ARNE SCHREIBER ELLEN HYLLEMOSE FRANZISKA HÜNIG ILONA KÁLNOKY KERSTIN GOTTSCHALK MALENE LANDGREEN MARIE SØNDERGAARD LOLK NICOLA STÄGLICH REBECCA

Transkript

1 FORM SIGNAGE ARNE SCHREIBER ELLEN HYLLEMOSE FRANZISKA HÜNIG ILONA KÁLNOKY KERSTIN GOTTSCHALK MALENE LANDGREEN MARIE SØNDERGAARD LOLK NICOLA STÄGLICH REBECCA MICHAELIS RUTH CAMPAU SIMON CALLERY TORGNY WILCKE TROELS AAGAARD 17. august 15. september 2013

2 17. august 15. september 2013

3 FORM SIGNAGE ARNE SCHREIBER ELLEN HYLLEMOSE FRANZISKA HÜNIG ILONA KÁLNOKY KERSTIN GOTTSCHALK MALENE LANDGREEN MARIE SØNDERGAARD LOLK NICOLA STÄGLICH REBECCA MICHAELIS RUTH CAMPAU SIMON CALLERY TORGNY WILCKE TROELS AAGAARD

4 FORM SIGNAGE Forord Lis Langvad Lyngby Kunstforening Lyngby Kunstforenings formål er at formidle samtidskunst. Med kunstforeningens årlige udstilling i Sophienholms dejlige lokaler giver vi et bud på, hvor kunsten også bevæger sig hen. Vi indgår i Sophienholms udstillingsplan med en udstilling, der giver en vekselvirkning og balance til årets øvrige udstillinger på stedet. Den udstillende gruppe af kunstnere 13 tyske, engelske og danske billedkunstnere har givet udstillingen navnet Form Signage, hvor signage kan oversættes til markering eller tegn. Udstillingen sætter fokus på fysisk form, materiale og udseende over for tegn som markering og installering i rummet. Med denne udstilling er det kunstnernes intentioner med malerier, skulpturer og installationer at forholde sig til Sophienholms lokaler og give de besøgende kunstneriske oplevelser i 3 dimensioner med flere fortolkningsmuligheder. Hvor brugen af materialer og udnyttelsen af rummene åbner for genkendelighed uden nødvendigvis at være umiddelbart forståelig. Det er vores håb, at de besøgende vil være åbne for indtrykkene og få en spændende kunstoplevelse med det såkaldte udvidede maleri. Udstillingen er kurateret af Franziska Hünig, Rebecca Michaelis, Nicola Stäglich og Torgny Wilcke. Vi siger tak til Torgny Wilcke og de øvrige udstillende kunstnere for samarbejdet med at få udstillingen op at stå. Lyngby-Taarbæk Kommune skal takkes for endnu en gang at stille Sophienholm til vores rådighed, og Sophienholms leder, Benedicte Bojesen, og hendes personale skal have tak for stor hjælpsomhed og godt samarbejde. Også tak til Statens Kunstråds Billedkunstudvalg, Statens Kunstråds Internationale Billedkunstudvalg, Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fonds og Beckett Fonden, hvis støtte har været en afgørende forudsætning for udstillingens gennemførelse. 6 FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM 2013

5 Foreword Lis Langvad Lyngby Kunstforening translated by DAN A. MARMORSTEIN The primarily objective of Lyngby Kunstforening [Lyngby Art Association] is to disseminate contemporary art. With the art association s annual exhibition, held every year on Sophienholm s lovely premises, we offer our bid on what direction art is moving, actually. We take our place on Sophienholm s exhibition scheme with a show that provides interaction with and also serves to balance the rest of the year s exhibitions at the venue. The exhibiting group of artists - thirteen German, English and Danish artists have given their exhibition the name, Form-Signage with the term signage being employed here in the sense of both marking and sign. The exhibition focuses on physical form, material and appearance, in their confrontation with signage, in its capacity as marking, sign and installation in the space. With this exhibition, it has been the artists intentions all along to relate with their paintings, their sculptures and their installations concretely to Sophienholm s stately halls and to endow the visitors with artistic experiences unfolding in three dimensions that allow for several possibilities of interpretation, where the use of materials and the artists respective ways of appropriating the rooms open up for recognizability, without necessarily being immediately graspable. It is our fervent hope that the visitors will be open to the impressions and will obtain an exciting art-experience with the so-called expanded painting. The exhibition is being curated collaboratively by Franziska Hünig, Rebecca Michaelis, Nicola Stäglich and Torgny Wilcke. We would like to thank Torgny Wilcke as well as all the other exhibiting artists for working with us to get the exhibition up and running. Once again, another round of gratitude must go out this year to the municipality of Lyngby-Taarbæk for putting Sophienholm at our disposal. We would also ask that Sophienholm s director of exhibitions, Benedicte Bojesen, and her staff accept our heartfelt thanks for their ready-and-willing helpfulness and for the good climate of collaboration. Thanks also to Statens Kunstråds Billedkunstudvalg [The Danish Art Council s Visual Arts Committee], Statens Kunstråds Internationale Billedkunstudvalg [The Danish Art Council s International Visual Arts Committee], Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond [Carpet-textile merchant L.F. Foght s Fund] and Beckett Fonden; the generous support bestowed upon the project by these organizations has been indispensable in connection with the mounting of this exhibition. FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM

