Sensory Awareness

Sensory Awareness

Sensory Awareness

Process in the studio in Aarhus. Photo: Iben West

ASTRID SKIBSTED

… graduated in textile design from Design School Kolding, 2010. Since completing her studies, Astrid Skibsted has had her own studio and practice, which is split between artistic projects and dissemination. Her artistic practice takes as its starting point weaving and the commercial decorating opportunities in that field, such as the liturgical robes for Saint Nikolai’s Church in Kolding. Or the yarn windings, which have grown more and more influential over the past 10 years, creating an artistic and scholarly foundation for development. Astrid Skibsted lives and works in Aarhus.

www.astridskibsted.dk

Textile designer, weaver and artist Astrid Skibsted has made yarn winding an art form in itself and a piece of art in its own right. Here too, yarn winding is also a communication tool between body and mind, between thread, possibilities and details. This introductory text I wrote for her book “The Yarnwinding Manifest”.

“We’ll sit in here,” Astrid says, leading me to a room snugly outfitted with a loom, knitting machine, and shelves of yarn. Here, in a nook in the heart of Jutland’s largest city, lies her workshop, which she shares with a colleague. Whatever the workshop lacks in square meters, it makes up for in the view. The panoramic view of Aarhus’ harbour is unsurpassed anywhere else on this sunny morning.

Astrid has me wrapped up for the morning. Physically. We will create yarn windings together, she and I. It’s important, she asserts, to understand how the principle works and feel it in your own body. I’m in. Completely in, and looking forward to getting my fingers in the yarn, and all its colour and structure. Different yarns are laid out. Large industrial cones and smaller samples, balls, and remnants. Colourful, subdued, and discreet. Coarse, rough, fine, shiny, gleaming, smooth, and matte. A world of possibilities. We get started. Each of us chooses a piece of cardboard in a base colour and then the first strand, which we attach on the back with a piece of tape. We wind the thread around the cardboard. Three times, four. Tape on the back side. We swap. Choose the next thread. Which colour works together with the one Astrid chose as her first? And do I wind alongside Astrid’s thread or across it? Hmm…

Yarn Winding Art. Photo: Suzanne Reitzma

Sharing a yarn winding turns you into co-creators of each other’s works and broadens your own understanding of the constellation of colour, structure, pattern, and composition. Oh, is that how you’re doing it? Are you wrapping tightly or loosely? With dense or diffuse stripes, where there is distance between the threads?  Astrid and I continue winding, trading, selecting thread, winding, trading, selecting—and talking, once in a while. Mostly about yarn winding and the potential in what’s happening. Because what is it, in the end, that is happening? What is it that happens when people wind together? We talk freely, because we haven’t actually agreed that we are having a conversation. We’re together for an activity that, in principle, doesn’t mean we must talk. Perhaps we don’t have anything to talk about. Perhaps we do. The premise for gathering is something else—namely, yarn winding. But conversation bubbles up—involuntarily and borne of something concrete. Practical. Material. And whatever else comes up, while the threads allow themselves to be wound.

Astrid Skibsted in her studio in Aarhus. Photo: Iben West

Winding is a game, an experiment, that doesn’t demand any special qualifications other than cardboard, yarn, tape, and time. Winding is a method to open up your flow, your inspiration, your head—and it’s a state where you shouldn’t plan or think, just be. Winding can be everything or nothing, play or seriousness, colourful or bland, but most of all, it’s meaningful. Meaningful to immerse yourself in the simple routine of choosing a thread and winding it around, horizontally and vertically. In layers. In turns. See it take shape. Assess the interplay of the composition. Experience the light, reflected differently on the threads depending on whether they are matte or glossy, made of flax, wool, or cotton. See how the colours interact with each other and with you. Observe how something so simple can become so complex in just an hour. Feel how peace settles into your system, and how present you are. Here and now. In the work and the winding. With yarn, colour, and surfaces that you know by feel.    

There’s something meditative about yarn winding. It’s obvious to everyone who tries it. You create. A playful experiment or a textile work of art, just by winding a thread in two directions. Winding becomes a thing unto itself. A path in the world, built from an intuitive understanding of and fascination with the potential of the colours and the material elements. Yarn windings are about composing without needing to be “neat.” Winding welcomes disruptions to the harmony. A variation in the thread or its complexity. A nuance of hue between two seemingly identical colours. An entire composition of contrasts between colour, thickness, and pattern. A difference in height and depth. An unfiltered understanding of the materials. Winding is a way to get to know the materials. To understand with your eyes and hands how they serve as complements and contrasts to each other. To wind a single thread and slowly discover what exactly that particular thread can do. How it plays off the others. That’s about the thread—and the material in itself.

Astrid Skibsted in her studio in Aarhus. Photo: Iben West

Yarn winding was originally a tool for the weaver, used to feel out how the different threads would behave and interact on the loom. How they would stand in relation to each other. How they would take on colour from their surroundings and become new based on whom they stood next to and how the light reflected off them. Yarn winding is an artistic tool for an artistic process, in which you weave between tradition and innovation. With pacing and presence as the ultimate weaving partners. For you must be willing to be swallowed up, to become part of the rhythm of the weaving and the patient work of slowness. To then win the prize, when you at long last pull the textile from the loom and see whether the threads have behaved according to the planned colour shifts, or whether they have exerted their own autonomy, there amongst themselves.

Astrid Skibsted herself says that she decided on weaving due to her temperament. The preparation of planning the yarn, colours, pattern, of setting up the loom and still not having the full picture until the work is finished—this appeals to her. The act of being in the present moment, together with the thread and the material, comes together with her temperament and character, which has always sought to be immersed in and absorbed by the process of creating universes.

Astrid Skibsted in her studio in Aarhus. Photo: Iben West

Yarn winding has become Astrid Skibsted’s undisputed artistic tool, not only for weaving, but for the creative process, drawing her into the universe of colour and to insights about the winding routines that balance between needlework and art. Drawing her into the rewards of sharing the potential of colour and material to others. The potential of colour is also at play in the new interior design trend where colour is no longer only for walls, but for doors and window frames, something which could previously have been perceived as controversial, or as a sign of poor taste.

Today it’s almost mainstream to paint in the same block colours suggested and endorsed by “influencers”. But is colour exclusively fashion, or can it serve as an extra scholarly dimension alongside form and function? Many have worked seriously and professionally within the field—from former Bauhaus luminaries like Anni and Josef Albers to Denmark’s own iconic Poul Gernes and visionary Verner Panton, to the current and relevant Margrethe Odgaard, who develops colour systems independent of their eventual uses. 

Art in stacks. Photo: Suzanne Reitzma

Anni Albers spoke of courage as a vital factor in creativity. Courage and slowness. Conscious, thoughtful experimentation—and she believed that creative innovation always comes from the work of the hand. In her 1952 article “On Weaving”, she writes:

Beginnings are usually more interesting than elaborations and endings. Beginning means exploration, selection, development, a potent vitality not yet limited, not circumscribed by the tried and traditional.… Therefore, I find it intriguing to look at early attempts in history, not for the sake of historical interest, that is, of looking back, but for the sake of looking forward from a point way back in time in order to experience vicariously the exhilaration of accomplishment reached step by step.

In order to move forward, you must stand on a foundation, a base. Know it, explore it, and from that point, dare to leap forward. Toward that which you find interesting, because everything exists in a context of meaning in relation to others. Creation is a force you must embrace, and, as a weaver, you search for that place where lines, form, colour, and texture merge into a greater whole. Where format, function, and aesthetic converse—for better or for worse. It’s the same with yarn winding. Like Albers’ beginnings, which hold infinite possibilities, the winding determines an unmapped land, begun with the first thread. A land full of paths and roads to be examined and explored. Like a language you are learning to speak.

The book ‘The Yarn Winding Manifesto’. Photo: Suzanne Reitzma

Colour is also a language that appeals to the senses. That a colour isn’t just a colour is something most people are gradually coming to realise. But that colours also create peace in the nervous system and release endorphins in the body when you work with them—that’s new and revolutionary. Colours are healing. Poul Gernes showed that, when he set the colour scheme for the waiting rooms and patient rooms at Herlev Hospital and documented that patients stays were shortened when they were in rooms where colour and aesthetic were carefully considered. Verner Panton also worked consciously with colour and psychology, believing that their interaction could cultivate social and cultural transformations. 

 

Colours create an atmosphere that feeds energy or introspection. Most practitioners love both. Disappearing into contagious excitement, and into the aesthetic and functional aspects of a material. Learning something new and transferring that to a creative form. To wind is to create. Endlessly, in principle. Because you can continue. From the sofa, the workshop, together with others. No two are ever the same. Astrid Skibsted has tried, but the works refuse to be identical. They want to be themselves, their own unique expression. In spite of the same format, colour, and yarn. To wind is to lose yourself. And give yourself over to a flow that cultivates a sensory awareness of colour and the world.


Inspiration:
Ulrikka Gernes og Peter Michael Hornung: Farvernes medicin, Borgen, 2004

Anni Albers, On Weaving, Early Techniques of Thread Interlacing p. 52, 1965
Ida Engholm & Anders Michelsen, Verner Panton – miljøer, farver, systemer, mønstre, Strandberg Publishing, 2017

ASTRID SKIBSTED

… graduated in textile design from Design School Kolding, 2010. Since completing her studies, Astrid Skibsted has had her own studio and practice, which is split between artistic projects and dissemination. Her artistic practice takes as its starting point weaving and the commercial decorating opportunities in that field, such as the liturgical robes for Saint Nikolai’s Church in Kolding. Or the yarn windings, which have grown more and more influential over the past 10 years, creating an artistic and scholarly foundation for development. Astrid Skibsted lives and works in Aarhus.

www.astridskibsted.dk

Sanselig opmærksomhed på verden

Sanselig opmærksomhed på verden

Sanselig opmærksomhed på verden

Proces i værkstedet i Mejlgade i Aarhus. Foto: Iben West

ASTRID SKIBSTED

… er uddannet tekstildesigner fra Designskolen Kolding, 2010, og har siden sin afgang haft eget studio og praksis, der fordeler sig mellem kunstneriske projekter og formidling. Hendes kunstneriske praksis tager afsæt i væven og de kommercielle udsmykningsopgaver, der ligger her – som Messehagelen til Sankt Nicolai Kirke i Kolding – eller i vikleprøverne, der de sidste 10 år har vokset sig mere og mere indflydelsesrige og skabt et kunstnerisk og videnskabeligt fundament for udvikling. Astrid Skibsted bor og arbejder i Aarhus.

www.astridskibsted.dk

Tekstildesigner, væver og kunstner Astrid Skibsted har gjort vikleprøver til en faglighed i sig selv, der både fungerer som værk i egen ret og som kommunikation mellem krop og sind, mellem tråde, muligheder og detaljer. I hendes bog ‘Vikleprøvemanifestet’ skrev jeg denne indledende tekst.

”Vi skal sidde herinde”, siger Astrid og gelejder mig ind i et rum, der er indrettet tæt med væv, strikkemaskine og reoler med garn. Her, i et smørhulscentrum i det inderste af Jyllands hovedstad, bor hendes værksted, som hun deler med en kollega. Hvad værkstedet ikke har i kvadratmeter har det til gengæld i udsigt. Panoramavue over Aarhus havn, der ikke fås bedre noget sted denne solrige morgen.

Astrid har sat mig i stævne for at vikle. Fysisk. Vi skal skabe vikleværker sammen, hende og jeg. For det er vigtigt at forstå, hævder hun, hvordan princippet fungerer og mærke det på egen krop. Jeg er med. Helt med og glæder mig til at få fingrene i garner, farver og strukturer. Forskellige garner bliver sat frem. Store industrielle ruller og mindre prøver, nøgler og rester. Farvestærke, doushede og diskrete. Grove, ru, fine, skinnende, glimtende, glatte og matte. En verden af muligheder lige der. Vi går i gang. Vælger hver vores stykke pap i en grundfarve og vælger den første tråd, som vi sætter fast bagpå med et stykke tape. Vikler tråden rundt om pappet. Tre gange, fire. Tape på bagsiden. Vi bytter. Vælger den næste tråd. Hvilken farve fungerer sammen med den, som Astrid valgte som sin første? Og vikler jeg side om side med Astrids tråd eller på tværs af den? Hmm…

Vikleprøver. Foto: Suzanne Reitzma

At dele en vikleprøve mellem sig gør, at man bliver medskaber af hinandens værker og udvider ens egen forståelse af sammensætninger mellem farver, strukturer, mønstring og komposition. Nå, gør du sådan? Vikler du stramt eller løst? Med tætte eller brede striber, hvor der er afstand imellem trådene? Astrid og jeg fortsætter med at vikle, bytte, vælge tråde, vikle, bytte og vælge, mens vi taler indimellem. Mest om at vikle og potentialet i det, der foregår. For hvad er det egentlig, der foregår? Hvad er det, der sker, når man vikler sammen? Vi taler løst, for vi har jo egentlig ikke vedtaget, at vi har en samtale. Vi er sammen om en aktivitet, der i princippet ikke indbefatter, at vi nødvendigvis skal tale sammen. Måske har vi ikke noget at tale om. Måske har vi. Præmissen for samværet er en anden, nemlig at vikle. Men samtalen opstår – uvilkårligt og er båret af noget konkret. Praktisk. Sanseligt. Og hvad der ellers dukker op, mens trådene lader sig vikle.

