Hundred Days Of Confusion Series of drawings, 52x72 cm without frame, 2006-2009 _ _ EXHIBITED AT Truth and Dare, The Aarhus Art Building, Århus, Denmark / March 28 - April 27 2009 Nordic Drawings, Rackstadmuseet, Arvika, Sweden / September 14 - October 26 2007 Nordic Drawings, Skellefteå Konsthall, Skellefteå, Sweden / June 1 - August 17 2007 Det tegner bra/Contemporary Drawing, touring exhibition in Hedmark County / June 2007 - February 2008 This May Take Several Minutes, Gallery Pictura, Lund, Sweden / November 4 - November 25 2006 Rethinking Life, Mors Mössa, Göteborg, Sweden / August 25 - September 16 2007 _ From the Truth and Dare catalouge: Old Remedies / New Images. On media and materials – brushes, humour, violence and filmic expectations at the exhibition Truth or Dare. By Lise Skytte Jakobsen " (...) When the Work of Art Almost Isn’t There The baroque humour – but at the same time the almost existential and persistent occupation with the details of experienced life – can also be experienced in connection with the works of Trond Hugo Haugen, although the hallucinations in his drawings and constructions are of quite another kind. In his book Det kjedelige kunstverket (The Boring Work of Art) from 2002 it is possible to follow – in extremely simple, almost schematic (or boring!) drawings – a work of art, maybe a kind of light installation on wheels connected to a socket, that flees from its boring life and simply flies out the window, but because of its connection to the socket it brings the whole globe with it in tow. The subtitle of the book is Eller kunstverket som kjedet seg (Or the Bored Work of Art) and initially we are encouraged to reflect on why the work of art is bored – was it forgotten or lonely? Or is all art bored? And what does the globe see when it is taken on a flight by art? Basic problematics about the conditions of art and the state of the globe are presented in a cheerful way in connection with drawings that now and then seem on the edge of ceasing to exist; fast sketches of not always transparent sequences of events or simple landscape fantasies. In keeping with this a question is asked towards the end of the book: Has the world now changed after the flight – and, not least, what about you, have you been affected by the flight? Also the series Hundred Days of Confusion (begun in 2006) has been drawn in a raw, intuitive and direct way. The drawings take their starting point in personal incidents and in this sense they must be understood as contemplations on the course of life, but at the same time it is important to note that they send out a signal about being spontaneous and sketched in a hurry. They show a willingness to always search for something new, not getting stuck but always being willing to let oneself get carried along. For Haugen drawing is like thinking; it’s a process that leads the thoughts on their way, but the drawings in themselves are also thoughts. This use of drawings as a fast, intuitive medium combined with a conceptual or idea-based interest in how little it takes to create a meaningful image is in keeping with Haugen’s treatment of the medium of film in the work In Memory Of. Also in this instance the focus is put on the thoughts and behaviour that the medium results in, rather than the film itself, the images on the screen. In Memory Of consists of a miniature movie theatre where a soundtrack reveals a symphonic orchestra warming up for an approaching concert, while the audience members find their seats in the concert hall and we hear their small talk in the background. You take your seat in the movie theatre and imagine what you are to experience; how will it sound when the members of the orchestra begin to play for real, and what will you see on the screen? But 20 minutes pass … and absolutely nothing happens. After 20 minutes the soundtrack ends its loop and starts from the beginning again, and your own expectations of what this medium in this set-up would be presenting to you are the only images you bring with you from the movie theatre. Haugen brings the movie theatre and the boundaries of the filmic medium into play, but empties the architecture of the images we expect from this medium while letting the soundtrack generate the expectant inner film of the audience. Some will probably remain seated for the whole duration of the loop and discover that the expectation theme just repeats itself, while others will stick their head into the movie theatre every now and then and realize that the film still hasn’t started. (...)" _