og tredje i 1997, før

masse kjente og trives så godt det lar seg

nummer fire lot vente på seg, og kom ikke

gjøre.

før 2006.

- Du kan si hva du vil om sjukehusene i

- Jeg prøver å få til å ha med et langt

Norge, men når det kommer til renhold, og

intervju med en norsk artist hver gang.

en tredjedel av de som jobber her jobber jo

- Gjør du alt på egenhånd?

med det, så er de jævlig flinke. Jeg har det

- Jeg får litt småhjelp her og der, men jeg er

helt perfekt her jeg altså.

så sær, så mesteparten; ja.

Siste utgave kom ut våren 2009. Om han

Om han er frisk når han drar ut derifra, det

bare kommer seg ut av sykehuset satser

vet han ikke. Han må blant annet lære seg

han på å få gitt ut neste nummer i løpet av

å gå igjen. Rent bortsett fra det skal han få

høsten.

på plass neste nummer av fanzinen sin, Jello

Han spør mer om fanzinen vår, og jeg

Submarine.

forteller litt om gjengen bak og vårt mål, hva vi vil med det hele. At vi hovedsakelig

- Den gangen her blir det 60-talls musikk det

er en gjeng bra damer som smeller sammen

går i. Jeg har fått tak i et gammalt

ei blekke med bra innhold, og en feministisk

intervju med Rolling Stones, masse

framtoning. Men at vi tillater oss å bry oss

uutgitt stoff. Det er jo å kaste

om fashion og klær og alt som følger med.

penger ut av vinduet, men nå gir

Han svarer anerkjennende.

jeg blaffen. Jeg vil heller angre på

- Hvor mange utgivelser har dere?

noe jeg har gjort enn noe jeg ikke

- Æh, jeg husker ikke helt. Jeg er bare

har gjort.

skribent.

- Jeg kommer til å kjøpe den

så svære nå vet du, på grunn av ”Exile”

fanzinen deres altså.

(Rolling Stones-skiva ”Exile on Main Street”

- Haha, det er kult. Den koster 15

fra 1972 som ble sluppet i år med diverse

kroner stykk.

nye låter, journ. anm.) Så det er dét det går

- Det er jo en vits! Min koster åtti,

i. Gammal Rolling Stones.

tenkte jeg skulle gå opp til hundre.

- Det gir deg den riktige energien?

- Ja. Jeg klarer i alle fall å høre på det. Og

Han sier han kunne tenkt seg å ta en lengre

så går tida. Det er ikke sikkert jeg hadde

prat når han er på bena igjen.

hørt på det om jeg var hjemme. Da hadde

Jeg spør pent om jeg kan stille han et siste

jeg sikkert hørt på noe akustisk gitar, Bert

spørsmål.

Jansch eller noe liknende.

- Du kan jo prøve..?

- Er det litt mer chill eller er det rock n’ roll

- Ok. Hører du på noe musikk når du ligger

hele veien?

der?

- Begge deler, egentlig. Det er med

- Ja. Det var en kompis av meg som var

kassegitar, men litt småmystisk musikk,

innom her og ga meg en walkman med

egentlig. Jeg hører på så mye rart,

noen nye Rolling Stones bootlegs. De er

veit du. Jeg følger ingen andres fotspor.

ke

uk Kjenner

Wi l l y B? 1983: Norge i rock, beat & blues 1984: Norge i rock, beat & blues del 2

WILLY BAKKEN

1994: Vakre damer og blodig død : den norske

* Best kjent som Willy B.

1996: Drømmenes marked : norske ukeblader,

pocketbokas historie 1949-1994

* Født 24.juni 1951 * Norsk kulturhistoriker og sakprosaforfatter. Har skrevet allsidig og leksikalsk om populærkultur, spesielt rockemusikk og norsk triviallitteratur.

magasiner og hefter 1945-1995 1999: I Dovregubbens hall. Vol. 1 : en samling essays om norsk rock og rock i Norge 2002: Sten Nilsen : et liv med farger i svart/hvitt

Kilde: Wikipedia

Wi l l y B

forts.