Astrid Skibsted i sit værksted i Mejlgade i Aarhus. Foto: Iben West

At vikle er en leg, et eksperiment, der ikke kræver nogen særlige forudsætninger udover, at du har pap, garn, tape og tid. At vikle er en metode til at lukke op for sit flow, sin inspiration, sit hoved – og er et sted, hvor man ikke skal planlægge eller tænke, men bare være. At vikle kan være alt eller intet, leg eller alvor, farverigt eller ferskt, men mest af alt er det meningsfuldt. Meningsfuldt at fordybe sig i den enkle rutine det er, at vælge en tråd og vikle den rundt, horisontalt og vertikalt. I lag. På skift. Og se stofligheden optrappe. Vurdere kompositionernes samspil. Opleve lyset, der reflekterer sig forskelligt i trådene, alt efter om de er matte eller blanke, i hør, uld eller bomuld. Se, hvordan farverne interagerer med hinanden og med dig. Mærke, hvordan noget så enkelt kan blive så komplekst på godt og vel en time. Føle, hvordan roen sænker sig i dit system og hvordan du er tilstede. Her og nu. I værket og i viklingen. Med garner, farver og overflader, som du fornemmer taktilt med fingrene.

Der er noget meditativt over at vikle. Det er åbenlyst for enhver, der prøver det. Man skaber. Et legesygt eksperiment eller et tekstilt værk ved blot at vikle en tråd i to retninger. Vikleprøven bliver en ting i sig selv. Et spor i verden, skabt af en intuitiv forståelse og fascination af farvernes og stoflighedens potentiale. Vikleprøver handler om at komponere uden at det behøver være pænt. Der må gerne være noget, der forstyrrer harmonien. En variation i trådenes forskellighed og kompleksitet. En nuance i farveforskellen mellem to tilsyneladende ens farver. En komposition af kontraster mellem farve, tykkelse og mønstring. En forskel i højde og dybde. En umiddelbar forståelse af materialer. At vikle er en måde at lære materialerne at kende på. Forstå med øjne og hænder, hvad de kan i kombinationer med og mod hinanden. At vikle en tråd ad gangen og langsomt opdage, hvad lige netop den tråd kan. Hvordan den fungerer i samspil med andre. Det handler om tråden – og materialet i sig selv.

Astrid Skibsted i sit værksted i Mejlgade i Aarhus. Foto: Iben West

Vikleprøver var oprindeligt et redskab til væveren, der herigennem kunne fornemme, hvordan de forskellige tråde ville fungere og interagere med hinanden på væven. Hvordan de ville stå i forhold til hinanden. Hvordan de ville tage farve efter omgivelserne og blive nogle andre alt efter, hvem de stod ved siden af og hvordan lyset spejlede sig i dem. En vikleprøve er et kunstnerisk redskab til en kunstnerisk proces, hvor man væver mellem tradition og fornyelse. Med langsomheden og nærværet som ultimative vævepartnere. For man skal kunne lade sig opsluge og blive en del af vævens rytme og langsommelighedens tålmodige arbejde. For så at vinde prisen, når man langt om længe piller tekstilet af væven og ser, om trådene har opført sig i de planlagte farveskift eller skabt deres helt egen autonomi, dér mellem hinanden.

Astrid Skibsted siger selv, at hun valgte væven ud fra temperament. At det store forarbejde med at planlægge garn, farver og mønstring og sætte væven op uden at kende det fulde billede før man er færdig, tiltaler hende. At være tilstede i nuet sammen med tråden og materialet, spiller sammen med hendes temperament og person, der altid har søgt derhen, hvor man kan lade sig omslutte og opsluge af at skabe universer.

Astrid Skibsted i sit værksted i Mejlgade i Aarhus. Foto: Iben West

Nu er vikleprøven blevet Astrid Skibsteds ubestridte kunstneriske værktøj, ikke kun til væven, men til den kreative proces, der har trukket hende over i farvernes univers og det indsigtsfulde i den viklende rutine, der balancerer mellem håndarbejde og kunst. Trukket hende over i det givende i at formidle farvernes og materialernes potentiale videre til andre. Farvernes potentiale er også i spil i den nuværende indretningstendens, hvor farver ikke udelukkende males på vægge, men også på døre og karme. Noget, der tidligere kunne opfattes kontroversielt eller signalere dårlig smag.

I dag er det næsten mainstream at male i samme ensfarvede greb italesat og blåstemplet af de rigtige ’influencers’. Men er farve udelukkende fashion eller kan farve fungere som en ekstra og videnskabelig dimension ved siden af form og funktionalitet? Flere har arbejdet seriøst og professionelt med feltet – fra de tidlige Bauhaus-eksponenter som Anni og Josef Albers til vores egen ikoniske Poul Gernes og fremsynede Verner Panton til aktuelle og relevante Margrethe Odgaard, der udvikler farvesystemer afhængig af, hvad de skal bruges til.

Vikleprøver i stakkevis. Foto: Suzanne Reitzma

Anni Albers talte om mod som en vital faktor i kreativitet. Mod og langsomhed. Til at eksperimentere bevidst og tankefuldt, og hun mente, at kreativ nyskabelse altid kommer fra håndens arbejde. I artiklen ”On Weaving” fra 1952 siger hun:

“Beginnings are usually more interesting than elaborations and endings. Beginning means exploration, selection, development, a potent vitality not yet limited, not circumscribed by the tried and traditional… Therefore, I find it intriguing to look at early attempts in history, not for the sake of historical interest, that is, of looking back, but for the sake of looking forward from a point way back in time in order to experience vicariously the exhilaration of accomplishment reached step by step“.

For at komme frem, må man stå på et fundament, et grundlag. Kende det, udforske det og derfra vove springet fremad. Mod det, man finder inspirerende, fordi alting eksisterer i en kontekst af mening og i relation til andre. At skabe er en kraft, man må tage på sig, og som væver må man søge efter det sted, hvor linjer, form, farve og tekstur går op i en højere enhed. Der hvor format, funktion og æstetik taler med hinanden – i medgang eller modgang. Det det samme, når man vikler. Ligesom Albers’ begyndelser, der rummer uendelige muligheder, determinerer viklingen et ukendt land, der tager sin begyndelse med den første tråd. Et land fuld af stier og veje, der skal undersøges og udforskes. Som et sprog, man skal lære at tale.

Bogen ‘Vikleprøvemanifestet’. Foto: Suzanne Reitzma

Farver er også et sprog, der appellerer til følelserne. At en farve ikke bare er en farve, er efterhånden ved at gå op for de fleste. Men at farve også skaber ro i nervesystemet og afgiver endorfiner i din krop, mens du arbejder med dem, det er nyt og revolutionerende. Farver er helbredende. Det beviste Poul Gernes, da han farvesatte venterum og patientværelser på Herlev Hospital og dokumenterede, at patienter forkortede deres indlæggelse ved at opholde sig i rum, hvor farver og æstetik var gennemtænkt. Også Verner Panton arbejdede bevidst med farver og psykologi og mente, at samspillet kunne skabe sociale og kulturelle forandringer.

Farver skaber stemninger, der skaber energi eller fordybelse. De fleste udøvere elsker begge dele. At forsvinde ind i begejstringen, der smitter, og ind i de æstetiske og funktionelle aspekter ved et materiale. At lære nyt og omsætte det i en kreativ gestaltning. At vikle er at skabe. I uendeligheder, principielt. For man kan blive ved. Lige dér i din sofa, på dit værksted eller sammen med andre. Ikke to falder ens ud. Astrid Skibsted har gjort forsøget, men værkerne ville ikke være identiske. Ville være sig selv og deres eget individuelle udtryk. Trods ens format, farver og garner. At vikle er at fortabe sig. Og at give sig hen i et flow, der dyrker den sanselige opmærksomhed på farver og verden.


Kilder:
Ulrikka Gernes og Peter Michael Hornung: Farvernes medicin, Borgen, 2004

Anni Albers, On Weaving, Early Techniques of Thread Interlacing p. 52, 1965
Ida Engholm & Anders Michelsen, Verner Panton – miljøer, farver, systemer, mønstre, Strandberg Publishing, 2017

ASTRID SKIBSTED

… er uddannet tekstildesigner fra Designskolen Kolding, 2010, og har siden sin afgang haft eget studio og praksis, der fordeler sig mellem kunstneriske projekter og formidling. Hendes kunstneriske praksis tager afsæt i væven og de kommercielle udsmykningsopgaver, der ligger her, som Messehagelen til Sankt Nicolai Kirke i Kolding. Eller i vikleprøverne, der de sidste 10 år har vokset sig mere og mere indflydelsesrige og skabt et kunstnerisk og videnskabeligt fundament for udvikling. Astrid Skibsted bor og arbejder i Aarhus.

www.astridskibsted.dk

 

Jakob Jørgensen: The sensuousness of steel

Jakob Jørgensen: The sensuousness of steel

Jakob Jørgensen: The sensuousness of steel

Matter at Hand, Jakob Jørgensen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform.
The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Furniture designer and artist Jakob Jørgensen is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with locations in L.A. and New York.

Jakob Jørgensen is a hands-on artist, deeply involved in the tangible material he is exploring as well as in the intellectual perspectives of a given project. Resistance is a key focal point for Jørgensen, who is thrilled when materials put up a fight and he has to grapple and tussle with them in order to bring out their core. Grasp the essence and pull out the form, despite any inherent defiance. Engaging in this process is a deeply personal experience, and one that captivates him.

Matter at Hand, Jakob Jørgensen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

For many years Jørgensen has made wood the basis for a range of poetic and epic furniture, many of them chairs and storage pieces with narrative titles. These works occupy a continuum between the commercial and the artistic; Jørgensen is fluent in both idioms and works in a continuous cross-fertilization between set and free tasks. He is also an accomplished craftsman who has masters virtually all the steps in the process, whether the material is wood, stone or steel, and he does nothing by halves. Why should he, since he can achieve whatever he sets his mind to, using his hands and his tools?

Though graduating the Academy as a furniture designer, Jørgensen also trained as a sculptor, working mainly in stone in his 20s. Now, two decades later, he has embraced steel. Always curious about the material, he has the ambition to explore its plasticity, discovering how an industrial cylinder can be transformed to hold an organic and artistic potential that challenges conventional thinking.

In his work with steel, Jørgensen investigates how the basic geometry of a tube reacts when it is subjected to pressure. The result is an organic expression with strong references to nature – and to wood, a material he knows by heart. Jørgensen has learned the techniques involved: welding, forging, using a hammer and anvil, and using a jack to compress the steel. Five targeted pressure points, and the steel tube begins to look like a bench. His organic expression stands in stark contrast to the industrial universe of machinery. A steel tube becomes a totem symbolizing the link between nature and industry.

The act of reshaping the tube and wrestling with its artistic potential appeals to Jørgensen, and during the creative process he is more interested in what the material affords and how it reacts than whether the result is art or design. To him, the goal is to explore a material and the possibilities it can offer in order to arrive at his own unique synthesis of matter and idea. Scale also plays a compelling role in Jørgensen’s work; a simple scaling up of a design or an idea brings out the unexpected and magical. It allows the steel to dominate the room with a grounded materiality; the totem has a palpable impact as it bellows out its strength. Jørgensen does not raise his voice but lets his restrained and powerful sculptures speak for him.

Matter at Hand, Jakob Jørgensen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform.
The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Hanne G: Tactile symbols

Hanne G: Tactile symbols

Hanne G: Tactile symbols

Matter at Hand, Hanne G. Foto: Dorte Krogh

MATTER AT HAND

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform.
The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Textile artist Hanne G is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with locations in L.A. and New York.

Hanne G is a master of tactility, in both a concrete as well as a metaphoric sense. Using the precise tip of the crochet hook, she creates palm trees, light bulbs and machine guns as tactile symbols delivering political salvos, often cloaked in humor. Her breakthrough in the Danish art scene came with her 2007 piece Weapon Collection – Crocheting for Peace, which attracted attention due to the obvious contrast between weapons, war, toxic masculinity, death and destruction and the soft, crocheted material, rooted in a feminine handicraft universe. Power, status, gender equality, craft, politics and homeliness offered additional, obvious connotations. All of that from crocheting a controversial object and placing it into an artistic context …

Matter at Hand, Hanne G. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Hanne G was one of the first Danish artists to crochet messages with a convincing trinity of expression, content and an exquisite finish. That the simple technique, based on the combination of a crochet hook and a ball of yarn, can be used to manifest large sculptures is fascinating to the artist, who learned to crochet in her teens. According to Hanne G, crocheting can create ANY form. When she came out as an artist after several years as a graphic designer and, later, a TV-concept developer, she was first drawn to painting.

