Ride 1 is a group of artists united by a deep interest in the aesthetics and ideas of the entertainment industry, popular culture and theme parks. They charge their functional installations, film sequences, photo-based works and live actions with both brutal realism and hilarious entertainment.

The artists, whose group name refers to amusement park rides, take the visitor on a non-ironic ride into a world on the borderline between reality and fiction, with antics, dangers, double-edged humor and appropriation of Hollywood classics with a nod towards political correctness. In their investigative approach to popular culture, philosophers such as Susan Sontag, Umberto Eco and Slavoj Žižek have played a significant role in the group's artistic work and works.

Website: Ride1.org

WORKS SHOWN IN THE EXHIBITION

Big Business (BANG), 2012, film installation, (length 7 min, 7 sec in loop). Big Business is Ride 1's remake of the silent film with The Whole and the Half as a Christmas tree seller, (1929).

Ride 1; 6 (CRASH), 2014, functional installation made as a ride. It is based on the action comedy film Now we blow the whistle (Smokey and the Bandits), 1977. Karl-Erik Westlin is the designer of the installation.

Ride 1; 7 (BOOM), 2021, functional installation that includes performance and film (length 2 min 14 sec in loop). The film is a remake of Joel and Ethan Coen's Hail caesar with its dance number No Women. 
Hanna Danielsson has refined the dance routine in the installation. 
Karl-Erik Westin is the designer of the installation.             

Functional attractions have an age limit of 18 years.

THE ARTISTS

Ronny Hansson, born 1962, has mainly worked with drawing, film and animation in addition to his work in Ride 1. Often with a twist in the seemingly friendly and normal against a dark background, such as the animations The atomic Badger, Flower Breathing, Seagull, Factory and Magic show, the latter with Jonas Kjellgren. He is educated at Umeå Academy of Fine Arts.

Jonas Kjellgren, born 1962, is inspired by comic books, Americana and film in his works and works with performance, sculpture and installation. He uses his voice and guitar in performance acts and plays in an internationally touring bluegrass band. He is educated at Umeå Academy of Fine Arts.

Stig Sjölund, born 1955, is seen as one of the pioneers of relational aesthetics since the 90s. He has worked with painting, photography, installation and performance and has occasionally worked in California in a number of projects and exhibitions. Between 1994 and 1996 he was a professor at Umeå Academy of Fine Arts.