Han drøyer litt. Innser at vi snakker, og at

Han gir meg mailadressa si. Jeg sier jeg skal

jeg kanskje noterer.

sende han en mail. Det kommer noen inn i

- Jeg vil heller møte deg for et intervju til

rommet. Jeg får så vidt tid til å takke, så har

nummeret etter, i stedet for å kaste bort tida

han lagt på.

vår på dette. Jeg har samlet på kvinnelige artister fra utlandet, og… Ja.

Vi håper Willy B vil ta seg tid til

- Ja, jeg vil veldig gjerne møte deg når du

å prate med oss til et framtidig

er på bena igjen og tilbake i Oslo. Hva er

nummer. Hvis ikke har dere

mailen din?

nettopp fått et innblikk i en Oslokarakter uten sidestykke.

Tatt på senga mellom stråling og Stones.

uys! g u o y eace p e w d ve an o l s i e c Pea

ADOLLSHOUSE.NO

Photographs: Jan Schjetne Models: Emma C @ Heartbreak & Silje R One-pieces custom made by: Amir Kosha Amiri

LISSIE

At Illinois-jenta Lissie Maurus skulle være et av de store navna på folkpophimmelen i år, var det nok få som hadde trodd da hun som blåhåret tenåring digget gangsta rap og spyttet lærerne sine i ansiktet.

Men med sin Stevie Nicks-look og såre stemme har hun lagt en trøblete ungdomstid bak seg, og kjempet seg til topps med den kritikerroste debutplata ”Catching a Tiger”.

Tekst: Henrik Holta-Lysell Foto: Hilde Holta-Lysell

Vi møter Lissie på et av de mindre

rap og var en drittunge med

fasjonable hotellene i Oslo. Hun er

stor D. Nå stråler hun av selvtillit og

fremdeles up and coming og må nok

virker svært utadvendt. Vi lurer på om

vente til neste norgesbesøk med å

det alltid har vært slik.

sjekke inn på ærverdige Grand Hotel.

Vi tror derimot ikke at Lissie bryr seg

- Nei, da jeg var yngre var jeg mer

nevneverdig. Hun er ei jordnær jente

innesluttet og jeg spilte aldri låter for

fra Illinois som har jobbet hardt for å

folk. Nå elsker jeg å fremføre egne

komme dit hun er i dag. At så mange

sanger. Da jeg studerte i Paris gikk jeg

vil snakke med henne, eller høre henne

rundt og kranglet meg til å spille på

synge på en scene, var en tanke som

kafeene. Jeg ga meg ikke selv om de

virket fjern da hun solgte honning

sa nei. Til slutt ga de opp og jeg fikk

på det lokale markedet eller jobbet

spille, sier Lissie og smiler.

som servitrise på kafeen. Gitaren var derimot aldri langt unna, og folk som

Hun kommer ikke fra en musikalsk

kjøpte et glass med honning eller en

familie, så hvor hun har talentet sitt fra

kaffe, fikk ofte en låt på kjøpet.

vet hun ikke. Faren kjøpte i sin tid en kassegitar til moren, men den ble aldri

Hun møter opp en halvtime

brukt. Denne gitaren adopterte derimot

forsinket, blid som ei lerke. Nesten

Lissie i en alder av 10 år.

uten sminke, med langt lyst hår hengende over skuldrene, bh-løs og

- Jeg var helt oppslukt av den gitaren.

med hår under armene er hun som

Det var utrolig vanskelig å lære seg å

snytt ut av hippiekulturen på slutten

spille, men jeg ga meg aldri. Måtte få

av 60-tallet. Vi kunne like gjerne ha

til minst to grep, så jeg kunne lage en

sittet rundt et bål på Woodstock, hvor

sang. Tekster og melodi var ikke noe

Lissie nettopp hadde kastet bh’en på

problem så fort jeg kunne bakke de

bålet. Det virker ganske fjernt

opp med gitaren. Da jeg først lærte

at denne jenta en gang farget

meg barregrep, skrev jeg sikkert en låt

håret blått, hørte på gangsta

om dagen.