6 FORM S Form versus markering eller tegn i rummet af Torgny Wilcke 2013 Med signage eller skiltning fokuseres på at disse kunstnere er optaget af at placere og installere deres værker, så rummet bruges og ændres med betydende markeringer og tegn. Og det er OK, hvis nogen med de her ord kommer til at tænke på tegn og markeringer i deres hjemlige rum, hvor komfuret, køleskabet, gryderne m.m. gør et rum til køkken og kakler gør det til et badeværelse og arkivskabet og kontorstolen gør det til arbejdsværelset og sofaen det til en stue og andet igen gør det til et værksted, et møderum o.m.a. Eller udenfor hvor noget lignende sker med brug af vejskilte, bannere, cykelskure, halvtage, p-båse, cykelstier, fortorve m.m.m. Form Signage kunne måske også skrives som form versus markering eller tegn i rummet, og titlen peger på centrale forhold i deltagernes måde at lave og udstille kunst. Deltagerne arbejder med et udvidet maleri, hvor der bruges klassiske kunst materialer, oliemaling, lærred og gips på lige fod med byggematerialer såsom tømmer, træpaneler, metal, formica, plexiglas og tekstil. Og med form tænkes dels på fysisk form som materiale, udseende og hvordan værket rent faktisk er lavet, men også på form som værkets idé og den plan, som det er udført efter, man kunne sige værkets støbeform. Værkerne installeres i forhold til de faktiske rum, vægge, vinduer, møbler og interiøret på udstillingsstedet Sophienholm, og forskellen mellem liv og kunst kommer i spil på en anden måde end i maleriet over sofaen derhjemme eller i de hvide kuber på museerne. Værkerne bevarer egenskaber, som de besøgende kender fra hverdagen, men værkerne er åbne for fortolkning og har også karakter af noget andet. På Form signage er skiltningen ikke så åbenlys; her er skiltningen eller tegnet materialerne, som tegn bag tegnene. Det er især brugen af hverdagsmaterialer, der signalerer et særligt forhold til værkernes tilstedeværelse i rummet. Denne relation mellem materialer og rum sætter tanker i gang om mod og medspil til huset, dets historie eller indretning og til en dagligdag udenfor. Med markering i rummet påvirkes det aktuelle rum, og det bruges som det det er. At bruge det aktuelle rum er fx at gøre det til et held at det er en smuk villa med smukke gamle rum, høje paneler og parketgulve. Kuratorgruppen Nicola Stäglich, Franziska Hünig, Rebecca Michaelis og Torgny Wilcke har tidligere gennemført 3 udstillinger under navnet Crossing Abstraction i Bethanien, Berlin 2009 og Erfurt Kunsthaus og Forum für Konkrete Kunst, Erfurt, Tyskland i FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM 2013

7 GNAGE Form versus markings or signs within the space by Torgny Wilcke 2013 translated by D AN A. M ARMORSTEIN Form Signage could perhaps also be voiced as form versus markings or signs within the space the title points to central conditions related to the various participants ways of making and exhibiting art. The artists taking part in the show are working with an expanded kind of painting, where classical art materials such as oil paints, canvas and plaster are used on equal terms with construction materials like lumber, wood paneling, metal, Formica, Plexiglas and textiles. And what is implied by the use of the word form is, in part, physical form as material as appearance and refers to how the work has actually been made but also touches upon form as the work s generating idea and the plan according to which it has been executed: one could also speak about the work s mold. The works are installed in relation to the existing rooms, the walls, the windows, the articles of furniture and the interior decoration found at the exhibition venue, Sophienholm, and the difference between life and art comes into play in a way that is essentially different from what happens with a painting positioned over the sofa at home or inside the white cubes at the museums. The works retain qualities and attributes that the visitors know from everyday life but, at the same time, the works are open to interpretation and also take on the character of something else. By highlighting the notion of signposting or signage, there is a focus aimed at the fact that these artists are interested in placing and installing their works in such a way that the space is being put to use and is being altered by significant markings and signs. And it s alright if someone, prodded by these particular words, comes to think about the signs and markings in their own domestic spaces, where the stove, the refrigerator, the pots and pans, etc. turn one space into the kitchen while the presence of tiles turns another space into a bathroom and the file cabinet and the office chair turn yet another space into a study and the sofa turns space into a living room while some other kind of article might give rise to a workshop, a conference room... and so on and so forth. And then again, moving outdoors, something similar happens with the use of road signs, banners, bicycle sheds, lean-to s, parking bays, bicycle paths, sidewalks, and so on. At Form signage, the signposting is not always so obvious: here, the signage or the sign constitutes the materials, as signs behind the signs. It is especially the use of everyday materials that signals a special relationship to the works presence in the space. This relationship between materials and space sets thoughts in motion up against and in interplay with the building, its history or its interior design as well as to the everyday life going on outside the building. With the marking in the space, what are being affected are both the current space and the way in which it is being used as it is. Making use of the current space is, for example, a way of making a virtue of the fact that this is an exquisite villa with beautiful old rooms, tall wainscoted panels and parquet floors. The curator group, Nicola Stäglich, Franziska Hünig, Rebecca Michaelis and Torgny Wilcke has previously prepared and mounted three exhibitions, presented under the name Crossing Abstraction : first at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, in 2009, and then at Erfurt Kunsthaus and at Forum für Konkrete Kunst in Erfurt, Germany, in FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM

