press releases 2012
PRESS RELEASE:
”Things Remembered, Lost and Found”
An exhibition by Maj Hasager and Rikke Flensberg.
14 January – 12 February 2012.
Opening reception: 14 January 1-4 pm.
New works by Maj Hasager and Rikke Flensberg are presented at the exhibition Things Remembered, Lost and Found at Kunstpakhuset in Ikast. In the exhibition, the gaze of the photographer and her ability to create new realities through the camera lens, by means of its documentary character or as a possible (re)constructive act, are discussed.
The focal point is the ability of the media to create images of remembrance and to construct realities which are stored as new memories, while abstractions and stories about places and realities are examined though different approaches to the medium.
The abstract is mixed with the conceptual when two artistic practices meet in the exhibition space and new dilemmas and relations arise. Flensberg's minimalistic universe is mixed with Hasager's visual and auditive narratives from a Palestinian context where the past is mediated though a UN soldier deployed to the Gaza strip in 1962 and the present is reflected as snapshots presented as texts and colour surfaces isolated from their original context. Where Flensberg's minimalistic photographic objects point to an intimate room of remembrance and ask for contemplation, Hasager's works leave a trace in history which is neither linear nor objective but points to the collective, the personal, and the at times conflict-laden situations and stories.
Through the installment in the darkened exhibition space, the works are combined. Where Flensberg's video work takes a phenomenological approach, from a perspective which defies the normal perception of reality Hasager's sound and slide installation vibrates statically in the room. Slowly erasing the images and the memories of the other over time while the voice, which fills the room, pulls us into the spaces which emerge between past and present, narration and interpretation.
New narratives arise in the exhibition space as a result of an interest shared by the artists, who are both focussing on how histories are being mediated, and how it affects the realities which are portrayed. The memory is seen as a conscious or unconscious construction that creates meaning and coherence in the present rather than reflecting the past correctly.
Maj Hasager and Rikke Flensberg both hold a Master of Fine Arts from Malmö Art Academy, graduating in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
PRESS releases 2011
October 17th 2011:
Press release in French from Atelier Presse Papier -
L’exposition nomade CENTRE CHOC poursuit son parcours international. Pendant qu’elle est présentée dans le cadre du Festival Internacionale Santa Lucia à la Galeria del Centro de las Artes à Monterrey, Nuevo Leon au Mexique, le 22 octobre prochain l’exposition sera inaugurée au centre d’exposition Kunstpakhuset d’Ikast au Danemark en présence de 3 représentantes de l’Atelier Presse Papier : Aline Beaudoin, Fontaine Leriche et Élisabeth Mathieu.
En plus de l’exposition CENTRE CHOC qui regroupe les triptyques réalisés par 25 artistes de l’Atelier, le public danois pourra découvrir les productions récentes des artistes Aline Beaudoin, Fontaine Leriche et Valérie Guimond invitées toutes trois à exposer 10 œuvres.
La performance «Potato print/Potato event» et des conférences complèteront cette présentation unique qui se transformera en un événement spécial mettant en vedette l’estampe contemporaine à travers les projets de l’Atelier Presse Papier et les réalisations de ses membres. Avec originalité et rigueur, les 3 artistes partageront leur passion pendant plus d’une semaine d’activités et contribueront à la diffusion de l’estampe fait par les artistes d’ici. Ce sera aussi l’occasion d’établir de nouvelles collaborations pour de prochains projets de créations et d’échanges.
Cette présentation est rendu possible grâce à nos 2 collaborateurs danois Kunstpakhuset et ET4U, et nos partenaires: Region Midjylland, Conseil des arts du Danemark, Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec, la Ville de Trois-Rivières, la Corporation de développement culturel de Trois-Rivières, la Délégation générale du Québec à Londres, les ambassades du Canada de Belgrade et de Copenhague, sans oublier la contribution des artistes-mêmes.
Prenez note aussi que par la suite l’artiste Jo Ann Lanneville ira rejoindre en Belgique Aline Beaudoin, Fontaine Leriche, Élisabeth Mathieu et 4 artiste belges, Kikie Crêvecoeur, Chantal Hardy, Michel Barzin et René Welling pour une résidence de création de 10 jours au centre dédié à l’estampe, Frans Masereel à Kasterlee. Le Centre Frans Masereel est réputé dans le monde de l’estampe contemporaine pour la qualité de ses installations et de son environnement. Pour de plus amples renseignements, vous pouvez consulter les sites :
http://www.pressepapier.ca/Diffusion
http://www.fransmasereelcentrum.be/
PRESS RELEASES 2009
PRESS RELEASE - SEPTEMBER 12TH 2009
The exhibition THE WONDERFUL - by Maja Gade Christensen, Berit Dröse, Torunn Haugan,
Anders Reventlov Larsen og Jonas Palm
A CHEERFUL AND TRIUMPHANT HOMAGE TO 'THE WONDERFUL'
"The exhibition THE WONDERFUL is an homage - at its deepest. We celebrate! Everyone in his or her way and with different thoughts behind. The baroque is inevitable. The works of art are raw pearls which triumph cheerfully - over the truth in its own ambiguous messages", the five artists Maja Gade Christensen, Berit Dröse, Torunn Kjørsvik Haugan, Anders Reventlov Larsen, and Jonas Palm say about their current show at Kunstpakhuset.