However, once she encountered the textile craft, she realized the potential contrasts of the medium and the opportunities it afforded for artistic statements. She found that crocheting was like riding a bicycle, you never forget. And she excelled at it. Her hands remembered the craft, aided by memories of her grandmother, who had helped her learn. And it was not just her grandmother cheering her on from the beyond but a wider, contemporary audience, who felt a sense of the familiar when they saw her work, a liberating joy. We are all familiar with this soft medium and have a relationship with it – we wear textiles, dry ourselves with a towel after the shower and use a tea towel in the kitchen. Perhaps this every day engagement makes us more receptive to textile art, even when it is placed into an unfamiliar context.

The flip side of this everyday familiarity is that the medium and the material have a low status in the artistic hierarchy and a historical link to homely, feminine pursuits – a fact that only drives Hanne G to be more conscious of her techniques, dimensions and narratives. She desires  her works to have strong impact, to move people and invite reflection.

The handmade imprints and tiny flaws that invariably arise during the process reflect the human perspective, human dreams, human flaws – themes that she finds only more compelling with age. These imperfections hold profound potential, the capacity to deconstruct aesthetic conventions and touch on the essence of what life is – much like the palms she created for this exhibition are positive metaphors for the strength to withstand a storm, even the storm of a global pandemic – existential symbols of triumph and paradise, with all their ambiguous connotations.

Matter at Hand, Hanne G. Foto: Dorte Krogh

MATTER AT HAND

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform.
The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Yuki Ferdinandsen: The beat is my soul

Yuki Ferdinandsen: The beat is my soul

Yuki Ferdinandsen: The beat is my soul

Matter at Hand, Yuki Ferdinandsen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Silversmith Yuki Ferdinandsen is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with locations in L.A. and New York.

Yuki Ferdinandsen lives and breathes her work in silver. She no longer hears the noisy hammer blows as she works in her studio; rhythm and sound accompany each other in meditative waves, surrounding her and resonating inside as integral parts of her person and artist. Silver has been Ferdinandsen’s material for the past 40 years, and her refined hollowware objects represent a fusion of Japan and Denmark through the ARARE technique. In her own words, she sees Denmark through a Japanese lens, and vice versa.

And it truly feels as if the two countries have fused into one in Ferdinandsen’s silver objects, which draw on the samurais’ nearly 400-year-old defensive technique of hammering round chased bumps on their armor to fend off the enemy’s arrows. Ferdinandsen took this historical and legendary technique and made it her own, creating her singular expression after diminishing the size of the bumps. Now, they appear as graphic dots, which are first drawn on the back of the silver and then hammered, one by one. Twenty blows per bump. An impressive piece such as “Silence”, which has 4,048 bumps, requires 80,960 hammer blows – or four months’ full-time, concentrated work in the studio.

Matter at Hand, Yuki Ferdinandsen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

But it is intended to be hard work, intense and challenging, requiring complete focus and discipline. Ferdinandsen finds the work relaxing, even if that may seem like a contradiction in terms. But when you are your material and your process, and the result sets the bar so extremely high, that makes sense. Ferdinandsen enjoys every stroke and every sound and taps her foot to the rhythm, joy rippling throughout her being. Her ambition and her work never suffer from fatigue. This is her Hammer Dance, and this is how she works.

Ferdinandsen’s sculptures are the ultimate in refinement of technique and material, and their aesthetic balances those of Danish Modern and contemporary design. For decades she has earned recognition and accolades from around the world for her unique designs in silver, a material that is simultaneously cool and warm, matte and shiny. Her works have weight and volume but also shimmer with an ethereal quality when light  reflects on their surface.

Yuki Ferdinandsen makes her own tools, and her studio is full of punches in different sizes. Chasing a flower – another technique she uses in addition to ARARE – can require up to 30 punches in different sizes. Unable to leave that degree of precision to anyone else, she personally designs all her own punches. The works carry titles with meditative references to nature and the world around her, such as “Silence”, “Sound of Ocean” and “Hanabi” (Japanese for fireworks).

The Fibonacci sequence is a natural phenomenon that plays a key role in Ferdinandsen’s practice, a mathematical system of design wherein the innermost and outermost circles comprise the same number of dots, producing a visual impression of infinity – meticulously chased silver dots in a never-ending circle dance. In recent years, she has begun to subject the Fibonacci sequence to tiny disruptions, challenging expectations ever so slightly while her signature essence remains intact and recognizable in the new interpretation. The countless dots may seem insignificant, but together, they are invincible, an army of tiny, high-precision silver bumps, a sublime manifestation of Ferdinandsen’s mind and spirit.

Matter at Hand, Yuki Ferdinandsen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl: The sculptural weight of form

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl: The sculptural weight of form

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl: The sculptural weight of form

Matter at Hand, Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform.
The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

 

Ceramic artist Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with locations in L.A. and New York.

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl has worked with clay for more than 50 years. Although he was lost to the material from the moment he got his hands on it at the age of 14, it is not the actual plasticity of clay that most holds his interest, but rather the sculptural process of shaping the clay, coaxing the form out, painstakingly, step by step. Or bit by bit, since Kaldahl’s “Spatial Drawings” are extruded and precision-cut clay tubes – used not unlike a plumber’s pipes. The tubes are assembled at angles that bend or twist outward or inward, or form straight lines, like complex tubing in clay.

His construction principle is simple, almost commonplace, in his words, but the characteristic quality lies in how the tubes are used, how they turn into form that moves and extends into the space around it. It is all created in a semi-planned, rhythmic and random unfolding of form that Kaldahl constructs without a model – because a model would in itself already represent an interpretation of his line drawing, his concept. Kaldahl shapes his sculptures by hand in a process guided by his graphic mindset and focused presence. He lets the tubes angle in and out as they want on the day, as he wants on the day. Eventually they form an undeniable and coherent statement enhanced by monochrome glazes that underscore the mood of the work. 

Matter at Hand, Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl. Foto: Dorte Krogh

In a general sense, Kaldahl’s contrasts stem from the tension between lightness and heaviness. His overall idea begins as a loose line drawing – a doodle, a knot – inspiration from the commonplace and often overlooked forms of everyday life, like a piece of string that has fallen on the floor and happened to twist itself into an interesting shape. Or a freeway interchange Kaldahl takes from Google Earth and manipulates into a drawing as a basis for sculpting. Sometimes he spends months unraveling a mystery, exploring the knots and visualizing them in clay as he ponders his options for translating the lines into form.

Kaldahl prefers it when a conceptual phase takes him into uncharted territory, out of his comfort zone and into an intuitive place of freedom, where a persistent strand of an idea begins to take shape and is transformed in its passage from mind to hands into sections of clay tube – manipulated, angled and twisted inch by inch, until form emerges. This is where the weightiness comes in.

The challenge is to achieve the intuitive lightness of the line drawing while adding expressive weight to the meticulously constructed form of the living material. The sense of weight is positive and deliberate. A ceramic statement that insists on being an embodied and impactful presence in space. An encounter that requires our receptive presence. This is Kaldahl’s ambition: to create works of art that are felt by us without reservation and premeditated bias, from the uncomplicated lines of a drawing to the intricate knots and twists of clay. Scaled up in size and taking up room, they are sculptures of intrinsic proportions that actually weigh something –  “Spatial Drawings” imbued with the focused, intuitive presence that created them. 

Matter at Hand, Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform.
The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Anne Brandhøj: The narratives of wood

Anne Brandhøj: The narratives of wood

Anne Brandhøj: The narratives of wood

Matter at Hand, Anne Brandhøj. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform.
The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Furniture designer and artist Anne Brandhøj is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with locations in L.A. and New York.

Anne Brandhøj draws out the qualities and characteristics of wood in her work, highlighting and honoring the imperfections that represent natural variations in a material that is as old as … the beginnings of life on this planet? Knots, cracks, resin pockets, fungus attacks and variations in color are present as narratives, each contributing to the story of the wood. By accentuating these irregularities, Brandhøj signals that her pieces are born, shaped and proportioned by nature and on nature’s terms. That they are sustainable in form and content, in process and outcome.

As a recent furniture design graduate, Anne Brandhøj was not moved to design new, flawless products, and while working on her graduation project at the Royal Danish Academy-Design, she was able to go into the forest and witness how trees became the planks that arrived at the workshop. In the woods she absorbed any knowledge that the local foresters were willing to share with her – and later, she learned how to cut down a tree. Brandhøj was fascinated by the slow growth cycle of trees, spellbound by the wonder of opening up a trunk and seeing what lies hidden under the bark – the mystery of traces and stories. 

Matter at Hand, Anne Brandhøj. Foto: Dorte Krogh

In an ideal world, it takes up to 20 years to dry a log with minimal stress to the wood. Brandhøj experimented with a faster method, which often resulted in cracks. She became focused on these cracks, on the conflict of the smooth, processed, perhaps oil-finished wood and the natural, tactile knots or cracks, which most people are not accustomed to seeing or touching. Brandhøj believes that the only way to read the full story of her works is to touch them, to feel the variations of the surface by running one’s hands over it, how rough turns to smooth, and the fingers intuitively stop to examine the irregularity. To explore its unfamiliar feel and unique appeal.

The contrasts anchor the objects and create a tension and an inner balance in works that often stand upright or feature a flat surface, reminiscent of furniture. Brandhøj’s background as a designer is easy to spot in her works, which contain both abstract and concrete aspects and act as a link between nature and culture. Her creative practice is driven by a goal of eliminating superficial objects that do not relate to anyone or anything. In order to be in the world, an object should connect to people and to other objects, just as we do in our lives – in relationships that develop, are used and worn and get a few dents and scratches along the way.

Brandhøj spends many hours a day in her workshop. Prior to arrival, she may have been to the forest to find the perfect piece for her next project, which she carries home on her cargo bike. It is necessary that Brandhøj engage in every step of the process, including the heavy lifting, in order to maintain her dialogue with the material. Brandhøj always works in fresh wood, which she shapes and then leaves to dry for 6–12 months. After drying, a round object may become oval or some other shape entirely, at which point she re-engages, reshapes and reinterprets the material, because she has learned through her practice that wood has a mind of its own. Wood breathes and gives, depending on air humidity and other factors, and as a maker she has no choice but to work with circumstance – to balance the will of the wood with her own artistic will and motivation.

Matter at Hand, Anne Brandhøj. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform.
The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

 

Astrid Krogh: Textile structures

Astrid Krogh: Textile structures

Astrid Krogh: Textile structures

Matter at Hand, Astrid Krogh. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Textile artist Astrid Krogh is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with locations in L.A. and New York.

Astrid Krogh is a translator, an artist who sees the world through a textile lens. Whether exploring the power of light, the galactic complexity of the universe or the aesthetic ramifications of seaweed, Krogh’s work always springs from a textile approach and mindset. Formally trained in classic textile design, anything can serve as her material; thus she is not restricted to one medium, but seeks to reproduce natural life through patterns, fibers and structures.

Throughout her career, Krogh has worked with light, its patterns and variability, and sought to reflect nature’s tactile mutability – in neon. That may sound contradictory, but it is not, as Krogh’s deep respect for nature and textile craft drives her to create her own interpretation based on layers of knowledge and experimentation. Krogh steers her projects down unknown paths, as when she “weaves” with neon or fiber optics, a novelty when she first set out. Over time, the digital medium has become part of her creative expression, always with a textile foundation. In addition to light, repeated patterns with minor variations have been a recurring theme in her work: in large scale digital wall panels, graphic flowers change color at the same intervals as  the light that moves through the course of a day, or the Milky Way is depicted as a pattern in fiber optics that we can understand and relate to as a wall-hung work of art.

Matter at Hand, Astrid Krogh. Foto: Dorte Krogh

For the past two years, Krogh has turned her artistic eye to the galaxies, seeking to convey the patterns created by light-emitting objects in the universe. She has even consulted with Dr. Margaret Geller of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at Harvard, a pioneer in the mapping of the universe. Geller’s work provides a new way of seeing the vast patterns in the distribution of galaxies, such as the Milky Way. In their email correspondence, Krogh found a fruitful and contagious connection between science and art, and her dialogue with Dr. Geller enabled a new practice and understanding of the world.