Som du sikkert har skjønt er ikke

- Det å skrive låter er terapi

Lissie nok en kjedelig blondine med

for meg, så en låt om dagen

kassegitar. Dette er ei jente med bein i

var nok nødvendig for å holde

nesa. På videregående ble hun kastet

psyken i sjakk i perioder. Noen

ut etter å ha spyttet læreren i ansiktet,

artister skriver om andres

og etter ett år på universitetet sluttet

opplevelser eller klarer å dikte

hun og dro til Los Angeles for å satse

opp historier. Jeg har derimot

alt på musikken. Hun har særdeles få

alltid skrevet personlige tekster.

likhetstrekk med mange av sine mer

Mange av tekstene gir meg fremdeles

kommersielle kollegaer. Du legger

et stikk i hjertet, selv om jeg har

kanskje ikke merke til det ved første

fremført dem hundrevis av ganger.

øyekast eller under første lytt, men etter

En sang om en ekskjæreste, for

å ha gått henne nærmere i sømmene,

eksempel. Det er ikke det at jeg har

merker du garantert tyngden og det

de samme følelsene for den personen

altoppslukende ved Lissie. Vi hadde

ennå, men jeg kommer raskt inn i

spilt oss igjennom den nye plata 20-

sinnsstemningen. Hvis dere skjønner

30 ganger før vi skulle møte henne i

hva jeg mener?

Oslo, og hadde allerede forelsket oss i den varme stemmen, som brister så

Den 27 år gamle artisten har

riktig når hun tømmer seg for følelser.

fått en pangstart på karrieren etter å

Det skal årtier med røyk og whisky for

ha samarbeidet med Band of Horses,

å slipe til et slikt stemmebånd, så å

Ed Harcourt og Jacquire King, som

kalle stemmen en gudegave er ikke en

tidligere har produsert Tom Waits,

overdrivelse. En trøblete ungdomstid

Kings of Leon og Norah Jones. Men

gjør seg også gjeldende og skaper et

veien dit har vært lang og trøblete.

inntrykk av en artist som åpner hjertet

Etter å ha ravet gatelangs i Paris, hvor

for de innerste hemmeligheter og

hun egentlig skulle studere, bestemte

tanker.

hun seg for å satse alt på et kort. Hun sluttet like gjerne på skolen og dro til Los Angeles for å bli musiker. Det skal

ganske mye stå-på-vilje til for å slå seg

kjempenervøs for hva folk kommer å

fram i den byen.

synes. Folk flest kjenner henne kun som ”den dama som spiller en rå versjon

- Jeg hadde gitt opp håpet om å ”bli

av Lady Gaga-låta Bad Romance”. Det

oppdaget” på gata, og tenkte at Los

bekymrer henne derimot ikke.

Angeles var byen å dra til hvis jeg virkelig ville få til en karriere som

- Den låta har gitt meg mye

musiker. Da jeg kom dit var jeg helt

oppmerksomhet og det er jeg

alene og kjente ingen, men det endret

takknemlig for. Det er jo ei

seg raskt. Jeg flyttet inn i et kollektiv

fantastisk låt, og Lady Gaga er

og etter en stund hadde jeg fått en

helt rå, sier Lissie. Noe uventet,

større vennekrets. Det var ikke

tenker vi.

lett å få spillejobber i LA, så til slutt fant jeg en bar som hadde

- Vi var i studio og tenkte at vi skulle

få gjester og spurte eieren

gjøre en cover. Det måtte bli en låt alle

om jeg kunne arrangere åpen

gikk og nynnet på, og vi ble raskt enig

scene en dag i uken. Etter mye

om å gjøre Bad Romance. Vi spilte

mas fikk jeg overtalt eieren,

den inn der og da, og tok det ganske

og begynte å booke band.

så på sparket, forklarer Lissie.

