ART-PRESENTATION: Projects x 3
Sculpture, both what it is and what it can be, is explored at Wanås Konst, Chiharu Shiota and Katarina Löfström (SE), who have created new artworks both indoors and outdoors in the surrounding landscape, are presented in two solo exhibitions. In a special project in the sculpture park, Poul Gernes’ “Pyramide”, a six meter high wooden sculpture is a special project that emphasizes his thoughts on the social role of art.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Wanas Foundation Archive
We encounter kilometers of red yarn and a black winding, chaotic line in Chiharu Shiota’s work. In the two artworks by Chiharu Shiota commissioned for Wanås Konst, in “Everywhere” and “Relationality” (both 2018), house forms play a central role. She has worked with the house as subject matter in several previous installations. In the Long Barn, she presents “Everywhere”. The work consists of three metal frames depicting houses placed after one another. Each frame is covered with layers of red yarn. In the sculpture park, she shows “Relationality” in which the house form is attached to a human figure. It is her first work exclusively made out of metal wire. She describes her work: The red line is invisible to the naked eye, but is strongly connected to human life, and once we are able to glimpse this piece of red thread, we can observe all relationships as a whole. Katarina Löfström sees her art works as abstract paintings of light and movement. Several works can be perceived as screens erected between us, between her experience and our perception. In the sculpture park “Open Source (Cinemascope)” (2018) is installed. The work is a widescreen film format that was introduced in 1953 for showing 35mm film. The panorama concept has inspired the artwork’s form, title, and dimensions. The metal structure that holds the screen is made of a metal truss, a construction found on stages and outdoor cinema. The sequin-covered screen is impacted by light and wind and makes the forest dissolve into a constantly changing image. The overall effect of this wide-screen moving image is a redoubling of the surrounding greenery, but when we try to mirror ourselves in its parts the image splits into countless rivulets of movement. In the Art Gallery, the video works, “A Void” (2003), “Finale” (2006) and “Fugue” (2016) are presented and behind a partially blocked door the installation “Inklings” (2018). The social art pioneer Poul Gernes is the artist behind the special project “Pyramide” 50 years after Gernes made his sketch, the sculpture is being realized thanks to a donation by Klara Karolines Fond, established by Aase and Poul Gernes. The six-metre-high pyramid of wood was initially a proposal submitted to a sculpture competition in 1967 for a public artwork at Israels Plads in Copenhagen. The submission didn’t win, but in 2016 it was realized for the first time at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk outside of Copenhagen in connection with a solo exhibition of Gernes’ works. The large scale pyramid that has been constructed in the sculpture park is an adaptation of the original sketch. Gernes’s sketch for the artwork show a number of people on the large-scale pyramid, which becomes a lively meeting place. The artist described his pyramid as a place “where people would be able to hang out” and the sculpture emphasizes his beliefs about the social purpose of art. The artist has influenced many young artists today through his work with color experiments and collective and interactive art.
Info: TCurators: Elisabeth Millqvist and Mattias Givellhe, Wanas Foundation-Wanås Konst, SE-289 90, Wanås, SE- Knislinge, Duration: 6/5-4/11/18, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-17:00 (6 May-30 Sept), Tue-Sun 11:00-16:00 (1 Oct-4 Nov), www.wanaskonst.se