Krogh’s latest projects, however, turn the gaze inward rather than up, as her work dives beneath the surface of the sea to discover the equally complex world of seaweed and marine plants, which form patterns and connections of which few people are aware. Seaweed and its ramifications are as complex as the galaxies and almost resemble them, with equal parts diversity and regularity. Krogh looks for the regularity in order to disrupt it, to find the repetition and the minute variations that prevent complete uniformity, the tiny ramification that is close to but not quite like the other. Through her constantly evolving experiments she expands her own understanding, delving into unknown worlds to translate and interpret, to share her findings through art that opens our senses and eyes to the beauty and power of nature.

Matter at Hand, Astrid Krogh. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen: A meeting of equals

Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen: A meeting of equals

Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen: A meeting of equals

Matter at Hand, Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location. Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Ceramic artist Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with locations in L.A. and New York.

Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen has never aimed for classical beauty. However, even when she challenges the norms of her discipline, she has her feet planted firmly on a foundation of craftsmanship. And because she knows her craft, she is able to dismantle, reinterpret and provoke a subject and a material she knows in depth. The core of her process is the meeting: the meeting between the artist and her material and the imprints her hands and tools leave on the clay. But when is it a meeting of equals? When is the artist in control, and when does the material take over? Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen aims for the equal meeting and is anarchistic in her aesthetic expression, which is profoundly personal and profoundly universal. When is something beautiful or ugly? When does an expression touch us, and when does it fail to connect?

Matter at Hand, Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

In Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen’s works you will discover aspects you recognize and some you will not. You might see something that looks like handles on a jar or like a layer cake that is so delicious and vibrant you can’t wait to sink your teeth into it. Pontoppidan’s works recall hybrids from another world created in a novel encounter of textures, colors, contrasts and stories sampled from random sources.

She might draw inspiration from a nicotine-stained wall in a dive bar, a coupling of two songs from different genres or a pine tree with an odd growth. Pontoppidan Pedersen seeks to merge forms, expressions and textures in tension-filled compositions. Two elements that might seem mismatched find their way and balance on the cusp of something new. There is a connection, an alternative language, where contrasts co-exist as equals. This can make her works seem difficult to decode, because they take us someplace new, an unsettling place with references we don’t recognize. And how are we supposed to respond to that? The titles may aid our comprehension, and here, too, Pontoppidan Pedersen is playful, playing with words, combinations and meaning, so that her titles often seem more like a riddle than a clue.

Pontoppidan Pedersen pinches her sculptures by hand, and sometimes a surface texture appears spontaneously as she kneads the clay. Any choice implies the rejection of an alternative, and when does the artist dominate the clay? When do the two engage in a dialogue? When and how can the artist’s intuition and feeling find an expression in the material? Pontoppidan Pedersen can sense it, the tension that so easily tips from interesting to overdone and then loses its justification. At that point, the artist’s co-existence with the material is lost.

Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen must have been an amusing and inquisitive child, constantly questioning the established and the expected. This naive and philosophical reflection lends Pontoppidan Pedersen’s works and her practice their original, relevant and engaging quality. Her works are a contemporary manifestation of an ancient tradition, a new language, full of sequences where we might recognize individual words but cannot quite grasp the full meaning. That makes sense to Pontoppidan Pedersen, who strives to penetrate behind language, expectations and the classic notion of aesthetics in order to reach a place that has not already been colored, coded or articulated into fixed concepts or categories. “Square peg, round hole.” Pernille Pontoppidan’s works are both – in a crisp, taut, equal balance.

Matter at Hand, Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location. Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Maria Sparre-Petersen: An eternal cycle of glass

Maria Sparre-Petersen: An eternal cycle of glass

Maria Sparre-Petersen: An eternal cycle of glass

Matter at Hand, Maria Sparre-Petersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Glass blower and artist Maria Sparre-Petersen is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with locations in L.A. and New York.

Maria Sparre-Petersen makes sculptures from recycled container glass, a material that has all the poetic qualities of virgin glass but is much kinder to the planet. She is fascinated by the plasticity and uncertainty of this hybrid material, which is rarely used by studio glassmakers.

Sparre-Petersen melts containers in a furnace and then shapes the molten glass into balls, which appear like spherical drops of childhood mystique; she then  composes these balls into a pattern which is fused in a frame of high-fired concrete. When heated, each sphere develops a membrane that remains visible as the balls fuse in the kiln, becoming of one piece but appearing distinct, like soap bubbles adhering to each other. An artistic chaos in an ordered array, or graphic elements of liquid mass in a structured frame. Form, pattern, color and light enter into a dialogue and create new stories. In some places, the glass appears matte or translucent – depending on how the light refracts in the material and its depth of the color.

Matter at Hand, Maria Sparre-Petersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Sustainability is a lifelong passion that Sparre-Petersen pursues with an experimental and socially oriented outlook. She includes the titles of sailor, designer, teacher, Master of Fine Arts and PhD on her CV. Together, these diverse skills paint a straight line to the practice that motivates and inspires Sparre-Petersen today: to spread awareness of recycled glass from a sustainable and ethical perspective. It is a crucial and deeply meaningful ambition, not least because it leaves the virgin materials in the ground, where they belong, and avoids exposing the maker to hazardous substances. Furthermore, used glass can be recycled infinitely without losing its material qualities – a capacity that textile, plastic and many other materials lack.

The particular material qualities of recycled container glass make for an interesting process. The recycled glass has to be handled differently because it is “shorter” when it is blown, so the glassmaker has to work faster. With this technique it is not always possible to fuse two used window panes because they may be made from different recipes, which means they do not expand in the same way and therefore develop stress that will cause cracks – immediately or over time. Hence, recycling container glass requires a high level of craftsmanship and technique. And though the challenges of working with recycled materials are greater, so is the satisfaction of cracking the code and knowing that one is making a difference for the planet. Sparre-Petersen is continuously challenged by the specific qualities of the material, which throws up obstacles that she can resolve and also take advantage of.

According to Sparre-Petersen, this only makes her conversation with the glass more intriguing. The material talks back and sometimes strands the artist on thin ice. This provides new insights, which lead to new methods and techniques that she then can develop and incorporate. Her many studies and experiments have given rise to an aesthetic vocabulary that she could not have arrived at through strategic planning. This is part of the alchemy, when material and idea come together in unpredictable constellations, often rife with contrasts. Like organic playmates in a framework that is only semi-controlled and does not allow for anticipating or planning colors, density, transparency or translucency. The glass artist has to surrender to the will of the material, regardless of experience and technique, which is a beautiful part of the process – a sustainable process that holds good news for a planet under pressure.

Matter at Hand, Maria Sparre-Petersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location. Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Bjørn Friborg: Sensuous implosions

Bjørn Friborg: Sensuous implosions

Bjørn Friborg: Sensuous implosions

Matter at Hand, Bjørn Friborg. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are: :

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Glass blower and artist Bjørn Friborg is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with locations in L.A. and New York.

Bjørn Friborg has a loud and powerful expression. An expression that is equal parts art and craftmanship. The dramatic titles of his two series, Implosion and Penetration, have wild connotations because to Friborg, life is wild and sensuous. His glass sculptures are beautiful, roaring and seductive – transparent oval displays filled with dynamically twisted life in tantalizing colors. They are also slightly unsettling and provocative, almost like an aching tooth that you can’t stop poking at with your tongue. The sculptures make you want to stick your hand inside and touch, although that feels like it would be a transgression.

Matter at Hand, Bjørn Friborg. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Friborg feels it is important to speak loudly and clearly, to be honest and unpretentious in order to arrive at a genuine expression. His works of art are an extension of his person, of a desire to touch and penetrate deeper and seem to be explosive discharges of personal and artistic energy. He is impassioned about the creative process, during which everything has to come together in close coordination with the different makers; it is team effort, and as demanding and disciplined as any form of elite sport. That is part of the rush: the uncertainty; that split second when the artist does not have time to think or hesitate but simply acts. Glassmaking is an extremely intimate process, emotionally speaking, and according to Friborg it is so euphoric that it compares to violence or sex. Many things can go wrong, and even if everything has gone right, all can still be lost when the kiln is opened.

Friborg is a high-energy personality. He talks so fast you catch yourself leaning forward to make sure you don’t miss anything, even during a phone conversation. His explanations and thought sequences often leap ahead, skipping intermediate steps, so you have to stay on your toes to fill in the gaps. He is in a hurry, has no time to waste. In addition to several projects in the works, Friborg recently took on the position of smeltery foreman at the reopened Holmegaard Værk, the renowned Danish glasswork which has been resurrected in an ambitious and fresh renovation after falling into obscurity and struggling economically for years. Now it is time for Danish glass to reclaim its former position under Friborg’s leadership – a clever appointment as Friborg is one of Scandinavia’s leading studio glassmakers, who has masters every aspect of the craft.

He learned from the best, a senior, hardcore master, who took Friborg under his wing when he came to Sweden in his youth to learn the trade. Sweden has historically had a stronger glassmaking tradition than Denmark, and “Glasriket” (The Kingdom of Crystal), a town where everything revolves around glass, is a hotbed of industrial and artistic development. In addition to his training in Sweden, Friborg has also trained in Denmark and the United States and has developed an artistic practice concurrently with his work as a master craftsman. Glassmaking runs in his veins, and for Friborg, art and craft are inextricably enmeshed in the creation of sculpture that is not afraid to walk on the wild side.

Matter at Hand, Bjørn Friborg. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are: :

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Stine Bidstrup: Tradition and renewal

Stine Bidstrup: Tradition and renewal

Stine Bidstrup: Tradition and renewal

Matter at Hand, Stine Bidstrup. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Glass artist Stine Bidstrup is one of the Danish artists in the exhibition Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark, showing at the American gallery Hostler Burrows with branches in L.A. and New York.

Glass artist Stine Bidstrup’s works are about seeing. Seeing many things at once without seeing everything. Seeing reflecting surfaces. Seeing through the material. Seeing patterns, edges and contrasts between matte and shiny, rough and smooth, transparent and opalized. Seeing mirror images, spatial qualities and depth from different angles. Seeing multiple shapes in one form and discovering art historical references as you form your own impressions.

Bidstrup’s colorful works position themselves between past and future. Inspired by historical stylistic periods and created using traditional techniques in a classic material, they are old-school. But by sampling techniques and raising the technical bar ever higher, Bidstrup deconstructs the traditional craft, blowing the glass into a customized hand-built mold. Through this technique, the familiar and characteristic organic glass blob at the end of the blowpipe changes into mannered form, conceived and designed by Bidstrup. The objects then re-emerge as new, ultra-cool hybrids, each one designed to highlight the unique characteristics of glass.

Matter at Hand, Stine Bidstrup. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Bidstrup combines ancient techniques and methods with a strong conceptual grasp in a contemporary interpretation. The making of her sculptures requires time and skill in each stage; it is an intense and demanding process, involving three experienced makers at the final stage. Glass is not a material that can be manipulated once it is cast or blown – the artist only gets one shot at it. Those are tough odds – or disciplining conditions, depending on your perspective and inclination. But Stine Bidstrup wouldn’t have it any other way. The demanding tasks of creating the molds, designing the digital patterns that are fused into the glass, the high-intensity process of blowing in front of the hot kiln, and the final, painstaking stage of cleaning and polishing the finished object are all vital steps in a wonderful and unpredictable process.

Glass is an amazing material, according to Bidstrup, who in addition to training in Denmark and the United States also holds a bachelor’s degree in art history. Having a foundation in art history is a vital parameter for Bidstrup, who has a personal affinity for the groundbreaking cubists and avant-garde architects of the 20th century. And though Bidstrup’s works have a futuristic sci-fi feel – they can resemble miniature architecture made from the crystalline rods out of a Superman movie – they are all handblown. That is part of their fascination: they look like something that was coded on a computer, but in fact, they take weeks to make, with every element in the process shaped by hand in the workshop. They are composed of countless references, and while open to interpretation Bidstrup’s glass sculptures defy quick and easy decoding. Old-school glass transformed into objects too cool for school.

Matter at Hand, Stine Bidstrup. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark is an exhibition created in collaboration with the Danish Art Foundation and the American gallery Hostler Burrows. The exhibition opened in New York in Autumn 2021 and is now showing in L.A, the gallery’s second location.

Matter at Hand is also a catalogue with ten condensed portraits by me, among other texts. I have been given the permission to publish the portraits on my platform. The ten artists are:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

The team behind the co-lab is:
The Danish Art Foundation
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows and Kim Hostler
Curator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Photographer Dorte Krogh
Writer: Charlotte Jul
Translation: Dorte Herholdt Silver
Graphic design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, US-translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Bjørn Friborg: Sensuous implosions

Bjørn Friborg: Sensuelle implosioner

Bjørn Friborg: Sensuelle implosioner

Matter at Hand, Bjørn Friborg. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Glaspuster og kunstner Bjørn Friborg er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Bjørn Friborgs værker taler højt og energisk. Store ovale glasværker med hul og farver i maven, som man får lyst til at stikke hånden ind i. Friborgs værker – samlet i serierne Implosion og Penetration – har sensuelle konnotationer, men det er sådan livet er, forklarer han. Friborgs værker er smukke, vilde og forførende. Ovale, transparente ’glasmontre’ fyldt med dynamisk forvredet liv i farver. De er også en smule foruroligende og provokerende. Lidt ligesom en tand, der gør ondt, men som man alligevel bliver med at rode i. Man vil stikke hånden ind og røre, selvom det er grænseoverskridende. Sensuelt.