Oppvarmingsbandet var Lissie, he-he.

Siden dette nummeret av A Doll’s House handler om forholdet

Bookingen og åpen scene ble en

mellom musikk og protest, og særlig

suksess, og ryktet spredte seg raskt.

fredsaktivismen på 60-tallet knyttet til

Lissie ble kjent med alle musikerne

Woodstockfestivalen, lurer vi på hva

som spilte der og bygde seg et stort

Lissie legger i ordene peace and love?

nettverk. Til slutt banket plateselskapet på døra. Platekontrakt ble signert, og

- Når det kommer til musikk, så er jo

Lissie var godt på vei med å oppfylle

det en samlende kunstnerisk form,

en drøm. Nå er plata ute, og hun er

og jeg håper at min musikk har den

påvirkningen på folk. Jeg har lyst til

- Man kan få inntrykket av at

at de som er på konsertene mine føler

ungdommen er noe blaserte,

at de er på konsert sammen. Ikke

men kanskje det vil komme en

står alene for seg selv. Spørs om man

revolusjon. Dette gjelder selvfølgelig

klarer å samle 500 000 mennesker til

ikke for alle, men kanskje ungdommen

en begivenhet som Woodstock igjen,

igjen vil begynne å bry seg. Jeg er

men det er lov å håpe. Jeg var på en

redd det må en stor katastrofe til for å

konsert med Grateful Dead for ikke så

samle folk, forklarer Lissie.

lenge siden, hvor jeg opplevde noe lignende. Alle som var på konserten

Hun er et yndet intervjuobjekt, og

var utrolig blide, og tok på en måte

skravla går i ett sett. Vi skulle veldig

vare på hverandre. Ei jente spurte

gjerne sittet og skravlet lenger, men

om jeg ikke ville ha litt vann fordi

tiden er dessverre ute. Med Lissie kan

jeg så tørst ut og folk som ikke kjente

selv den mest bedritne journalisten

hverandre holdt rundt hverandre på

komme unna med et ok intervju. Vi

flere av låtene. Det var helt magisk.

slår av båndspilleren og takker for oss,

Det virker som alle har befestet seg

men først vil hun imponere med noen

i en boble om dagen, som man ikke

norske gloser.

slipper andre inn i, bortsett fra de aller nærmeste. Hadde jeg prøvd å holde

- Du, jeg hadde en svensk kjæreste en

rundt en vilt fremmed på en annen

gang, så jeg kan noen norske gloser:

type konsert ville nok reaksjonen vært

”bråne bovner”.

annerledes, sier hun og ler.

- Hæ?

- You know, brown beans. He-he, it sounds like “boner” (ståpikk).

- Det heter ”brune bønner”.

- Oh, bråne bovner.

- Yeah, that’s right.

photo

tove sivertsen

model

nicoline/heartbreak

assistant

marian strand

I And A Where And And So That And And And And my

went saw Chapel I

I

the ‘Thou

to what was used

the to

gates of shalt not’ turned to so many

I

Garden I never built in play on this

writ

the sweet

of had the the

Chapel were over the Garden of flowers

Love, seen; midst, green. shut, door; Love bore.

saw it was filled with graves, tombstones where flowers should be; priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, binding with briars joys and desires.

- William Blake

Photography & Styling: Maja Casablancas Model: Ă…sa Engelstad

Yes, she’s a witch! (the magical storY of the world’s most famous widow)

Yoko Ono has been the victim of a vicious witch hunt ever since she first encountered a bespeckled Beatle from Liverpool over four decades ago. She is finally enjoying some mainstream recognition, but don’t think it makes her any less spellbinding.

By Astri Barbala

In the first few lines of their tribute anthem “Hot Topic”, electropunk band Le Tigre sings the following about the art world icon, musician, writer and activist widow of John Lennon (and fellow women artists of her generation; Carol Rama, Eleanor Antin and Carolee Schneeman): “You’re getting old that’s what they say, but don’t give a damn, I’m listening anyway[…] Please don‘t stop”.