In this exhibition the young artists provide with their varied, individual, and current answers to the classical, philosophical question, "What is happiness?". In a current and modern pop cultural context and frame of mind the question sound like this, 'What is 'The Wonderful'?', if anything. The art works of the exhibition are seen as an examination and a perspective way of looking at the fleeting concept and phenomenon of 'happiness'. That the concept of 'happiness' is under constant displacement and transformation is hinted by the glittering and cheerfully ironical and ambiguous tittle 'the wonderful'.
- "The tittle of the exhibition THE WONDERFUL is enormously ambitious and filled with self-assurance", the artists say. "It is a self-assurance which very much appeals to becoming blown apart. You are encouraged to criticize unless the exhibition is totally waterproof and all the works of art are wonderful - discussion free wonderful. Of course it is impossible to stage a discussion free exhibition. There will always be something to discuss or pick on. Maybe it is not our intention to produce a 'wonderful' exhibition. Maybe the exhibition is making an ironical distance to the concept of 'wonderful' so you can look at the constellation of art and 'the wonderful' as something comical.
The participant artists are all from Det Jyske Kunstakademi (DJK) class of 2009. Maja Gade Christensen, Berit Dröse, Torunn Kjørsvik Haugan, Anders Reventlov Larsen, and Jonas Palm all have been very productive as well as active at the young and experimental art scene of Århus since their admission to DJK. They have exhibited at different galleries including galleries run by artists themselves, and they have joined with artistic and activist projects in public space.
The exhibition THE WONDERFUL present photography, drawing, painting, video, and installation. Maja Gade Christensen shows drawings with constructive inspiration and references, Berit Dröse presents photography with atmosphere and references to a classical, romantic landscape tradition, Torunn Kjørsvik Haugan provides color photographs of sewn objects with references to pop art, Anders Reventlov Larsen makes fetiches via photos, drawings, and paintings of different objects, and Jonas Palm pays homage in photography, drawing, and video to the wonderfully unpredictable, the banal and destructive. The many art works of the exhibition call the seen and the depicted in question. Is the depicted what it pretends to be?
PRESS RELEASE - FEBRUARY 14TH 2009
The exhibition EXPANSION - by Bjarne W. Troelstrup, Dorte Lausten and Jacob Noel
Illusory and architectonic spaces
The artists Bjarne W. Troelstrup, Dorte Lausten, and Jacob Noel unfold the concept of space at the exhibition 'Expansion' that represents tradition and breakthrough within constructive art.
It is bright colors, clear lines, illusory and architectonic spaces that unfold at the new exhibition of Kunstpakhuset, named 'Expansion', which focuses on the expressions of constructive art and idiom. The artists of the exhibition, Bjarne W. Troelstrup, Dorte Lausten, and Jacob Noel represent tradition as well as new experiments within constructive art. The three artists work in different ways with the dimensions and qualities of artistic space. Their paintings, sculptures, photographs, and architectural installations as well as design installations show a special interest in the concept of construction.
Abstract-constructive painting
Bjarne W. Troelstrup represents tradition within abstract-constructive art. His paintings and graphic arts contain the characteristic precise forms of constructive art, that is bright colors and simple abstract-geometric forms. With these few esthetic means he creates an illusion of space and movement in the pictures. 2009 Bjarne W. Troelstrup is celebrating his 50th anniversary as a painter. His paintings keep returning to the graphic and visual themes, such as foldings and tangram patterns (inspired by the game by the same name). With limited colored bands and surfaces he builds refined spaces and compositions in his paintings.
Functional painting
Dorte Lausten pragmatic and subtle breaks down the illusory spaces in the painting. She makes a kind of 3D painting that you literally can be inside. She thinks that painting must fulfill actual needs - for instance to sit down. Her newest installations, which she has named 'functional painting' break down the traditional relationship between painting and space. Instead of making color and forms remain mounted on the wall she has designed functional paintings that quite easily can be transformed into colorful furniture in the room. This can be shelves, work tables, and benches as colored MDF plates put together by specially constructed "furniture-units" (clear acrylic blocks). Her newest concept, which she has developed further from 'painting as design', was presented in 2008. Dorte Lausten has received economical support from The Danish Arts Council for this development and the production of her functional painting which is shown for the first time at 'Expansion'.
Architectonic forms, sculpture and photography
Jacob Noel very often integrates different artistic genres in his installations, that is sculpture, photography, and drawings. The theme, which is seen throughout his works, is the interest in spatiality and 'spaces in between'. His architectonic sculptures and photography capture in different ways actual forms and details in cities and milieus of today. He sees the spatiality of architecture and the city as something universal - a language that is seen more than it is spoken.
He gets hold of the outer rim of concepts such as scale, spaciousness, and functionality. These concepts are normally tied to an architectural practice. With this optic - a little dislocated - he describes another world than the one associated with architecture. Time and places are expressed in fragments and his work is an esthetic materialization of something fleeting.