Det er vigtigt at tale højt, mener Friborg. At være ærlig og uprætentiøs for at skabe et genuint udtryk. Hans værker er en forlængelse af ham selv. Af at ville ind i noget. Af at ville noget mere og dybere. Som eksplosive energiudladninger som menneske og kunstner. Bjørn Friborg får energi af processen. Der, hvor alt skal gå op i en højere enhed. Som et teamwork af præcis koordinering mellem de forskellige håndværkere, der tager del i den. For glas er en holdsport. Og lige så krævende og disciplineret som elitesport. Det er der, en del af rusen ligger. Usikkerheden. Momentet, hvor du ikke tænker eller tøver, men bare handler. For meget kan gå galt. At arbejde med glas er en ekstrem intim proces følelsesmæssigt, og ifølge Friborg så fyldt med eufori, at du kan sammenligne den med vold og sex. Og selvom alt går godt, kan det stadig gå galt, når du åbner ovnen.

Matter at Hand, Bjørn Friborg. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Bjørn Friborg er en aktiv person. En af dem, der taler så hurtigt, at du tager dig selv i at læne dig fremover for at høre alt, selvom det foregår i telefonen. Hans tale- og tankerække springer frem og ofte flere trin over, så du selv må foretage de nødvendige mellemregninger. For han har travlt. Der er ingen tid at spilde.

Han har flere værker i kø, er netop blevet ansvarlig hyttemester på det nyåbnede Holmegaard Værk i Danmark, det hæderskronede og anerkendte glasværk, der efter en årrække i lavkonjunktur og glemsel, er genopstået i ambitiøse, nyrenoverede rammer. Nu skal dansk glaskunst igen med helt frem, anført af Friborg. Også her skaber han sin kunst parallelt med sit arbejde, og har ikke noget problem med at lade andre ’shine’ gennem sit kompetente håndværk. Af respekt for faget og sit materiale. For det er også en tilfredsstillelse at mestre sit håndværk så overlegent, at andre kan udkomme igennem det. Det er Friborg – i dynamisk vekselvirkning mellem håndværk og kunst.

Bjørn Friborg er en af Skandinaviens dygtigste glashåndværkere, og der er næsten ikke det, han ikke kan gøre med glas. Han har lært af den bedste, en ældre, hardcore mester, der tog ham under sine vinger, da han som ung tog til Sverige for at lære faget. I Sverige, har glastraditionen altid været stærkere end i Danmark og ’Glasriket’, som er en mindre by bygget op omkring glas, er arnestedet for industriel og kunstnerisk udvikling. Udover Sverige, er Friborg uddannet i Danmark og USA og har skabt sin kunstpraksis sideløbende med sit arbejde som elite-håndværker.

Matter at Hand, Bjørn Friborg. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Maria Sparre-Petersen: An eternal cycle of glass

Maria Sparre-Petersen: Glassets geniale genavendelighed

Maria Sparre-Petersen: Glassets geniale genavendelighed

Matter at Hand, Maria Sparre-Petersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Glaskunstner Maria Sparre-Petersen er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Maria Sparre-Petersens glasværker i genbrugsglas er skabt af blå og grønne ølflasker. Flasker, hun smelter om til kugler, der minder om cirkelrunde dråber af barndommens mystik, som hun komponerer og monterer i en ramme af højtbrændt beton. Hver kugle udvikler en hinde på overfladen under opvarmning, der gør, at de ikke smelter sammen i ovnen, men interagerer, så de bliver flydende, men adskilte. Som sæbebobler, der klæber til hinanden. Som kunstnerisk kaos i orden eller grafiske elementer af flydende masse i en struktureret ramme. Form, mønstre, farve og lys går i dialog og skaber nye fortællinger. Nogle steder optræder glasset transparent eller translucent – alt sammen afhængigt af, hvordan lyset bryder materialet og hvor dyb farven i glasset er.

Matter at Hand, Maria Sparre-Petersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

For Maria Sparre-Petersen er bæredygtighed en livslang interesse, der er opøvet flittigt igennem hendes nysgerrige og socialt orienteret sjæl, der kan skrive både sømand, designer, underviser, Master of Fine Arts og Ph.d. på sit CV. Smelter man alle disse kompetencer sammen er der en lige linje til det, Sparre-Petersen skaber, drømmer om og bliver inspireret af i dag: at udbrede kendskabet til genbrugsglas ud fra et bæredygtigt og etisk perspektiv. Det er ambitiøst og særligt meningsfuldt, fordi de jomfruelige materialer bliver i jorden, hvor de hører til, ligesom man som udøver ikke udsættes for sundhedsskadelige stoffer. Derudover er brugt glas 100% genanvendeligt uden at miste sine materialekvaliteter – en evne, som tekstil, plastik og flere andre materialer ikke har.

Netop materialekvaliteterne er det, der gør det interessant at arbejde med genbrugsglas. For selvom det er mere besværligt at formgive genbrugte materialer, er tilfredsstillelsen desto større, når du knækker koden, og føler, at du gør en forskel for kloden. For faget. Og for materialet i sig selv, der skal håndteres på en anden måde, fordi glasset er ’kortere’, når det bliver blæst og du derfor skal arbejde ekstra hurtigt. Det stiller større krav til teknik og håndværk, men giver også en hel masse tilbage, fordi Sparre-Petersen konstant bliver udfordret på, hvad materialet kan. Hvilke benspænd, det giver, som hun kan løse og udnytte. Som at to brugte vinduesglas ikke altid kan smeltes sammen, fordi de kan være lavet efter forskellige opskrifter og derfor ikke udvider sig ens og revner – med det samme eller over tid.

Ifølge Sparre-Petersen bliver samtalen med glasset mere udfordrende på denne måde. Materialet taler tilbage og bringer af og til kunstneren ud af fatning. Skaber nye erkendelser, der bliver til nye metoder og teknikker, som skal læres og indarbejdes.

De mange undersøgelser og eksperimenter skaber en æstetik, der ikke kunne have været planlagt strategisk. Men det er blandt andet der, mystikken ligger. Når materiale og idé smelter sammen i uforudsete og ofte kontrastfyldte konstellationer. Som organiske legekammerater i en styret ramme, men uden at farver, densitet, transparens eller translucens kan foregribes. Tænkes sig til. Glaskunstneren må overgive sig til materialets egen vilje trods erfaring og teknik, men det er en del af rejsen. En bæredygtig en af slagsen, der varsler godt nyt for en presset klode.

Matter at Hand, Maria Sparre-Petersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

 

Jakob Jørgensen: The sensuousness of steel

Jakob Jørgensen: Stålets sanselighed

Jakob Jørgensen: Stålets sanselighed

Matter at Hand, Jakob Jørgensen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Møbeldesigner og kunstner Jakob Jørgensen er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Jakob Jørgensen er møbeldesigner og kunstner. Derudover er han en særdeles kompetent håndværker, der mestrer stort set alle led i processen om materialet er træ, sten eller stål. Stålet er hans ’nye’ materiale, for Jørgensen har arbejdet med træ som bærende materiale i det meste af to årtier. Træ som afsæt for stole og opbevaringsmøbler af den ultra delikate slags. For Jakob Jørgensen gør ikke noget halvt. Og hvorfor skulle han også det, når han kan få alle sine idéer i mål med hoved, hænder og værktøj?

Jakobsens møbler bevæger sig i poler mellem det kommercielle og det kunstneriske – og hans formsprog taler begge sprog flydende. Som en kontinuerlig krydsbefrugtning mellem den bundne og den frie opgave. Men selvom Jørgensen er uddannet møbeldesigner, har han også en uddannelse som billedhugger, hvor han primært arbejdede i sten.

Det var i hans 20’ere. Nu 20 år senere, er stålet kommet ind i hans liv. Han var nysgerrig på materialet, og havde en ambition om at folde stålets plastiske kvaliteter ud. Opleve, hvordan et industrielt cylinderformet rør kan forvandle sig til et organisk og kunstnerisk potentiale, der skubber vanetænkningen i nye retninger.

Matter at Hand, Jakob Jørgensen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

I arbejdet med stålet fandt Jørgensen ud af, at der sker noget med et rørs grundlæggende geometri, når du trykker på det. Et organisk udtryk opstår og sender stærke referencer til naturen og træet, som han kender ud og ind. Jørgensen lærer sig håndværket; at svejse, blæse og bruge hammer, ambolt og en donkraft, der kan trykke stålet. Fem tryk og det stålrør du startede med, har nu ansatser af en bænk. I modsætning til det organiske står industrialiseringen. Det maskinelle. Et stålrør bliver et totem, der symboliserer koblingen mellem natur og industri.

Hele processen med at omsætte røret til ny form, og tage et kunstnerisk armgreb på det, tiltaler formgiveren, der i processen er mere optaget af, hvad materialet gør og kan, end om resultatet er kunst eller design. For Jørgensen handler det mere om at lære et materiale at kende, så han kan gennemskue eller aflure dets muligheder – og måske hemmeligheder. At finde nøglen og knække koden til den Jørgenske syntese mellem materiale og idé.

Modstand er også et ankerpunkt for Jørgensen, for det fascinerer ham, når materialer yder modstand. Skal danses og slås med for at udkomme, så at sige. At finde kilden og trække formen frem gennem slidsom modstand i materialet selv. Det er ifølge Jørgensen, der genkender følelsen inden i sig selv, vanvittigt interessant at se det ske og være en del af. Stål og skala er et andet ankerpunkt for Jørgensen, for der sker både noget uventet og magisk, når man blæser sin idé op i størrelse. Giver stålet mulighed for at indtage rummet og ’grounde’ sin materialitet, så værket bliver ekstremt fysisk. Mærkbart. Og nærmest råber sin styrke ud. Jørgensen råber ikke, men lader sine enkle, men subtile værker råbe for sig. Lader materialet tale sit tydelige sprog og generere kraftfulde skulpturer i egen ret.

Matter at Hand, Jakob Jørgensen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Anne Brandhøj: The narratives of wood

Anne Brandhøj: Træets narrativer

Anne Brandhøj: Træets narrativer

Matter at Hand, Anne Brandhøj. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Møbeldesigner og kunstner Anne Brandhøj er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Som kunstner og designer bærer Anne Brandhøj træets kendetegn og karakteristika frem i sine værker. Dyrker dem og viser os, at træets imperfektioner er naturlig forskellighed i et materiale, der er lige så gammelt som … jordens oprindelse? Knaster, revner, harpikslommer, svampeangreb og farvenuancer fungerer som narrativer, der fortæller deres særlige, individuelle historie. Ved at dyrke uregelmæssighederne sender Brandhøj et signal om, at hendes værker er født, formet og proportioneret af og på naturens præmisser. At de er bæredygtige i form og indhold, i proces og resultat.

Som nyuddannet møbeldesigner havde Anne Brandhøj ikke lyst til at formgive nye, fejlfrie produkter, og under hendes afgangsprojekt på Designskolen fik hun mulighed for at tage i skoven og finde ud af, hvordan træerne egentlig blev til de planker, der normalt landede i værkstedet. I skoven sugede hun al den viden til sig, som de lokale skovhuggere ville dele med hende – og lærte siden selv at fælde træer. Træernes langsommelige cyklus fascinerede Brandhøj, der blev grebet af det magiske i at åbne en stamme og se, hvad der gemte sig under barken. Af spor og fortællinger.

Matter at Hand, Anne Brandhøj. Foto: Dorte Krogh

I den ideelle verden tager det op mod 20 år at tørre en stamme, hvis man skal stresse træet mindst muligt. Brandhøj eksperimenterede med en hurtigere metode, der resulterede i, at træet ofte revnede. Revnerne blev et fokus. Et ’clash’ mellem det glatte, bearbejdede og måske olierede træ og de naturlige knaster eller revner, der både er taktile og uvante for det fleste at se på og røre ved.

Brandhøj mener, at man kun kan læse værkernes fulde historie ved at røre ved dem. Opleve med egne hænder, hvordan overfladernes stoflighed skifter. Hvordan ru bliver til glat og dine fingre automatisk stopper ved uregelmæssigheden for at undersøge den. Mærke dens uvante overflade og særlige tiltrækningskraft. Kontrasterne holder værkerne på plads. Skaber en spænding og en balance i værket, der derudover ofte står eller har en flade. Som et møbel-lignende objekt. Brandhøj siger selv, at hun arbejder mellem abstrakt kunst og funktionelt design, hvor hendes værker enten mimer eller har en funktion.