And thankfully Yoko Ono shows no signs of stopping. This, despite being ridiculed and artistically ignored for decades. The misogyny and racism-fuelled hate against Yoko Ono has seen her being blamed for everything from the Beatles’ no-show at the 1969 Woodstock Festival (rumour has it John Lennon refused to show up if the festival didn’t also book Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band, an offer the festival declined) to breaking them up, and getting Lennon addicted to heroin. In short, everything that didn’t go as planned with the Beatles was Yoko’s fault, and she has even been victim of ridiculous conspiracy theories claiming she was behind her husband’s death. Not unlike what Courtney Love experienced as the wife and then widow of Kurt Cobain. But where Courtney probably fully deserves the psycho bitch title, Ono has done little wrong but being a true original in her own right. She has always been faithful to her Buddhist roots, and has been a devoted peace, AIDS and gay rights activist ever since her famous ‘bed-ins’ with her famous late husband in the 1960s. But we’ll get to that later.

Born in Tokyo in 1933, the Ono family moved to New York when Yoko was 18. But this was many years after she was introduced to the world of the arts; her father packed her off to a music school for supertoddlers at the age of three. Despite the child prodigy status and bright future prospects, young Yoko ran away from her prestigious NY college to get married. With her first husband, she moved to the artsy Greenwich Village, were she was introduced to New York’s avant-garde music scene. It did not take long before she was collaborating with influential people such as fellow New Wave-pioneer John Cale, free-jazz

trumpeter Ornette Coleman and soon-to-be second husband, jazz musician and film producer Anthony Cox. But music wasn’t enough for Yoko, who soon also found a huge passion within the world of conceptual and performance art. Among the most well-known of her performance works is “Cut Piece”, first performed in Tokyo in 1964, where she invited members of the audience to cut off a piece of her clothing, until she was sitting on stage naked. It touched on subjects such as gender, sexism, loneliness and suffering, and allowed her to relate destruction to interpersonal and intimate human relations.

It was at a preview of one of Ono’s London shows in 1966 that she first met John Lennon. In the beginning their relationship was purely platonic, and their friendship was based on a mutual admiration for each other. Not long after, though, the two realised they were soul mates, and became the epitome of a loved-up couple. For their honeymoon in 1969, they spent several weeks in two different hotel beds, so-called “bedins”, as a protest against the Vietnam War. Long haired and dressed in white, they invited press and friends to join them in their hotel room clad in anti-war slogans, and discussed war and peace, posed for pictures and recorded songs such as “Give peace a chance”. Yoko’s huge effect on John Lennon not only made him leave behind his first wife and firstborn son, his homeland and the most well-known band on the planet, but also his womanising ways. After the feminist Yoko in a 1969 interview proclaimed that “woman is the nigger of the world”, Lennon released a single bearing the same name.

He also wrote a song dedicated to Angela Davis, and took on the role as a house husband to take care of their son Sean when he was born in 1975.

If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

Some has named Ono “the coolest Beatle“, and it sure is something in that. These days, Yoko Ono is still juggling several careers at once, and she is finally being recognised for being the influential artist and activist that she is, constantly pushing boundaries in any projects she’s involved in. Her Imagine Peace project has positioned her as one of the most important celebrity peace activists of her time.

So, is Yoko Ono really a witch, as many of her haters would claim? Well, she does sing like a madwoman, definitely bewitched John Lennon, and is truly “wicked” in more than one sense, so the witch references are undoubtedly there. Her brilliant remix album from 2007 bore a tongue-in-cheek answer to the people wanting her burning on a stick, and was entitled exactly Yes, I am a Witch. Despite her tight schedule, she still has time to engage with her many - and counting - fans all over the world, for example by launching a weekly Q&A session every Friday on her extremely popular Twitter page. Some of her answers are hilarious, some extremely clever, and some just plain weird.

