Henrik Olesen
Abandon the Parents
23 May–28 September 2014
National Gallery of Denmark
Statens Museum for Kunst
Sølvgade 48-50
DK-1307 København K
T +45 3374 8494
smk [at] smk.dk
Abandon the Parents
Works, Lists, Names, Image, Text, Sound,
from Private Collections, from Public Collections,
Originals, Copies, Forgeries
Curated by
Henrik Olesen
Daniel Buchholz
Christopher Müller
The exhibition departs from the premise of an act of self-empowerment that may (or may not) happen in the life of an adolescent leaving e.g. his or her parents and looking for a new set of values. Under the headline Abandon the Parents, the show tries to frame a space that contextualizes artistic production and self-organization. Addressing the decisive moments in the construction of an identity, this exhibition brings together a lot of very diverse artists, voices and materials, not only visual artworks like sculptures and paintings and drawings, but also literature, letters and historical documents as well as more performative contributions like sound, music and films. These artistic proposals follow various narrative threads around the process of departure: from family, institutions, and prison to cabin fever, landscape, adventure, trompe l’oeil, sexuality, and portraiture.
The exhibition takes place from 23 May to 28 September and is part of the X-rummet series at the National Gallery of Denmark, presenting a fictional collection together alongside selected works from the museum’s holdings.