Brandhøj bruger oceaner af tid i værkstedet. Forinden har hun været i skoven og finde den helt rigtige træstub, der bliver fragtet hjem i Christianiacyklen, for Brandhøj vil have hænderne på alle led i processen. Også de tunge af dem. Det er en del af hendes dialog med materialet. Lige fra hun finder det i skoven til det ender som værk. Brandhøj arbejder altid i det våde træ, som hun formgiver, hvorefter værket sættes til tørre i op til 6-12 måneder. Hvis værket var rundt, da hun skabte det, er det nu ovalt eller noget helt andet efter tørring. Så går hun i dialog med materialet igen, for hun har efterhånden lært, at træet vil selv. Træ ånder og giver sig alt efter luftfugtighed og omstændigheder og er et vilkår, man er nødt til at overgive sig til.

Brandhøjs baggrund som møbeldesigner skinner igennem i denne superniche mellem det abstrakte og det konkrete og bygger bro mellem natur og kultur. For at udradere overfladiske objekter, der ikke relaterer sig til noget eller nogen. For at være i verden bør handle om at forbinde sig. Med mennesker og objekter – i begge tilfælde som relationer, der udvikler sig, bruges, slides og får skrammer undervejs.

Matter at Hand, Anne Brandhøj. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen: A meeting of equals

Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen: Det ligeværdige møde

Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen: Det ligeværdige møde

Matter at Hand, Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Keramisk kunstner Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen har aldrig haft en interesse i at søge det skønne i klassisk forstand. Men selvom hun flytter normerne for hendes fag, står hun på et fundament af solidt håndværk. Og netop fordi hun har håndværket med sig, bliver det muligt at nedbryde, nyfortolke og provokere et fag og et materiale, hun kender indgående. Det handler om mødet. Mødet mellem kunstneren og hendes materiale og hvad hendes hænder eller redskaber sætter af aftryk, der finder et udtryk i leret. Men hvornår er mødet ligeværdigt? Hvornår styrer kunstneren og hvornår tager materialet over?

I Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersens værker møder du både noget du genkender og noget, du slet ikke gør. Noget der kan minde om håndtaget på en krukke eller en lagkage så overdådig og farverig, at du omgående vil sætte tænderne i den. Pontoppidans værker er reminiscente hybrider fra en anden verden skabt af skæve møder mellem stofligheder, farver, kontraster og historier, samplet fra vilkårlige steder. Inspiration snuppet fra en drivende nikotinvæg på en bodega, fra en kobling mellem to sange fra hver deres univers eller fra et nåletræ med en underlig gevækst.

Matter at Hand, Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Det ligeværdige møde interesserer med andre ord Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen, der går anarkistisk til værks i sit æstetikbegreb, der er dybt personligt og dybt universelt. For hvornår er noget smukt eller grimt? Hvornår berører et udtryk os og hvornår gør det ikke? Pontoppidan er optaget af at ’merge’ former, udtryk og overflader sammen i konstellationer, der skaber spænding. To elementer, der ikke umiddelbart klæder hinanden finder vej og balancerer på kanten af noget nyt. Af en samhørighed. Af et alternativt sprog, hvor kontrasterne sameksisterer ligeværdigt. Derfor kan Pontoppidans værker synes svære at afkode, fordi de tager dig et uvant sted hen. Et utrygt sted, hvor du ikke genkender referencerne. Og hvordan skal du forholde dig til det? Værkernes titler kan hjælpe forståelsen på vej og også her leger Pontoppidan med ord, sammensætninger og betydninger, så værktitlerne ofte mere har karakter af en gåde end af en tydelig ledetråd.

Pontoppidan Pedersen modellerer sine værker op i hånden og nogle gange, får hun overflader forærende, når hun ælter leret op. Alle valg er fravalg og hvornår er det kunstneren, der dominerer leret? Hvornår er det dialog? Hvornår og hvordan kan kunstnerens intuition og følelse oversættes i materialet? Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen mærker det. Fornemmer spændingen, der så let kan tilte fra det interessante til det overgjorte og miste sin berettigelse. Og så er kunstnerens sameksistens med materialet ikke længere til stede.

Pontoppidan må have været et sjovt og underfundigt barn, der hele tiden har stillet spørgsmål ved det etablerede, det forventede og det normative. Den naive og dybt filosofiske undren gør Pontoppidans værker og hendes virke originalt, relevant og vedkommende. Som et nutidigt ståsted for en urgammel tradition. Et nyt sprog fyldt med sekvenser, du kan genkende ordene i, men ikke helt forstår sammenhængen af. Det giver mening for Pontoppidan, der netop forsøger at trænge bag om sproget, forventningerne og det klassiske æstetik-begreb, og hen til et sted, der ikke allerede er farvet, kodet eller italesat som faste begreber eller kategorier. ”Square peg, round hole.” Pernille Pontoppidans værker er begge dele – i en ligeværdig, sprød og spændstig balance.

Matter at Hand, Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Astrid Krogh: Textile structures

Astrid Krogh: Tekstile strukturer

Astrid Krogh: Tekstile strukturer

Matter at Hand, Astrid Krogh. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Tekstilkunstner Astrid Krogh er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Astrid Krogh er en fortolker. En kunstner, der ser verden gennem tekstile briller. Om hun formidler lysets kraft, universets galaktiske kompleksitet eller tangs æstetiske forgreninger. Uddannet som klassisk tekstildesigner er det altid den tekstile tilgang og tankegang, Krogh tager afsæt i. For alt kan i princippet udgøre det for materiale og Krogh er som sådan ikke bundet op på ét materiale, men forsøger at gengive det liv, som naturen skaber, gennem mønstre, fibre og strukturer. Igennem sin karriere har Krogh arbejdet med lys, mønstre og deres foranderlighed og forsøgt at afspejle naturens taktile omskiftelighed – i neon.

Det kan lyde kontradiktorisk, men er det ikke, for Kroghs store respekt for både naturen og sit fag gør, at hun skaber sin fortolkning på lag af viden og eksperimenter. Krogh trækker sine projekter ad ukendte stier, som når hun ’væver’ med neon eller optiske fibre, der var helt nyt, da hun begav sig i kast med det. Det digitale er igennem tiden blevet en del af hendes signatur, men aldrig uden at have den tekstile baggrund med. Mønstre og deres gentagelse, der forskyder sig en kende, har sammen med lyset været et gennemgående tema i hendes arbejde. Som når store digitale vægpaneler med grafiske blomster forandrer farve med samme interval som lyset gør henover et døgn. Eller når Mælkevejen forsøges afspejlet som et mønster i optiske fibre, vi kan forstå og forholde os til som et værk på væggen.

Matter at Hand, Astrid Krogh. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Astrid Krogh forsøger hele tiden at blive klogere, så hun kan formidle sin viden videre til andre qua sit fag, så også vi undres. Stopper op. Og åbner sanser og øjne en lille smule mere for naturens skønhed og kraft. De sidste to år har Krogh været optaget af universets galakser. Af at formidle de mønstre, som planeter og de sorte huller udgør. Så meget, at hun tog kontakt til Dr. Margaret Geller fra Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory på Harvard i USA, der har kortlagt dele af universet, så man kan se og forstå strukturerne bag det. I deres mail-korrespondance oplevede Krogh et frugtbart og smittende fællesskab mellem videnskaben og kunsten, og dialogen med Dr. Geller åbnede op for en ny måde at arbejde og forstå verden på.

Kroghs seneste projekter handler imidlertid om at kigge ned i stedet for op. At dykke ned under havoverfladen og opdage den mindst lige så forgrenede verden af tang og planter, der lever her. I mønstre og sammenhænge, som de færreste er opmærksomme på. Tangplanter og deres forgreninger er lige så komplekse som galaksernes og tæt på at mime dem med lige dele diversitet og regularitet. Krogh forsøger at finde regulariteten for så at bryde den. Finde gentagelsen, der netop forskyder sig det nøk, så den aldrig er helt ens. Den lille forgrening, der ikke er den samme som den forrige, men ligner. Kroghs eksperimenter er med til at udvide hendes egen forståelsesramme og hun er fascineret af at få åbnet verdener, som hun ikke kendte til. For så kan hun gå i gang med at udforske og lære. Forstå og omsætte. Formidle og fortolke. I kunstneriske tekstile greb.

Matter at Hand, Astrid Krogh. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl: The sculptural weight of form

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl: Formens skulpturelle tyngde

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl: Formens skulpturelle tyngde

Matter at Hand, Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Keramisk kunstner Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl har arbejdet med leret i over 50 år. Selvom han straks blev fanget ind, da han fik fingrene i materialet som 14-årig, er det egentlig ikke lerets plasticitet, der optager ham mest. Det er formerne og det skulpturelle arbejde, der ligger i at skabe dem. Fremkalde dem. Arbejde dem møjsommeligt frem, skridt for skridt. Eller stykke for stykke, for Kaldahls ’Spatial Drawings’er lavet af præcise stykker af ekstruderede rør – ikke ulig en blikkenslagers arbejde.

Rørene skæres op og sættes sammen i vinkler, der enten bugter eller drejer udad, indad eller peger lige ud. Som subtil rørføring i ler. Kaldahls medium er formen og proportionerne. Hans konstruktionsprincip er enkelt, ja, nærmest alment ifølge ham selv, men det karakteristiske ligger i, hvordan det bliver anvendt. Bliver til form, der bevæger sig og rækker ud i rummet. Bliver skabt efter semi-styret, rytmisk formtilfældighed, som Kaldahl bygger op uden model – for så ville hans stregtegning, hans idé jo allerede være fortolket.

Matter at Hand, Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Kaldahl modellerer sine skulpturer efter nærværets og den kropslige bevægelses princip. Hvor rørene vinkler sig på hinanden, som de vil den dag. Som han vil den dag. Og smelter sammen til et ufravigeligt og sammenhængende statement, der accentueres af ensfarvede glasurer, der understreger stemningen i værket. Kaldahls kontraster udgøres på et overordnet plan af spændingen mellem lethed og tyngde. For hans overordnede idé starter med skitsens uforpligtende stregtegning. En krusedulle, en knude, opsnappet fra hverdagens banale og ofte oversete formsprog, som en snor, der er faldet på gulvet og har lagt sig på en særlig måde. Som en motorvejsudfletning Kaldahl har manipuleret fra Google Earth og omsat til en tegning, han tager afsæt i. Nogle gange bruger han måneder på at knække koden i skitsen og omsætte den til ler inde i sit hoved. Ruger over mulighederne for at oversætte stregerne til form.

Den etablerede keramiske kunstner har det bedst med at blive skubbet ud på gyngende grund i sin idéfase. Ud af komfortzonen og ind i frihedens ukendte og intuitive territorium, hvor en nagende nerve af en idé langsomt tager form. Transformeres fra hoved til hænder qua sine rørstykker i ler, der manipuleres, vinkles og drejes stykke for stykke indtil formen gestalter sig. Det er her tyngden kommer ind. Udfordringen er at transformere stregtegningens intuitive lethed til udtryksmæssig tyngde i møjsommelig opbygget form i et levende materiale. Tyngde i den positive og bevidste forstand, hvor lethed bliver til et stærkt og markant udsagn, der tager sin plads i verden. Insisterer på sit nærvær. Et nærvær, man kan mærke kropsligt i rummet. Som et møde, der fordrer umiddelbar tilstedeværelse. Det er Kaldahls ambition. At hans værker kan mærkes. Af os andre. Uden forbehold og særlige forkundskaber. Som kunstner er det lethedens tyngde at skabe udsagn, der ikke allerede eksisterer i verden. Fra stregtegningens ukomplicerede anstrøg til lerets sindrige knuder og bugtninger, der er skaleret op i størrelse og fylder noget. Vejer noget. Som ’Spatial Drawings’, der fastholder det samme intuitive nærvær, de er skabt med.

Matter at Hand, Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Yuki Ferdinandsen: The beat is my soul

Yuki Ferdinandsen: The beat is my soul

Yuki Ferdinandsen: The beat is my soul

Matter at Hand, Yuki Ferdinandsen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Korpus-sølvsmed og kunstner Yuki Ferdinandsen er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Yuki Ferdinandsen lever og ånder for sit arbejde med sølvet og den japanske ARARE-teknik. Så meget, at hun ikke længere hører de støjende hammerslag, når hun arbejder i værkstedet. Rytme og lyd akkompagnerer hinanden i meditative bølger, der omgiver og bor indeni Yuki Ferdinandsen. Er en del af hendes person. Som menneske og formgiver. Sølvet har været Ferdinands materiale de sidste 40 år og arbejdet med ARARE-teknikken fusionerer Japan og Danmark i raffinerede korpusværker i sølv.

