JO BENTDAL: – Human beings are becoming more and more dominant on the planet, and what we describe as progress is primarily about improving the conditions for humanity itself, which now may turn out to be a short-term plan. If the target is a short-term improvement of living conditions for most people, it is alleged that we succeed. With a smaller proportion living in extreme poverty, less war and violence (in fact – although the media more than suggests otherwise), longer average life expectancy, etc. There are plenty of indications that we need to widen our scope of thought to prevent the bottom from falling out of this development.

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – What shall we realize today?

 

JO BENTDAL: – We must realize that everything is interconnected and that our ability to innovate and form our personal development is peanuts compared to the impact and results created by the laws of nature and evolution for (at least) 13.8 billion years. Despite frequent and severe cases of hubris and species-chauvinism, I am still hot with the opinion that human development is moving forward. Everyone is born with an IQ higher than 0, and as a collective body representing the humanity of minds, which provides the foundation for experiential learning, both in the areas we make mistakes and where something works. If measures leverage this collective intelligence to be adapted optimally, it will be okay, but yes –  in a way, it assumes a new paradigm. It requires allowing information, insights, and knowledge to flow to all, and it takes to turn the trend. We are now seeing that more and more power is accumulated by fewer people – a few heads with limited collective knowledge and limited overall IQ. It presupposes that people will think for themselves, that they make conscious choices and that we avoid having everyone thinking and acting in a uniform direction (any direction – we must have a balance). And as I said:

 

 

“It presupposes that we see the whole picture and stop believing that man is infinitely more important here on the planet than anything else we rely on to survive. And not least, we realize that we have created as a species so far probably cannot match to value what we have destroyed.”

 

 

 

“I think it has always existed individuals who have “seen the light” – the new paradigm might be that everyone does it? Enter the next level! “

 

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – You are very convenient in linking thoughts to your viewer on to more profound existence, whether it’s people or other motives; through your photos, we are sucked into a guessing process, and we are tricked into analyzing the anthropology of your heroes. What is so exciting about the observation?

 

JO BENTDAL: – Everything we are is a result of something from outside. Whether through evolution and genes or through experiences gathered and consequences of our interaction with the environment. Observing the world can provide a ground for understanding the conditions for one’s role in different contexts. Seeing ourselves about our surroundings is essential as a basis for our actions.

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – Joa, you have more details about that, have you not? Our ears are wide open!

 

JO BENTDAL: – When confronted with an image with suitable content, we can stop by a discrete set of impressions and remain there as long as we want. This is the chance to pursue our own associations to an end, to know our personal emotional response, and feel free to analyze the experience of encounter with the work.

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – How does it appear in your artistry?

JO BENTDAL: – When I do what I do, it is not to force a message onto the viewer; instead, the aim is to initiate a subjective reflection. This is the only path to knowledge-based development. Observation and visual communication, including the visual arts, provide tools to expand the language and communicate outside the framework of logical reasoning. In a culture that after the Enlightenment has become more and more mechanistic, it is perhaps just a treatment of the phenomena that do not «add up» or that can not be solved within a given set of analytical models (which will always have limited validity and relevance) – which is art’s purpose. It’s refractive surfaces between different dogmas, analytical mental models, and worldviews that give dissonance – the pieces of the overall picture that does not fit together.

 

ARTHUR: – What is the trick?

 

JO BENTDAL: – Here, the trick is possibly an entrance to an intuitive/analytic/spiritual synthesis that can provide the necessary holistic perspective to restore a functioning worldview – or at least a working experience of the world and ourselves.

ARTUR SOPIN: – It is a shimmering universe behind your eyes; I would like to learn more about your background. What influenced you most when you were a kid?

 

JO BENTDAL: – Well…. I had good friends and the opportunity to express myself, but what affected me the most? I do not know; I probably felt pretty early that I even had specific control over developing my own identity. The answer must surely be that the sum of everything I went through and how I chose to relate to it made me who I am. But I got positive confirmation from family and friends when there was some reason for it – and that probably was a great help in this process.

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – In today’s life, most of us swear to the Routine bible. Machinery is relatively standard these days in all aspects… Your conceptual images point out, tidily and diplomatically, the identity of an invention as a curiosity or a treasure that everyone should search for; some are doing it for a long life. This search is hurtfully placed by your terms in your mastery. Well, you’ve certainly got some epic narratives; please, can you open some phrases that define your ID to us?

 

JO BENTDAL: – A characteristic of myself I would instead not venture into, but you can get some keywords related to me: I’m analytical but strive to be undogmatic. Integrity is essential to me, so I’m pretty brave in a careful manner.

 

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – It seems you are fascinated by youth; what inspires you in its condition?

 

JO BENTDAL: – The obvious: a potential. People who are not corrupt (yet) are not eaten up by the machine (altogether).