Just like Yoko herself.

a few selected QuestioNs from YoKo oNo’s twitter Q&a

ken_tanabe What would you like to be if you were born again?

Anything except born again christian! (that’s supposed to be funny:)

rainybluee What was your dream? And what is your dream? My dream is for the world to start to realize how important goodness is. Because we are goodness. We are messed up because we think we are evil. And should be good at that game. It doesn’t work. The real side of us starts to feel bad and mess us up!

sierraohh Do you think that woman is still the nigger of the world, or have we progressed to a point where women are equal to men?

Of course, we are not equal to men. But do we want to be equal to them? I think it is better to pursue higher.

meganbigelow What was your earliest memory of light?

The light I saw when my head was out of my mom’s bod. Don’t scream! I’m not kidding. I remember when I slipped out of my mom’s bod.

What can I say… You want me to be honest, don’t you?

Sqrrrlgrrl68 do you have pets? If so what kind?

I am my pet. I clean and feed myself every day.

Annieakanin What would be your best advice to a young artist who wants to make a living with her art?

Art is what you give to people. In giving, you should not be concerned if you can make a living at it or not. Your work will suffer in its creativity if you are thinking of making something that will sell. Do the best work you can do, and see what happens.

dopysurajit How to get rid of loneliness?

Just imagine being with somebody who won’t stop being unpleasant. Thank heavens that you are not with such person, so you can at least relax and breathe!

ic e h h p T gra

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B

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f o s m n s i i S n r n e e d v e o e h S t m t Pos and

The layout in this issue of A Doll’s House owes a lot to the American conceptual artist Barbara Kruger. Her graphical critiques of postmodern culture can be seen as a presentation of what she sees as the sins of late capitalist society – not unlike how the Church in early Christian times condemned the Seven Deadly Sins. We therefore present you her work in the shape of the Seven Sins of Postmodern Society.

by Astri Barbala First a little background information: Barbara

need a degree in politics to understand her

Kruger was born in New Jersey in 1945. She

harsh criticism of American patriotism, and the

started her career in the 1960s as a graphic

dangerous fruits it may bear.

designer for the magazine Mademoiselle, but soon found her place in the world of conceptual and pop art. Her work, usually a fusion of text and image in the colours red, white and black, questions the nature of a heavily media-saturated postmodern society, and criticises both its motives and its tools. It might seem like she warns us of the utter self-destruction we will face if we give in to the sins posted by her version of the Christianity’s Devil: Capitalism. Interestingly, what Kruger, an

SIN NO. 2: GREED (AND DISCIPLINARY POWER).

artist with obvious leftist sympathies, criticises as

One of the most prominent themes in Kruger’s

belonging to conservative, Christian values and

works is the greediness saturating postmodern

late capitalism, both associated with the Right,

culture. A good example is the widely discussed

has a lot in common with the Church’s Seven

Untitled (When I hear the word Culture I take

Deadly Sins:

out my checkbook) (1985). She is particularly

SIN NO. 1: (MISCONSTRUED) PRIDE.

interested in greed in terms of position of power and the different forms it takes on throughout

longest? Who prays loudest?” These are among

society, claiming in an interview that “power is the most free-flowing element in society, maybe next to money, but in fact they

the questions Kruger asks in her work Untitled

both motor each other”. This bears similarities

(Questions) from 1991, which is in the shape and

to the work of French sociologist Michel Foucault,

colour of the American flag. But instead of stars

whose theory of disciplinary power describes

and stripes, there are, of course, words. “Look

how power operates in all aspects of society,

for the moment when pride becomes contempt”

and produces so-called docile bodies; bodies of

it says in the place of the stars, and one doesn’t

passivity (see Sin no. 7).

“Who is free to choose? Who salutes the

SIN NO. 3: LUST (FOR THE MADONNA/WHORE) Many of Kruger’s works comment on the role of sex in postmodern society.