Matter at Hand, Yuki Ferdinandsen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Hendes egen oplevelse er, at hun ser Danmark igennem sit japanske filter og omvendt. Og det føles vitterligt, som om de to lande smelter sammen i Ferdinandens værker, der tager afsæt i samuraiernes 400 år gamle forsvarsteknik, hvor de runde ciselerede knopper på rustningerne fik pilene til at glide af. Ferdinandsen har taget denne historiske og sagnomspundne teknik og gjort den til sin egen. Skabt en signatur, hvor hun har formindsket knopperne, der nu fremstår som grafiske prikker, der først bliver tegnet op i hånden på bagsiden af sølvet og herefter banket op med hammer. Hendes hammerdans, som der ligger et umenneskeligt antal timer bagved: 20 slag per knop bliver det til. I et imponerende korpusværk som ”Silence”, der tæller 4.048 prikker, bliver det til 80.960 hammerslag – eller fire måneders intenst fuldtidsarbejde i værkstedet.

Det skal være hårdt. Skal være intenst, udfordrende og kræve fuldkommen fokus og disciplin. Det er sådan Yuki Ferdinandsen fungerer. For hun slapper af, når hun arbejder, selvom det kan virke som ’a contradiction in terms’. Men når man er sit materiale og sin proces, og resultatet sætter barren så ekstremt højt, giver det mening. En avanceret teknik i et avanceret materiale med et æstetisk udtryk, der balancerer mellem Danish Modern og ’young contemporary design’ – og altid bærer forskellige udtryk på over- eller underside. For- eller bagside. Det er Yuki Ferdinandsen. En signatur, der er blevet anerkendt og hædret internationalt i årtier i et materiale, der både er koldt og varmt. Mat og skinnende. Et materiale, der har vægt og volume, men også kan virke let, nærmest sfærisk, når lyset reflekterer i overfladen.

Yuki Ferdinandsen laver selv sine redskaber og hendes værksted er fyldt med punsler i forskellige størrelser. Når hun ciselerer blomster – en teknik hun benytter sig af ved siden af ARARE – kan det tage op til 30 forskellige punsler at lave en blomst. Den form for præcision kan hun ikke overlade til andre, så derfor designer hun alle punslerne selv. Ferdinandsens værker bærer titler med meditative referencer til naturen og verden omkring hende – som Silence, The sound of the Ocean og Hannaby.

Et andet greb, som Ferdinandsen har arbejdet indgående med i sin karriere, er Fibonacci-systemet. Det matematiske system, hvor det samme antal prikker findes i både den inderste og den yderste cirkel, og giver en visuel fornemmelse af uendelighed. Som omhyggeligt ciselerede prikker i sølv, der cirkler rundt ad infinitum. I de senere år er hun begyndt at ’disrupte’ Fibonacci – eller skubbe systemet, så forventningerne bliver udfordret en kende. Et nøk. Men aldrig mere, end at man genkender Ferdinandsens afsæt. Kan se den røde tråd, der fortolkes i de nye rene greb. De mange prikker er små hver for sig, men samlet er de stærke. Som en hær af minutiøse forhøjninger, der formidler Ferdinandsens indre verdensbillede i sølv.

Matter at Hand, Yuki Ferdinandsen. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Stine Bidstrup: Tradition and renewal

Stine Bidstrup: Tradition og fornyelse

Stine Bidstrup: Tradition og fornyelse

Matter at Hand, Stine Bidstrup. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Glaskunstner Stine Bidstrup er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Glaskunstner Stine Bidstrups værker handler om at se. Om at se flere ting på en gang uden at se det hele. At se overflader, der reflekterer. At se igennem materialet. At se mønstre, kanter og kontraster mellem mat og glat, ru og blød, transparent og opal. At se spejlinger, rumlighed og dybde i forskellige vinklinger alt efter, hvor man står. At se mange mulige former i én form og opleve referencer til kunsthistorien for at danne sig sit eget blik.

Bidstrups farverige værker placerer sig mellem fortid og fremtid. Inspireret af historiske stilperioder og skabt ved hjælp af traditionelle teknikker i et klassisk materiale er de old school. Men i hænderne på Bidstrup, der sampler flere teknikker og sætter den tekniske barre så højt som muligt, dekonstruerer hun det traditionelle håndværk ved at blæse glasset i en støbeform. Den karakteristiske organiske glasbobbel på piben, som vi kender den, bliver til manieret form, udtænkt og designet af Bidstrup, og opstår som noget nyt og ’very cool’. Hybrider, der dog altid er skabt for at understrege glassets enestående karakteristika.

Matter at Hand, Stine Bidstrup. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Bidstrup ’merger’ urgamle teknikker og metoder med en stærk konceptuel forståelse i et nutidigt greb. Hendes værker er dybt komplekse at lave, fordi de bliver blæst i en støbeform, som hun møjsommeligt har bygget op af 10-15 forskellige dele i voks, der smeltes sammen og støbes rundt om. Herefter smeltes voksen af og glasset blæses direkte ned i støbeformen – uden at hun kan se, hvad der foregår. Det er intenst og hårdt arbejde, der kræver tre erfarne håndværkere for at lykkes. Glas er ikke et materiale, du kan manipulere med efter det er støbt eller blæst. Du får kun én chance. Det er hårde odds eller disciplinerede vilkår alt efter øjnene, der ser.

Men Stine Bidstrup ’wouldn’t have it any other way’. For det store forarbejde med at lave støbeformene, designe de digitale mønstre, der smeltes ind i glasset, den højintense blæseproces foran ovnen og det efterfølgende minutiøse rense- og slibearbejde er altsammen det, der gør arbejdet med glas vidunderligt og uforudsigeligt. For selvom hun var fascineret af materialet allerede som teenager og har haft det i hænderne i over tyve år, er der stadig ting, hun kan blive ved med at udfordre. Lære. Og se.

Glas er et uforligneligt materiale ifølge Bidstrup, der udover at være uddannet i Danmark og USA, også har en akademisk bachelorgrad i kunsthistorie. Og netop forankringen i kunsthistorien er et andet vitalt parameter for Bidstrup, der har en forkærlighed for det 20. århundredes nytænkende kubister og avantgarde-arkitekter. For selvom Bidstrups værker har en futuristisk sci-fi-aura over sig, er de mundblæst og bearbejdet i hånden. Det er det, der er så fascinerende ved dem. At de ligner noget, der er blevet kodet på en computer, selvom de har taget flere uger at skabe, fordi de mange led i processen er formgivet i hånden på værkstedet. Som mini-arkitektur fra en Superman film, selvom de er læsbare glasskulpturer kombineret af utallige referencer, der ikke kan afkodes i et hug. Som old school i Bidstrup’s new cool school.

Matter at Hand, Stine Bidstrup. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Matter at Hand

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Hanne G: Tactile symbols

Hanne G: Taktile symboler

Hanne G: Taktile symboler

Matter at Hand, Hanne G. Foto: Dorte Krogh

MATTER AT HAND

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:

Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Tekstilkunstner Hanne G er en af de ti danske udøvere på udstillingen Matter at Hand – Ten Artists in Denmark på det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows, der har afdelinger i New York og Los Angeles.

Hanne G er mester i stoflighed i konkret og overført betydning. Med hæklenålens præcise øje skaber hun palmer, elpærer og maskingeværer som taktile symboler ladet med politiske salver, der ofte har humoren som sidevogn. Hanne G bragede igennem på kunstscenen i Danmark i 2007 med værket Weapon Collection – Crocheting for Peace, der fik stor opmærksomhed pga. de åbenlyse kontraster mellem våben, krig, maskulinitet, død og ødelæggelse og det bløde, hæklede materiale med rødder i det kvindelige hjemmesyssel-univers. Magt, status, ligestilling, håndværk, storpolitik og hjemlighed var ligeledes oplagte begreber at konnotere projektet til. Alt det blot fordi man hækler en kontroversiel genstand og placerer den i en kunstnerisk kontekst…

Matter at Hand, Hanne G. Foto: Dorte Krogh

Hanne G var en af de første danske kunstnere, der hæklede budskaber med en overbevisende treenighed af udtryk, indhold og ekstrem høj finish. At den simple teknik i koblingen mellem en hæklenål og et garnnøgle kan manifestere sig i store skulpturer fascinerer kunstneren, der lærte at hækle som teenager. Og hækling kan ifølge Hanne G formgive ALT. Da hun efter flere år som grafiker og sidenhen konceptudvikler i TV-branchen sprang ud som kunstner, var det maleriet, der optog hende. Men da hun ved et tilfælde fik tekstilerne i hænderne, mærkede hun de kontrastfyldte muligheder, der var oplagte til kunstneriske udsagn.

Hun oplevede, at hækling var ligesom at køre på cykel. Man glemmer det aldrig. Og hun var god til det. Fornemmede det sad i hænderne og boede i minderne om hendes mormor, der hjalp hende. Og det var ikke kun mormoren, der heppede fra det hinsides, men publikum, der i mødet med hendes værker følte en genkendelse. En afdramatiserende glæde. Måske fordi vi alle kender det bløde medie og har et forhold til det. Vi bærer tekstiler på kroppen, tørrer os efter badet i håndklæder, bruger viskestykker i køkkenet og har derfor et hverdagsagtigt forhold til tekstil, der gør os mere modtagelige overfor det, vi ser, selvom det er sat ind i en uvant kontekst.

Bagsiden af den hverdagslige genkendelighed er, at mediet og materialet har lav status i kunsthierakiet og er historisk knyttet til de hjemlige kvindelige sysler. Netop derfor er Hanne G desto mere bevidst om sine greb, sine dimensioner og sine fortællinger. For hendes værker skal batte noget. Røre ved noget. Og få folk til at reflektere. De sensuelle kvaliteter i Hanne G’s værker er vigtige komponenter, der ’nudger’ beskueren på rette vej, fordi det er igennem dem, hun når ud til flest.

Det håndlavede aftryk og de små fejl, der uvilkårligt opstår under arbejdet, er udtryk for det menneskelige afsæt, de menneskelige drømme og det menneskelige forfald. En tematik hun er blevet mere optaget af med alderen. For her er der noget interessant på spil. Noget der kan dekonstruere pænheden og tangere essensen af, hvad livet handler om. Som de palmer, hun har skabt til at indtage Hostler Burrows i New York og L.A. – positive metaforer, der ikke knækker i et stormvejr som COVID-19. Eksistentielle symboler for triumf og paradis – med alle de flertydige konnotationer, de fører med sig. For hos Hanne G har alle værker indlejrede associationsrækker.

Matter at Hand, Hanne G. Foto: Dorte Krogh

MATTER AT HAND

Matter at Hand – Ten Artist in Denmark er en udstilling skabt i et samarbejde mellem Statens Kunstfond og det amerikanske galleri Hostler Burrows. Udstillingen blev vist i New York i efteråret 2021 og er lige nu at finde i L.A. på Hostler Burrows andet galleri.

Matter at Hand omfatter også et katalog i egen ret, der bl.a. portrætter de medvirkende udøvere, skrevet af mig. Jeg har fået lov at udgive de ti mindre portrætter af de udvalgte danske udøvere:
Anne Brandhøj
Stine Bidstrup
Astrid Krogh
Jakob Jørgensen
Bjørn Friborg
Hanne G
Maria Sparre-Petersen
Martin Bodilsen Kaldahl
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen
Yuki Ferdinandsen

Teamet bag samarbejdet er:
Statens Kunstfond
Hostler Burrows; Juliet Burrows og Kim Hostler
Kurator: Nanna Balslev Strøyer
Fotograf Dorte Krogh
Skribent: Charlotte Jul
Oversætter Dorte Herholdt Silver
Grafisk design: Laura Silke og Line-Gry Hørup
Co-editor, translation: Juliet Burrows

www.hostlerburrows

Biography: Charlotte Jul

Biography: Charlotte Jul

Charlotte Jul is a curator, writer, counsellor and editor with more than 20 years of experience in the business helping artists, leading design brands and key design institutions communicate their potential. She has also worked as an interior stylist for several years, besides creating editorial content for various media and platforms, both analogue and digital.

Charlotte Jul holds an MA in Spanish, philosophy and design from the University of Copenhagen. She has written for individual makers, artists, organizations, museums, newspapers, magazines and design brands. She established, created and operated the digital platform items.nu to promote craft makers and brands to the press for six years.

Following this, she co-developed and served as editor-in-chief of the online magazine designETC for three years, a platform dedicated to elevating and broadening the dialogue about crafts and design by reviewing and portraying makers in the field.

In recent years, she has also been active as a moderator of design talks, a talent spotter and a consultant to artists, makers, designers, organizations and foundations. In 2020, she wrote the book Danish Creatives – portraying 15 Danish designers, makers and artists. Since 2023 she has worked part time on several startup and exhibition projects at The Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation in Copenhagen.

‘I love writing. I love the flow that I get into when thoughts and keyboard become one and the stories seem to write themselves. I love to delve into and lose myself in the process – my favourite place. I am deeply fascinated by materials, quality and stories about people who make a difference. I am fascinated with the capacity of ideas to take on physical form in a process driven by exceptional craftsmanship, wit and verve as manifestations that resonate with our senses.

