The Undragoning

THE UNDRAGONING Marius Presterud at Buskerud Art Center “Sleeping on a dragon’s hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself.” - C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, 1952. The Undragoning of Elon is the title of a series of works that artistically examine the tension between relational ethics and techno-utopian ambitions. The exhibition presents assemblages made up of everything from space‐industry debris, twisted car keys, shopping trolleys, tech‐brand detritus, cause‐bracelets, to thorn crowns, wax candles, lances, a dragon’s right wing - blurring the border between the consumerist, accelerative and expansionist, and the mythological, transcendental, and iconographic. For the series Presterud uses the fable of Eustace from The Chronicles of Narnia as a didactic compass for understanding the escapist tendencies animating today’s tech‐bro complexes. In the original story, the boy Eustace is transformed into a mighty dragon, only to find himself isolated and estranged, and must undergo a painful flaying under the guidance of the god‐figure Aslan before he can return to a state of boyish innocence - a scene often read as an allegory of baptism. Referencing Eustace’s transformation, the series probes questions relating to guilt, moral accountability, punishment, and the possibility of mercy and redemption. The exhibition is produced with a production grant from the Relief Fund for Visual Artist (BKH). / Bio: Marius Presterud (b.1980, Drammen) is a Norwegian artist working between Oslo and Berlin. His interdisciplinary practice ranges from performance, poetry, sculpture, and ecological intervention, to the field of mental health. Presterud has toured extensively as a poet, and performed and exhibited at established institutions including Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Kunstnernes Hus, the Association of Norwegian Sculptors and Galleri F15 in Norway; Hamburger Bahnhof and Exgirlfriend in Germany; and Gallery Oblong in Denmark. / Work Description: The Undragoning of Elon (Chariot) Prod.: 2026 Descr.: Assemblage. Mat.: Wood, polyurethane, plaster, paper clay, ceramic clay, aluminium, steel, tin, resin, car paint, beeswax, aquarium sand, silicone.. Dim.: Ca. 120x120x80 cm Key Crown Collar #1-3 Prod.: 2026 Descr.: Wall sculpture Mat.: Thorn branches, copper wire, steel, tin, plastic, construction foam, ink, resin. Dim.: Varies, ca. 35x30x15 Space Joust Prod.: 2026 Descr.: Assemblage. Mat.: Driftwood, automotive clay, ceramic clay, tin, beeswax, aquarium sand, silicone. Dim.: Varies, Ca. 180x80x80 cm Vinegar Messiah Prod.: 2025 Descr.: Wall sculpture. Vinegar Messiah is a subseries within The Undragoning of Elon (2025-ongoing), a sculptural and conceptual body satirizing the messianic tendencies of techno-utopian ambition. In the work Presterud stages a simile of a Tesla logo submerged in a batch of kombucha, creating a visceral tableau where the floating scoby evokes something like a fetal sac. The image conjures associations of birth, fermentation, and sanctification. The title Vinegar Messiah and the aesthetic strategy draw clear parallels to Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ (1987), invoking themes of sacrilege, iconography, and bodily transformation. Like Serrano’s work, Presterud’s piece challenges viewers to confront the spiritual and symbolic weight of contemporary techno-mythologies—raising the question of whether the promises of innovation and transcendence may be steeped in utopian escapism, or quite simply, vitriol. Mat.: Light box in unvarnished aluminium, laminated foil deco and LED lights, glazed ceramics, ink, construction foam, ink, resin, scoby. Dim.: 65x46x12