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9 FORMSIGNAGE At trylle med rummet Af Torben Sangild Forestil dig et maleri. Et helt almindeligt maleri på lærred som hænger på væggen. Et maleri, der som et vindue viser en anden verden og et andet rum, et virtuelt fantasirum. Forestil dig så, at maleriet sprænges, ikke bare at rammen går i stykker, men at maleriets virtuelle rum eksploderer ud i det reale rum, det rum du står i, så elementerne spredes ud, og du selv står midt i det hele, midt i et reelt rum, der samtidig er maleriets rum. Sådan kan man måske bedst forstå det udvidede maleri, selv om der ikke er foregået nogen eksplosioner, selv om kunstnerne har nørklet stille og roligt med at komponere rummet. Den følgende tekst er skrevet før udstillingen og dens værker blev til, og handler derfor om nogle mere generelle træk ved den type kunst, som kendetegner de deltagende kunstnere. Der er indsat tre uddrag af et interview med kunstnerne Torgny Wilcke og Troels Aagaard, der sammen har redigeret dette katalog. En lille historisk fortælling om maleriet Der var en gang en forestilling om maleriet. Forestillingen var en række ideer i hovedet på folk. Forestillingen gik ud på, at et maleri var et lærred, der var spændt ud på en firkantet blændramme og bemalet af en kunstmaler med olie- eller akryl-maling med henblik på at hænge på en væg. At der altid havde eksisteret maleri, der ikke levede op til disse krav, gjorde ikke noget, for forestillingen var stærk, den var nemlig enkel og i bogstavelig forstand firkantet. Med den forestilling i hovedet, kunne man forholde sig til noget så vanskeligt som kunst. Og fordi langt det meste kunst også levede op til forestillingen, ja, skabte den, var forestillingen ikke det store problem. Det gik først rigtig galt, da nogle mennesker begyndte at skabe en myte ud af forestillingen. En myte om, at forestillingen ikke bare var en forestilling, men selve maleriets essens. Og en amerikansk mand, der hed Clement, gik så vidt som til at mene, at det fineste maleri var det, der var tættest på den rene essens. Og det var helt abstrakt og rent og meget, meget maleriagtigt. Og folk lyttede til ham, og mange troede på det, og han var også rigtig god til at skrive om det, men samtidig var der nogle, der var trætte af ikke at være lige så fine, og så gjorde de oprør. De lavede alt muligt andet. Mange synes slet ikke man skulle lave maleri mere, men nogle gjorde det alligevel, bare på en anden måde. Noget af det lignede reklamer og collager og havde virkelige ting klistret på. Noget gik ud over rammen og ud i det konkrete rum i stedet for fantasirummet, brugte alle mulige materialer og blandede sig med skulptur og med installation og med design og så kaldte man det for udvidet maleri, og så lød det alligevel lidt fint, og årene gik og der var færre og færre dogmer, men alligevel syntes man, at man skulle fortælle historien om det traditionelle maleri og reaktionen mod det, og nu gør jeg det også, og det er bare fordi forestillingen stadig er ret stærk oppe i mange hoveder. Men egentlig er det slet ikke den historie, der er den mest interessante, for den er fortalt så mange gange, bare i et andet sprog. Det mest interessante er ikke, hvad det udvidede maleri ikke er, men hvad det så er. Ikke at se det som noget negativt (et oprør), men noget positivt (en udtryksform). Rummet, kroppen, atmosfæren I stedet for det imaginære rum, som et FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM

10 traditionelt maleri skaber, er det nogle helt konkrete rum, disse værker udfolder sig i. Det er maleri i tre dimensioner, der ikke er begrænset til lærred og maling, men som sætter genstande med former og farver i rummet og skaber en samlet komposition i tre dimensioner, som man kan gå rundt i. Der er en forskel mellem at vandre med øjet i et imaginært rum og at vandre rundt med sin krop i et konkret rum. Denne forskel bliver tit formuleret som værende mellem noget rent visuelt på den ene side og noget kropsligt på den anden. Det er ikke helt rigtigt. Al kunst virker kropsligt, også et billede. Vi sanser det primært med øjet, men ikke kun. Hele vores sanseapparat er i brug, ikke kun de fem sanser, man plejer at operere med. Vi har 17 sanser, hvis man tæller det hele med inklusive den balancesans, som hel konkret er afgørende, når vi fornemmer om et billede er i balance. Og også vores tankeapparat og vores føleapparat er med, og de er tæt forbundne, tættere end vi normalt tror. Hele vores sensibilitet er i princippet på arbejde, når vi ser, eller rettere oplever, et billede. Det som gør sig gældende, når billedet bliver til et rum, vi kan gå ind i, er, at visse dele af vores kropslige sanselighed aktiveres mere direkte og i højere grad. Vi bevæger os ikke virtuelt, men reelt rundt i rummet. Vi anskuer tingene fra forskellige vinkler, går rundt om dem, navigerer i forhold til dem, fornemmer deres stoflighed, selv om vi som regel ikke må røre ved dem. Og ikke mindst orienterer vi alle elementerne på en meget direkte måde til vores krops placering og skala. Der er en stor forskel på, hvordan vi oplever ting, som er cirka på størrelse med os, ting der er meget større end os, og ting der er meget mindre end os. Det er nogle helt basale skalaer. Vi føler os i en vis forstand lidt overlegne i forhold til meget små ting og en lille smule truet af de store. Vi relaterer mere jævnbyrdigt til genstande på vores egen størrelse. Hertil kommer tingenes placering i forhold til vores krop: Er de under os, kryber de langs gulvet eller hænger de over vores hoveder eller står de over for os? Det gør alt sammen en forskel for vores oplevelse. Et andet aspekt af mødet mellem rum og krop og sensibilitet er, at alle rum har en atmosfære. Atmosfæren er en slags objektiv stemning, altså den stemning, der møder én, når man træder ind i rummet, og som er forskellige fra rum til rum. Mange regner slet og ret stemninger for subjektive, fordi det ofte kan være svært at skelne mellem den indre stemning og den ydre, idet de da også påvirker hinanden. Men der er altså en masse stemningsskabende elementer derude i rummet. Tænk bare på Hammershøi. Denne skelnen mellem den subjektive stemning og den ydre atmosfære er nødvendig for at forstå, hvad vores omgivelser gør ved os, hvad de påvirker os med. Alt i et rum er med til at danne dets atmosfære noget dog mere end andet: Proportionerne, farverne, lyset, akustikken og lydene, genstandene og menneskene i rummet og så videre. En atmosfære er en kompleks og i sagens natur luftig størrelse, men den er der altså. Sophienholms rum har på forhånd en særlig atmosfære af gamle herskabslokaler med stuk, rosetter og høje, udskårne træpaneler. Mødet med dette gammeldags, stueagtige rum og den nutidige kunst skaber en række forskellige kontraster og atmosfærer, der skifter fra rum til rum. Sophienholms stille stuer Torben Sangild Kunstnerne på denne udstilling arbejder meget med det konkrete rum, de udstiller i. Hvad kendetegner udstillings-rummene på Sophienholm? Torgny Wilcke Det er nogle meget smukke rum, som også hurtigt kan blive kedelige, hvis man ikke gør noget ved dem. Det er jo en villa med stuk, og bortset fra størrelsen giver det en fornemmelse af hjemlighed. Der er en helt anden intimitet end man fx finder på Statens Museum for Kunsts nye tilbygning, der er nærmest det modsatte. Vi ville lave en anden udstilling, hvis vi stod i en fabriksbygning. Jeg kan godt lide fx at bruge panelerne når de er der. Det handler om at gøre rummets form og størrelse til en styrke, ikke et problem. Troels Aagaard Rummene er nærmest Hammershøiske. Det er jo et lidt bedaget sted, nærmest en tidslomme. Det ligger så skønt og er så smukt; man kan komme sejlende dertil, og det er rigtig hyggeligt, men der er også en fare for, at det bliver et søndagsudflugtssted. Det handler så om at se det som en mulighed - at komme med nogle værker, der ikke ligner dem, der plejer at hænge der. At give folk en anden oplevelse, end de er vant til. For eksempel er en kunstner som Kerstin Gottschalk meget opmærksom på rummet og tager samtidig nogle ret voldsomme greb, som kan spille op imod Sophienholms gamle stuer. Torgny Wilcke Der er et rum, der hedder mezzaninen, som normalt ikke er så populært at udstille i, fordi det er lidt lavloftet og besværligt. Jeg spurgte så forsigtigt Ruth Campau, om hun ville udstille der, for hun er jo god til at arbejde med konkrete rum. Det er det smukkeste rum på Sophienholm!, udbrød hun, så hun og mezzaninen passer bare sammen. Palet Som sagt befinder mange af disse værker sig i en gråzone mellem maleri, skulptur og installation. Når de alligevel insisterer på at se deres værker som maleri, skyldes det nogle helt grundlæggende forhold ved maleriet, som ikke handler om rektangulære lærreder med oliemaling, men snarere om en særlig malerisk sensibilitet og arbejdsproces. Det er lidt abstrakt, men lad mig pege på to ting: Arbejdet med farven og med forskellige lag. Alle kunstnerne har så at sige en palet, en række foretrukne farver, der går igen, og som bliver en del af den enkelte kunstners stil. Nogle har flere paletter, de kan veksle imellem, men der er grundlæggende en stor bevidsthed om farvekomposition hos disse kunstnere. Og det vil være tydeligt, når man bevæger sig fra rum til rum, at man møder en ny palet, en ny farveverden. Hvad enten farven er malet på eller er komponeret af allerede farvede materialer, er det en malerisk farveholdning, der gør sig gældende. Flere af kunstnerne arbejder med en lag-på-lag-æstetik, som man også kender fra maleriet. Det kan være lag af maling, som hos Marie Søndergard Lolk, men det kan også være lag af andre materialer, som hos Simon Callery, hvor trærammer og stoffer lægges på og fjernes igen i kompositionsprocessen. Form og skønhed Torben Sangild: Det første af ordene i udstillingstitlen er også det mest velkendte, nemlig form. Hvordan ar- 12 FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM 2013