I am deeply moved by the word and the capacity of text to serve as vehicles for works of art, design and craft to connect with receptive minds. As an academic, I have a certain affinity for the intellectual aspects of the field, but as a person, I am directly influenced by the mood an object transmits via its sensuous qualities, material character and the link between ideas and references.’

“It is important to me that form and content balance each other”. Photo: Camilla Stephan

Opening speech at the outdoor Craft Market in central Copenhagen in 2021.
Photo: Helle Severinsen, Danish Arts & Crafts Association

Awarding the Talent Grant of the 15. of June Foundation to fashion designer Domantas Smaizys in 2018. Photo: PR

Future design symbioses

Future design symbioses

Future design symbioses

The practical and aesthetic potential of fungal mycelium was illustrated by The Growing Pavilion presented by Biobased Creations and the Dutch Design Foundation at Dutch Design Week 2019. The bio-based rotunda is related to the fungal architecture that the Royal Danish Academy’s professor of bio-hybrid architecture, Phil Ayres, is experimenting with. Press photo.

ANNI NØRSKOV MØRCH

… is a historian of art and ideas with an independent practice as a curator and writer. She has been responsible for exhibitions and research and communication projects at the intersection of art, craft and design. In recent years, she has taken a particular interest in jewellery and its ability to couple intimate and collective aspects. Since January 2022, she has also been the head of the Danish Arts Foundation’s Committee for Crafts and Design Project Funding.

www.anninomo.com

The text is translated by Dorte Herholdt Silver

We have an all-important problem to solve: the sustainability crisis, which is turning the design of additional objects to weigh down the planet into a dubious activity. Do fungi or robots have a lead role to play in future design scenarios?

The sustainability crisis comes with a philosophical quandary: not where to find room for all the design objects but to find the right place for human beings in this dawning world order, where humankind can no longer be seen as the centre of everything – in fact can no longer be preserved as a delimited existential or physical whole. There are worlds within us and around us. We are intimately connected with other entities, from bacteria to plants and planets. Today, design is already manifested in symbiotic partnerships between human being, machine and nature, so how do we envision future design?

The concept of design is historically associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, which a century ago insisted on craft and the human imprint in a new world of industrial mass production. Over time, design became a general term for the intentional process of drawing and developing products, eventually extending into materials and processes, with or without a direct human imprint.

In the Arts and Crafts tradition, the gesamtkunstwerk, the total work of art, represented an ideal of the decorative and functional coordination of craft and art disciplines in a single manifestation in which individual components and disciplines formed a coherent whole. As Anders V. Munch writes in a presentation of his dissertation on the gesamtkunstwerk, From Bayreuth to Bauhaus, in the Carlsberg Foundation’s 2013 yearbook, modern design developed as part of society’s ‘total architecture’, shaped by a holistic perspective with goals that go far beyond the form of the individual product.

Pinar Yoldas: Copulation-Free Reproductive Organ for Pollution Affected Humans, 2021. Installation view, The World is in You, Medical Museion and Kunsthal Charlottenborg, 2021. Photo: David Stjernholm. Courtesy of the artist.

Gesamtkunstwerk and news value

However, if I were asked right now – on the threshold to 2022, which, even before the first announcements of Covid cancellations of New Year’s concerts, smells as fresh and promising as a day-old dishrag – to point to a contemporary gesamtkunstwerk, I would not turn to the pleasure of works of convincing sensuous harmony or seek satisfaction in sublimely functional design products. What seems to be sprouting and breaking through everywhere, in defiance of the current crisis fatigue, as today’s gesamtkunstwerks are projects that span across science, art and nature with unprecedented radicalism. The boundaries being crossed today are not those separating classic craft disciplines but the boundaries between weaving, architecture and fungal growth; between AI, indoor climate and monolithic mycelia; between flowers and computer science. Human processing – the X-factor that the Arts and Crafts Movement insisted industrial production needed in order to render our industrialized future human, beautiful and meaningful – is no longer regarded as essential.

One of the more exquisite craft and design experiences in 2021 was the exhibition series at the new exhibition venue for ceramic art in Copenhagen Peach Corner. On 30 September, Peach Corner presented News Value, curated by Danish ceramicist and designer Ole Jensen. Throughout his career, Ole Jensen has consistently pursued innovation, always seeking new paths and choosing his own turn when the mainstream path points straight ahead – or pausing and reflecting when others rush forward. As curator, he collected a varied and competent selection of artists for News Value, all focused on a brief that was no small declaration of trust: creating something entirely new. What might a new utilitarian object be? A charged and weighty question today – at once sparking existentialist reflections, requiring innovative thinking and representing Stone Age tangibility. Underneath lurks the question of how we can maintain human existence while safeguarding nature’s, to a reasonable degree, while creating new stuff.

Material experimentalist Jonas Edvard framed and displayed his fungal co-designers in the exhibition News Value at Peach Corner. Photo: Ole Akhøj.

One of the exhibitors was designer and material experimentalist Jonas Edvard, whose work is guided by the motto ‘form follows materials’. He grows fungi and hemp for furniture and boils seaweed and mixes it with chalk to create a material for lampshades. At Peach Corner, he presented his fungal fabric Myx-skin, based on the fungal mycelium, a network of fine white filaments that is usually invisible to the naked eye. In previous projects, Jonas Edvard has used it to make a chair.

In Myx-skin the mycelium is framed and put on display, a presentation that highlighted the beauty of this unusual material, its unwillingness to yield fully and smoothly to the two-dimensional format simultaneously a reminder of its living, self-organizing origin. The most interesting quality of Jonas Edvard’s design practice is his willingness to surrender part of the process to another life form. Rather than simply harvesting and shaping a raw material, he works with fungi, collaborates with it. It is a humbling thought to ponder that your body and mine contain more bacteria and fungi than human cells. In Jonas Edvard’s work, the symbiosis between human being and fungus is not an abstract idea or invisible scientific curiosity but an explicit approach and a sustainable design construction principle.

Luke Jerram: Gaia, 2018. Detail, The World is in You, Medical Museion and Kunsthal Charlottenborg, 2021. Photo: David Stjernholm. Courtesy of the artist.

Everything is connected

Fungi are also thriving in academic halls. When 2021 turns 2022, the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen will have a new professorship in bio-hybrid architecture, which couples living organisms with digital and technical components. Architect and Associate Professior Phil Ayres comes into the position from a background in research, including projects such as Flora Robotica, which experiments with cooperation between robots and plants in the creation of spatial structures, and Fungal Architecture, a project aimed at building with and learning from living fungi on monolithic architectural scales.

Human cooperation with fungi and other life forms was also a topic in Medical Museion’s large interdisciplinary exhibition The World is in You at the Copenhagen art centre Kunsthal Charlottenborg in autumn 2021. Based on recent biomedical research, it illustrates how human beings exist in networks of connections from the microscopic to the planetary level. To accomplish the dizzying ambition of showing how our bodies are connected with the world, the curators incorporated art, history, philosophy, politics and heath sciences.

Familiar hierarchies crumble, and enlightened, culture-building human beings are revealed, as semipermeable membranes inhabited by previously disregarded life forms. And once you have caught the scent of this displacement, you can smell the fermented fragrance of the invasion everywhere. Although most of us, including yours truly, have yet to appreciate the full extent of the displacement, I am beginning to notice the growing interest in nature’s couplings around and inside us everywhere: my kefir bottle proclaims that ‘the garden in your tummy should flourish’, the container boldly decorated with an explosion of colourful flowers in the outline of an intestinal system. Our gut deserves attention, as stated in the title of the young German gastroenterologist Giulia Enders’s fascinating popular science book Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ about our digestive system and our best friends forever: the bacteria that dwell inside us.

Before her, another German bestseller author, Peter Wohlleben, demonstrated his unique ability to communicate natural science through relatable narratives. While Enders tells the riveting tale of the unseen life inside our gut, Wohlleben writes with equal impact about invisible cooperation and biosemiotics in the beech wood in The Hidden Life of Trees and The Secret Network of Nature. Recently, another important voice has been translated into both Danish and English: In The Life of Plants: A Metaphysics of Mixture, Emanuele Coccia proposes nothing less than a rethinking of cosmology and the philosophy of nature. Coccia, who studied agriculture and philosophy and is an associate professor at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) in Paris, announces a radical metaphysical shift in which human beings are no longer the existential centre of philosophy, plants are seen as the central life form, and time has come for a new receptiveness towards other creatures in and around human beings.

Anne Tophøj’s experiments with imparting properties of permeability to a traditional handmade ceramic bowl in industrial ceramic filters resulted in her Permeability Test no. 1 in the News Value exhibition at Peach Corner. Photo: Ole Akhøj.

Arts and Crafts version 2.0

From kefir to philosophy, the message is that humanity can no longer simply gaze at our own navel and maintain an ontological distinction between the products of culture and nature. We need to dig deeper – even into the depths of our own gut – in order to understand that being human simultaneously implies being an insignificant grain of sand in the universe, host to a colony of trillions of microbes and the instigator of the Anthropocene – a geological age profoundly shaped by humankind.

At this point, the main focus of our newfound attention of the emotional life of plants, the architectural potential of the mycelium and the gastronomic rediscovery of fermentation is on the search for solutions to current problems, since we are, metaphorically speaking, standing on arable soil, looking for new crops to reap and feed to the coming generations. However, on the horizon we can glimpse the outline of a transformation that is more profound than simply finding new materials to fuel consumption. There is the potential for a new Copernican turn that turns our gaze away from the enlightened, culture-building human centre and towards boundary-transcending connections and networks and an entirely new understanding of design processes in symbiosis with other forms of intelligence.

It is going to be interesting to see the impact of this dissolution or expansion of human boundaries in conjunction with the other sustainability trend, represented by the growing interest in crafts – perhaps we can even speak of Arts and Crafts 2.0, as our buying behaviour is guided by the mantra of fewer but better things with an emphasis on the local and handmade.

One of the great thinkers and practitioners of the Arts and Crafts movement William Morris, famously said, ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’. Today, this golden rule is echoed by Glenn Adamson, American curator, writer and former director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, who in his 2018 book Fewer, Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects declares himself ‘pro-object’. In a collection of essays that get deep into the weeds on issues of materials and crafts, he explains how the love of objects is not the same as advocating just any object. Adamson convincingly argues that physical know-how ties our society together, as a well-made object is the result of thousands of years of accumulated human experience and that this embedded material intelligence is what enables us to make better decisions about how to inhabit this planet.

Using traditional cabinetmaking techniques, Rasmus Bækkel Fex elevated a simple chipboard to Potato in the News Value exhibition at Peach Corner. Photo: Ole Akhøj.

Sustainable culture and education

Thus, enhancing material intelligence and craftsmanship is not just of interest to the avant-garde elite who drive inspiration and development; it is also an issue of basic sustainable culture and education, enabling all of us to master cooking, repairs and new and old tools and materials and to participate in the conversation about the products of the avant-garde. Material intelligence is rooted in cultural history and learning, as it is in the continuous preservation of traditions that we pass on the often embodied knowledge of tools and materials.

In the future, these traditions need to coexist with radical innovations and a new embrace of non-human life forms, from fungi to robot technology and new paradigms of production that incorporate new expectations of use, reuse and durability. Our clothes need to last longer than a single party or the average seven or eight uses cheap clothes typically see before they are discarded, and perhaps we may also need to accept that other things, like organic apples or fungal architectural constructions, cannot maintain their form for quite as long.

Around the time of the Second World War, the German philosopher and cultural theorist Walter Benjamin evoked his famous image of the angle of history who is being blown backwards into the future, his gaze on the piled-up rubble of the past. In this time of crisis, as art and design make their both hectic and loving attempts at creating something entirely new, they seem to be driven by a refusal to create more old news to be piled up in the slipstream of inevitable forward progression.

Instead, art and design seek to compel the angel to turn his gaze forward in order to see and change the future. Of course, no one can truly see the future, but today, there are many indications that the Anthropocene will also be the post-Anthropocentric era. The need to embrace other life forms and high tech in the name of sustainability is inescapable, and this will hopefully also result in design and craft objects that are both useful and beautiful.

Søren Thygesen presented Kande fra den Antropocæne tidsalder (Jug from the Anthropocene) in the News Value exhibition at Peach Corner. Photo: Ole Akhøj.

ANNI NØRSKOV MØRCH

… is a historian of art and ideas with an independent practice as a curator and writer. She has been responsible for exhibitions and research and communication projects at the intersection of art, craft and design. In recent years, she has taken a particular interest in jewellery and its ability to couple intimate and collective aspects. Since January 2022, she has also been the head of the Danish Arts Foundation’s Committee for Crafts and Design Project Funding.

www.anninomo.com

The text is translated by Dorte Herholdt Silver