But whereas the Church condemned lust in general, her works predominantly criticise how woman is portrayed as a sex object in advertising and the media, while at the same time remaining passive and virginal. Sex/Lure (1979) touches upon this Madonna/whore complex, and other works, such as Your gaze hits the side of my face (1981), comments on the objectifying of female characters in film and images.

SIN NO. 4: GLUTTONY (AND CAPITALISM’S CREATION OF NEEDS) One thing that late capitalist consumerism is particularly good at is the creation of needs and desires: It makes sure we always have a need to fulfil, be it eating, drinking or buying another pair of shoes. Her image of a beautiful woman with her mouth open, with the word “taste” written inside her mouth, point out the way advertising encourage us to indulge in food, because we deserve it. But at the same time, there is of course the subject of fat, which is not acceptable; hence the million dollar diet industry that is often, in fact, owned by the brands selling us the fattening food in the first place (see Sin no. 5 and 6).

SIN NO. 5: WRATH (AGAINST WOMEN) In the 1970s and 80s a lot of women artist, including Kruger, were concerned with developing a feminist aesthetic within the male-dominated art industry. As well as arguing that contemporary society evokes violence and self-destruction, an often revisited subject in Kruger’s artworks is that of misogyny. Her image of a woman’s face bearing the text “Your body is a battleground” has been much referred to in modern feminist theory, showing how advertising and mass media encourage women to hate their own bodies. Other examples are Untitled (We have received orders not to move) from 1982, picturing a bound woman full of nails, symbolising how women still had far to go in the battle for full liberation.

SIN NO. 6: ENVY (OF THE POSTER GIRL/BOY) Kruger‘s use of snappy catchphrases draws, as we have seen, attention to advertising’s manipulative power. “Who do you think you are?” states one of her works, and as a successful postmodern being with a strong identity you shouldn’t think you are something, but be it, like the successful beauties of the advertisements. See for example Untitled (Super rich, Ultra gorgeous, Extra skinny, Forever young)( 1997), bearing the picture of a woman with what appears to be an old-fashioned facemask made of ice cubes, one of many Kruger works that condemns the way advertising creates an envy of its photo-shopped poster boys and girls to sell more products. Others include Untitled (You are not yourself) (1984) picturing a crying woman in a broken mirror, and an image of Marilyn Monroe with phrases such as “Not skinny enough” and “Not stupid enough” written around her face (Untitled (Not stupid enough) 1997).

SIN NO. 7: SLOTH (AND POSTMODERN APATHY) If there is one sin that can sum up what Barbara Kruger criticises the residents of postmodern Western societies for committing, it is that of sloth. In several of her works, she point at the laziness and apathy created by a never-ending flow of signs. For example, the well-known Untitled (I shop, therefore I am) (1987), that interestingly also found its way to a Selfridges campaign, points out the only thing that seem to cause some form of excitement in us nowadays is buying new things.

In the past decade, there have been

it hurts the most: There is little doubt that said

several art critics claiming that the

postmodern “sins” are still somewhat dominating

work of Kruger is “dated”, and that her

contemporary Western society, but there are still

remaking of tabloid style propaganda

few who would admit the way we are products of

is irrelevant and silly. This has an obvious

the sign systems surrounding us.

connection to how the activist artist’s political artworks more or less have disappeared from

To say it with French postmodernist philosopher

the art galleries, making room for £50 million

Jean Baudrillard, who wrote widely on the topics

diamond skulls and brightly coloured images

found in the works of Barbara Kruger:

resembling hardcore pornography.

“Everywhere

one

seeks

to

produce

meaning, to make the world signify, to It might be true that advertising has changed

render it visible. We are not, however,

shape slightly since the 1980s, as has the role of

in danger of lacking meaning; quite the

women, but one can wonder if the hate against

contrary, we are gorged with meaning

her is rooted in the fact that she hits us where

and it is killing us.”

Bed Peace /hair Peace

Photography: Hilde Holta-Lysell Model, styling, makeup: Hege Golf

dress: vintage from holland bed: kersi, skeidar

top: lolita

t-shirt + jeans: model’s own

poncho: vintage from holland