11 bejder disse kunstnere med formen? Det er jo indlysende, at de arbejder meget æstetisk, men hvorfor form? Torgny Wilcke: Jeg ser form som noget meget bredt: Både den fysiske form og ideens form, ideen med værket. Farven er også en del af formen, og endda helt ned i farvens tekstur. Troels Aagaard: Materialets betydning og udseende er altafgørende. Man vælger en mat fordi den er mat og fordi det skal se sådan ud, ikke fordi den tilfældigvis står på hylden. Torgny Wilcke: Jeg står aldrig over for et hvidt lærred og lader mig inspirere. Og det gælder vist alle på denne udstilling. Vi har alle et projekt, vi vil afprøve; et sted, vi vil hen. Torben Sangild: Skønhed er på den ene side et historisk belastet begreb, og på den anden side ikke til at komme uden om, når man arbejder så æstetisk som I gør her. Hvilken rolle spiller skønhed for jer? Torgny Wilcke: Skønhed er jo noget kulturelt forskelligt. Nogle af de tyske kunstnere har fx en farveholdnig, som er en del anderledes end min mere jordfarvede tilgang. De bruger nogle farver, som jeg synes er fascinerende, tæt på brutal, det ville være en kæmpe udfordring for mig at prøve at bruge de farver og det hænger vel sammen med en baggrund i nordisk maleri og lys, mørkemaleri, Munch, COBRA og den slags. Torben Sangild: Synes du dine egne farver er smukke? Torgny Wilcke: Ja, det synes jeg faktisk. Jeg synes de er enormt smukke. Også ret rå. Samme farve kan være både grim og smuk, det er måden farven er brugt, farven er også materiale. Det kan være enormt fedt og givende at lave et maleri med en svær, håbløs farve. Ellen Hyllemose har talt om Farvens materialitet, der er fx forskel på den samme farve malet tyndt, perfekt glat, tykt og fedt pålagt masse og så det der er malet på lærred, MDF, papir, høvlet eller ikke høvlet træ. Torben Sangild: Men I mener simpelthen, at der er en særlig nordisk tone? Troels Aagaard: På godt og ondt er Cobras farveholdning en del af vores kultur, som vi ikke kan ryste af os. Det danske maleri er dybt forankret i Cobra - det norske og svenske minder mere om det tyske med nogle hårdere farver. Ligesom de store møbeldesignere med Danish Design har sat kæmpestore forhindringer op for nutidens designere, har der inden for maleriet tilsvarende været en idé om, at hvis ikke det lignede Cobra, var det ikke troværdigt som maleri. Jeg kommer selv fra den type maleri, og troede at det var sådan kunst skulle se ud, men har gjort op med det og fundet et andet sprog. Hverdagen og fortryllelsen Mange af kunstnerne på udstillingen bruger hverdagsmaterialer som det der males med eller på, frem for maling, lærred og ramme. Forskellige tekstiler, træplanker, spejle, pinde, møbler, køkkenudstyr osv. Dermed trækker de på readymade-traditionen, altså dette at benytte allerede formede genstande, som ellers tjener et andet formål. Dette greb indebærer en dobbelt bevægelse, hvor hverdagsgenstandene fortrylles, samtidig med at kunsten affortrylles. Hvis vi tager fortryllelsen først: Når de genstande, vi omgås til daglig indgår i en æstetisk komposition, mister de noget af brugsfunktionen til fordel for en æstetisk værdi. For eksempel hvis man tænkte sig, at en almindelig paletkniv indgik i en komposition, så vil man anskue den på en anden måde end når man står og skal lave pandekager. Man vil være mere opmærksom på dens form og farve. Og man vil få en anden sensibilitet over for den, som måske endda kommer i spil, næste gang man står ved stegepanden igen og har en praktisk omgang med den. Men at dens brugsfunktion forsvinder, betyder jo ikke, at vi glemmer den. Som hverdagsgenstand peger den tilbage på sin brugsfunktion, og den glider derfor ikke gnidningsløst ind i en æstetisk sammenhæng. Det er her affortryllelsen af kunsten sætter ind; dette at kunsten bliver hevet ned på jorden, kommer tættere på hverdagen, mister den aura af ophøjet parallelverden, som den nogle gange er blevet gjort til. Spændingen mellem hverdagen og det maleriske er ikke ny, men stadig virksom. Og den får måske endda tilført et ekstra lag her på Sophienholm, når de gamle stuer får besøg af disse værker. Signage Torben Sangild: I bruger i titlen begrebet signage, der betyder skiltning og tegngivning, og som handler om skilte og våbenskjold og piktogrammer. Normalt bliver det jo brugt til at signalere noget ret entydigt - alt fra Jeg er kongen til Her er dametoilettet, men I er mere optagede af selve markeringen end af tegnet? Torgny Wilcke: Ja, det er markeringen, der er udgangspunktet. Vi har værket som en form, og når vi så placerer det i rummet, gør vi noget ved rummet, sætter en markering, og det er det, vi gerne vil understrege. Torben Sangild: Normalt ville man skelne mellem det sanselige på den ene side og det tegnmæsige på den anden side, men i dobbeltheden form/signage kommer det rumlige over på tegnsiden (signage) - det rumlige, som man normalt ville sætte som en del af det sanselige? Torgny Wilcke: Måske kan man godt sige, at man sætter et tegn i rummet, når man installerer noget. Et standpunkt. Troels Aagard: Installeringen bliver i hvert fald en del af værket, og kan ikke tænkes uden. FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM

12 FORMSIGNAGE Conjuring up the space by Torben Sangild translated by DAN A. MARMORSTEIN Try to imagine a painting, a completely ordinary painting, on canvas, hanging on the wall a painting which, like a window, shows another world and another space, a virtual fantasy space. Then try to imagine that the painting is bursting open, not only that the frame is being destroyed but that the painting s virtual space is exploding out into the factual space, the room you are standing in, with the result that the elements are spreading out and that you are actually standing in the midst of it all, smack dab in the middle of a real space, which is simultaneously the painting s space. This is perhaps how expanded painting can best be understood, even if there haven t been any explosions, even if the artists have been quietly and calmly puttering about in connection with composing the space. The following text was written before the show and its works came into being and will therefore treat of certain more general features pertinent to the type of art that characterizes the work of the participating artists. Also inserted here are three excerpts from an interview with the artists Torgny Wilcke and Troels Aagaard, who have been working together on editing this catalog. A short history about painting Once upon a time, there was an idea about painting. The idea was comprised of notions in people s minds. The idea was that a painting was a canvas that has been stretched out on a square stretcher and painted by an artist-painter, with oil- or acrylic-paint, for purposes of eventually being hung up on a wall. The fact that paintings have always existed that did not live up to these requirements didn t seem to matter, for the idea was potent and simple. With this idea in mind, one could relate to something as difficult as art. And because most art also lived up to the idea, and had thereby given rise to it, the idea did not pose any great problems. And things didn t go really awry until some people started to create a myth out of the idea: a myth that the idea was not merely an idea but the essence of painting. And an American, whose name was Clement, went so far as to say that the finest painting was that which was closest to the pure essence. And it was totally abstract and pure and very, very painterly. And people listened to him and many believed in what he was saying and he was also really good at writing about this. But at the same time, some artists were getting tired of not being considered equally fine, and so they started to rebel. They made all kinds of different things. Many of these artists didn t even think that paintings should be made at all, anymore. But some did so anyway, only in a different way. Some of it looked like advertising signs or collages or had real things applied onto the surface. Some paintings protruded beyond their frames and out into the concrete space, instead of the fantasy space. Some involved the use of all conceivable materials and formed combinations with sculpture and with installation and with design and then people started to call it expanded painting, and so it still sounded a little bit fine, anyhow. And the years passed and there were fewer and fewer dogmas but people were still thinking, nonethe- 14 FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM 2013

13 less, that the history of traditional painting and the reaction against it ought to be told. And now I m doing so, too, and that s just because the idea is still rather potent up there in many people s heads. But actually, this story is not the most interesting part. It has been told so many times, only in a different language. What is most interesting is not what the expanded painting is not but rather what it is, then and not regarding it as something negative (a rebellion) but as something positive (a form of expression). The space, the body, the atmosphere Instead of the imaginary space that a traditional painting engenders, these works unfurl themselves in concrete spaces. This is painting in three dimensions, which is not restricted to canvas and paint but which rather places objects, with forms and colors, in the space and gives rise to an overall composition in three dimensions, within which you can walk around. There is an essential difference between wandering around with the gaze inside an imaginary space and wandering around with one s body inside a concrete space. This difference is often formulated as being something purely visual, on the one side, and something bodily, on the other. But this is not entirely correct. All art gives rise to a bodily effect, even a picture. We sense it primarily with the eye but not only. Our whole sensory apparatus is put to use and not only the five senses with which we are accustomed to operating. We have 17 senses, if you add them all up including our sense of balance, which is crucial when we are busy detecting whether or not an image is in balance. And also our thinking apparatus and our emotional apparatus play their parts and they are closely linked together, more closely than we ordinarily believe them to be. All of our sensibility is, in principle, at work when we see or rather when we experience a picture. What happens when the picture becomes a space into which we can enter is that certain parts of our bodily sensuousness are activated more directly and to a heightened degree. We are moving around, not virtually but really, inside the space. We perceive the things from different angles, moving around them, navigating our way in relation to them, sensing their tangible texturality, even though we, as a rule, are not allowed to touch them. And significantly, we orient ourselves in relation to all the elements in a very direct manner according to our own body s placement and scale. There is a significant difference between how we experience things that are about the same size as ourselves, things that are much larger than we are and things that are much smaller than we are. It s a matter of certain basic scales of measurement. We feel, in a certain sense, somewhat superior in relation to very small things and a little threatened by the large ones. We relate on equal terms to objects of our own size. In addition, there is the aspect of where the things are positioned in relation to our own bodies: Are they below us? Are they creeping along the floor or hanging above our heads? Or are they situated right in front of us? All of this, taken together, makes a difference when it comes to what we experience. Another aspect of the meeting between room and body and sensibility is that every room possesses its own atmosphere. The atmosphere is a kind of objective mood, that is to say the mood that engulfs you as soon as you step inside the given room and which differs from room to room. Many people consider moods as merely being subjective, because it can often be hard to distinguish between the inner mood and the outer atmosphere, especially because they also actually do influence FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM

14 each other. But there are really a lot of mood-evoking elements out there inside the room. Just think of the paintings by Vilhelm Hammershøi. This distinction between the subjective mood and the outer atmosphere is necessary in order to understand what our environment does to us, i.e. in order to understand how our surroundings influence us. Everything inside a given room plays a part in establishing its atmosphere some elements, however, more than others: the proportions, the colors, the light, the acoustics and the sounds, the objects and the people in the room and so on. It goes without saying that an atmosphere is a complex and airy dimension, but it s there, indeed. Already beforehand, Sophienholm s rooms are in possession of a special atmosphere of old noble halls, what with their stucco, their rosettes, and their high carved-out wainscoted wood panels. The convergence between these oldfashioned, drawing room-like rooms and the contemporary art works gives rise to a series of different contrasts and atmospheres that change from room to room. Sophienholm quiet rooms Torben Sangild The artists taking part in this exhibition are working, to a great extent, with the concrete space, within which they are exhibiting. What characterizes the exhibition rooms at Sophienholm? Torgny Wilcke What we have here are a few very exquisite rooms, which can also become uninspiring and boring, quite quickly, if you fail to do something about them. It is a villa with stucco and if we can ignore its sheer magnitude for a moment, the house does give one a feeling of cozy domesticity. There s a whole different kind of intimacy than what you might find, for instance, at Statens Museum for Kunst s [The National Gallery of Denmark s] new annex there, it s almost the opposite. You see, in a factory building, we would be making a whole different kind of exhibition. I enjoy, for example, making use of the panels, since they are there. It s all about turning the room s form and size into a strong point, rather than viewing these as problems. Troels Aagaard The rooms are almost Hammershøi-esque. It is, you might say, a somewhat aged and outdated place, almost a time warp. It is situated so nobly and is so beautiful: you can arrive there by boat and that s really very nice but there s also a danger that it can become a Sundayexcursion kind of place. It has to do, then, with regarding this as an opportunity it s about coming up with certain works that do not look like those that are customarily hanging there. It s about giving people a different experience than what they are accustomed to. An artist like Kerstin Gottschalk, for example, is paying very close attention to the space and, at the same time, taking some rather forceful grips that can play up against Sophienholm s old drawing rooms. Torgny Wilcke There is one room that is called the mezzanine, inside of which it hasn t generally been all that popular to exhibit, seeing as it s somewhat low-ceilinged and unwieldy. So I asked Ruth Campau, cautiously, if she felt like exhibiting her work there, because she s so adept at working with concrete space. That s the most beautiful room at Sophienholm! she exclaimed, so she and the mezzanine simply fit together. Palette As has already been said, many of these works are situated in a gray zone between painting, sculpture and installation. Seeing as the artists are making an insistence, anyway, on having their works regarded as paintings, this is due to certain entirely fundamental features about painting, which do not have anything to do with rectangular canvases with oil paint but revolve instead around a saliently painterly sensibility and working process. This might sound a bit abstract, but let me point out two things: the work with color and with different layers. All artists have, so to speak, a palette, a number of preferred colors that reappear again and again and which come to be an integral part of the individual artist s style. Some artists have several palettes, among which they can switch back and forth but there s basically a high degree of awareness focused on color composition that prevails in the minds of these artists. And it will become clear to you, as you move from one room to the next, that you are meeting a new palette, a new color world. Whether the color has been painted on or happens to be composed of already-colored materials, it is a painterly color scheme that comes to the fore. Several of the artists are working with a layer-on-layer aesthetics that we also know from painting. This can involve layers of paint, as in the work of Marie Søndergard Lolk, but it can also involve layers of other materials, as in the work of Simon Callery, where wooden frames and fabrics have been affixed and then removed again during the composition process. Form and beauty Torben Sangild: The first of the words in the exhibition s title is the most well known, namely, form. How are these artists working with the form? It s obvious, for sure, that they are working very aesthetically. But why form? Torgny Wilcke: I see form as something that is very wide-ranging: it encompasses both the physical form and the idea s form, the idea of the artwork. Color is also a part of the form, all the way down to the color s texture, even. Troels Aagaard: The meaning and appearance of the material are allimportant. You choose a matte color because it is lusterless and because it has to look that way and not because it happened, by chance, to be standing on the shelf. Torgny Wilcke: I never stand in front of a blank canvas and find myself becoming inspired. And I guess that everybody taking part in this exhibition would claim the same. We all have a project that we want to try and test out: a place where we want to go. Torben Sangild: Beauty is, on the one hand, a historically loaded term 16 FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM 2013

