Jon Benjamin Tallerås (b. 1984, Oslo) investigates the relationship between the individual and the urban environment. His work questions ownership through exploring different ways of navigating, seeing and exploring the ever-changing landscape of the city. domain. Looking and reading about Tallerås’ artists practice, the word flaneur easily comes to mind.
In his film “Errant Wondering” (2012) the artist is using the urban landscape in unconventional ways – jumping over fences, walking on roofs and train-tracks, climbing buildings, lampposts and gutters. Unusual acts of utilizing and seeing the city is at the center of his works. The work “Traversing the city” (2017) shows Tallerås walking the city from east to west in the underground – a passage of travelling used by large amounts of people every day, though always safely inside a train.
The romantic way of using nature is the way Tallerås uses the city, challenging rules of where to go and not. In all of his works, Tallerås is performing social readings of the ways of the city - questioning what is private versus what is public domain, and the relations between juridical, social and physical constructions. Tallerås’ interpretations of the changing urban language can be applied to many rapidly growing cities in Europe and the world.
Tallerås is acquired by Oslo Municipality Art Collection, Bærum Municipality Art Collection, Stavanger Municipality Art Collection and Arts Council Norway.