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – Your work “Common Sensibility” is a hidden and terrifying artistry! When the eyes meet your girls, there is a connection to come; it grabs instantaneously to the ears and other senses; I can actually hear motions and sounds behind the prints. You do it quite politely, as in magic tricks … I wonder if it will slip a dove out of the picture or if it will be the flame this time. You are a gifted magician, Joa! Why do we love to play?

 

JO BENTDAL: – The game has much of the same as what I previously described as arts potential. In the play, the boundaries are set to give form, substance, and meaning – not to restrict.

 

 

 “In the game, one can withdraw from a certain framework at any given time -and choose another game. Life, in general, should be more like playing.”

 

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – In “Common Sensibility,” you are blurring across war and peace, youth and old, traditional and rebellious as a radical agenda. It’s suffocating applicable, especially today, and we enjoy those moments with you! But still, what is your opinion about humanity’s aspiration for the ideal man, a superhero, Superman? Can we do it? Do we need it? Do we have any good examples so far? And is there something we’re missing? Is something forgotten?

 

JO BENTDAL: – A culture has virtually unlimited potential – a potential to destroy everything and, simultaneously, a possibility for continuous positive development. The tools and discoveries we make could be used positively or negatively. But the transhumanist idea that man will take over for evolution and “improve” nature which has created him, is, in my opinion, blatant idiocy. We might apply ourselves better to the fruits of innovation, but we must work hard to beat nature when developing living entities. It’s like learning a father to create children. This subject interests me, and I’m working on creating a series that treat this, but here and now, this will be everything I choose to say about the matter.

ARTHUR SOPIN: – Can you explain the word “common” and “sensibility” outside the name “Common Sensibility” ‘s borders. And what is fascinating about each of those words?

 

JO BENTDAL: – This is extensive – I recommend tasting the word and possibly a peek at what Wikipedia, Immanuel Kant, and Hannah Arendt have to say about the Sensus Communis. Another one, a bit random but funny connotation, is Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” – When I replace “sense” with “sensibility” as a proposal for a “next level” version of the term “common sense.” An understanding that is more in keeping with the intuitive/analytic/spiritual synthesis I’ve poked in the interview…

 

 

“Maybe that for some can also act as an appeal for independence from an unnamed empire (not the British this time).”

 

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – Let’s talk about motivation; what motivates you? What mechanisms are moving you to self-fulfilment?

 

JO BENTDAL: – My goal is to have a good time – and fun – it presupposes that I can do what I believe is right. It presumes that I do not bluff myself and assumes that I operate in a context that works and confirms that I’m not just doing it for myself.

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – If I would say that you are designing a new Norwegian identity… Are you trying to create a modern movement? 

 

JO BENTDAL: – Hmmm … NO! – I’d like to help put people in motion, but not all in one direction. Instead of a continuous movement towards the core of which is them, at a given time – in a given context.

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – Individual vs collective?

 

JO BENTDAL: – Yes, please- both!

 

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – You’re reviewing your heroines with: “everything we next deliver shall They acquire. With a new mindset?”… we are smiling widely here in DT 500 MAG’s crew; Joa, you should do stand-up. Didn’t you ever think about it? This assertion is a hard-core denied dilemma in today’s society… tragically among the brainwashed youth too…What would you choose, Joa – a healthy sense or a demanding challenge?

 

JO BENTDAL: – Demanding challenge! It’s much more fun (and safer).

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – Do you think we need the system in the future? Or should it flourish as well-behaved anarchy?

 

JO BENTDAL: – McDonald’s has strictly defined work routines that ensure a predictable (and a little sad) result despite less qualified employees. In a jazz trio is more freely forward – but you know exactly what you are doing (have high qualifications), understand and respect the context, can adapt and can effectively communicate with the other members.

 

 

“I would rather live in a “jazz trio society” than a “McDonalds world .”

 

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – It is a claim: “We only live once, “Do we really? Or someone desperately wants to trick us? What do you personally think about that?

 

JO BENTDAL: – We do, and so it should be – unless we go into the subjects of parallel realities and such, but the other truths are nevertheless 100% out of reach and only relevant for understanding how our existence may have come to be. So for all practical purposes, and outside afterparty mode: “it all adds up to normality” -Leonard Susskind.

 

ARTHUR SOPIN: – Can you describe the qualities of courage? And what is your opinion about changing traditions?

 

JO BENTDAL: – insight gives courage and prevents foolhardiness. Justified challenges to conventions are significant, and it is also good to understand and respect qualities that have made something a tradition. But in my worldview, nothing is sacred other than integrity (and it’s also entirely futile to challenge the laws of nature, but that principle manages itself and needs no symbolic definition as holy).

 

 

ARTHUR SOPIN:- Do we need a new national Idea, especially in Norway? Would you try to define it?

 

JO BENTDAL: – A new national idea: Yes, more and many! I would define it: No – I believe in subjectivity in identity questions. My idéplattform is mine and should never be national! I hope other Norwegians have their own ideas and they are not buying everything in one place when they’re building it out. I’m not a fan of uniformity – it is suboptimal and stupid.

Interview by Arthur Sopin

Photography by Jo Bentdal