15 and, on the other, an aspect that is hard to avoid when one is working as aesthetically as you are doing here. What role does beauty play for you? Torgny Wilcke: Beauty is, indeed, something that differs from one culture to another it s a cultural variant. Some of the German artists, for example, have an attitude about color that differs considerably from my more earth-toned approach. They use certain colors that I think are fascinating, and close to being brutal. It would be a huge challenge for me to use such colors and this is closely connected with my own background in Nordic painting and light, dark painting, Munch, COBRA and those kinds of things. Torben Sangild: Do you feel that your own colors are beautiful? Torgny Wilcke: Yes, I really do think so. I think they re tremendously beautiful. Also rather raw. The very same color can be both ugly and beautiful: it has to do with the way that the color is used - the color is also a material. It can be a lot of fun and it can be tremendously rewarding to make a painting with a ponderous and intractable hue. Ellen Hyllemose has spoken about the color s materiality : there are, for example, differences that can be seen in one and the same color when it is painted thinly, when it is applied perfectly smoothly and when it is applied in thick and heavy masses. Similarly, the same color will differ when it is painted, respectively, on canvas, on mediumdensity fiberboard, on paper, and on evenly planed or un-planed wooden boards. Torben Sangild: But do you actually mean to say that there is a special Nordic tone? Troels Aagaard: For better or worse, Cobra s color scheme has now become part of our culture that we cannot shrug off. Danish painting is deeply rooted in Cobra - the Norwegian and Swedish are more reminiscent of the German approach, with certain harsher colors. Just as the influential furniture designers, with Danish Design, have placed gigantic impediments in the way of today s designers, there has similarly been a reigning notion that if it didn t look like Cobra, then it wasn t credible as painting. For my own part, I am coming from this kind of painting and at one time, I believed that this was just how art should look, but now I have squared my accounts with this attitude and have managed to come up with another language. Everyday life and enchantment Many of the artists in the exhibition are using everyday materials that are being painted with, or painted on, rather than paints, canvases and frames: different kinds of fabrics, wooden planks, mirrors, sticks, articles of furniture, kitchen equipment, etc. In this way, they draw on the readymade tradition, that is to say the strategy of using already-formed objects that would otherwise serve some other kind of purpose. This grip involves a dual movement, where everyday objects become enchanted while, simultaneously, the art becomes disenchanted. If we may expound first on enchantment: when the objects that we deal with in our everyday lives are included as part of an aesthetic composition, they come to lose some of their utility function for the sake of an aesthetic value. For example, if you can imagine that an ordinary spatula is taken in to form part of a composition, you will come to regard it in a different way than when you are busy making pancakes. You will pay more attention to its form and its color. And you will obtain a different sensibility about it, which may even come back into play the next time you are standing there with the frying pan and happen to be engaged in practical intercourse with the spatula. However, the fact that its utility function disappears does not necessarily imply that we forget it. As an everyday object, it points back to its utility function. For this reason, we cannot say that it is integrated seamlessly into an aesthetic context. And this is where the disenchantment of art sets in: this is where art becomes grounded, gets closer to everyday life, loses its aura of elevated parallel world, a pedestal upon which it has sometimes been placed. The tension between everyday life and the painterly is not new, but it is still potently effective. And it will come to take on what is perhaps an extra layer here at Sophienholm when these works visit the old drawing rooms. Signage Torben Sangild: In the title, you re making use of the notion of signage, which has something to do, of course, with signs and with coats-of-arms and pictograms. Normally, this word would be used to signal something rather unambiguous - anything from I am the king to Here s the ladies room - but aren t you and your collaborators more concerned with the marking than with the sign? Torgny Wilcke: That s right, it s the marking that is our point of departure. We have the artwork as a form and when we then place it in the space, we are doing something with the space setting down a marking. And this is what we are hoping to emphasize. Torben Sangild: Ordinarily, one would distinguish between the sensuous on the one side and the sign-related on the other but in the duality of form/signage, the spatial moves over onto the sign-aspect (signage) - the spatial, which one would ordinarily posit as being part of the sensuous? Torgny Wilcke: Perhaps you could say that you place a sign in the space whenever you install something. A manifestation. Troels Aagard: The installation becomes, in any event, a part of the work, and cannot be conceived without it. FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM

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17 FORM SIGNAGE ARNE SCHREIBER ELLEN HYLLEMOSE FRANZISKA HÜNIG ILONA KÁLNOKY KERSTIN GOTTSCHALK MALENE LANDGREEN MARIE SØNDERGAARD LOLK NICOLA STÄGLICH REBECCA MICHAELIS RUTH CAMPAU SIMON CALLERY TORGNY WILCKE TROELS AAGAARD

18 #356Z, 2013 graphite om paper, 29,7 X 21 cm Exhibition View : Nowhere_Herenow, 2013, Galerie Koal, Berlin ARNE SCHREIBER In the visual investigation of spatially and temporally recurring motions, Arne Schreiber connects specifc courses of action with the individual conditions of his objects and paintings as well as the exhibition space. The process of repetition, of re-executing a physical movement, reveals itself as accumulation, as fragment and detail, as persisting latitude in translation and interpretation of a pre-existing concept. Thus specific references to classical painting meet head-on with questions concerning the authorship of an artwork. 20 FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM 2013

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20 ELLEN HYLLEMOSE Et trapperum er et sted,hvor man er i bevægelse. Står du stille for at kigge på værkerne er det højst sandsynlig fra en anden vinkel end man plejer. Trappen giver muligheden, samtidig med at den tvinger, til at se et værk fra flere og nye synsvinkler. Som at bevæge sig i et landskab med overraskelser, en romantisk have. Værkerne på udstillingen er lavet specielt til rummet og bruger husets identitet til at give form og underliggende motiv i værkerne: Som et spejl og dog et landskab. En slags polstrede panel motiver, der fortsætter husets øvrige paneler og taler med vinduesparti og husets inventar. Mit Landskab som mødes med dette sted og som sætter en anden drøm i gang. Landskabet har sine opdelinger og systemer alt efter kontekst. Skulpturelle billeder, der er fysiske genstande og forestillinger på samme tid. 22 FORM SIGNAGE / SOPHIENHOLM 2013