Thomas Kilpper
25 May–5 August 2012
Christina Mackie
25 May–5 August 2012
Nyhavn 2
1051 Copenhagen
Denmark
The summer programme at Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen) includes major exhibitions by the artists Thomas Kilpper and Christina Mackie, as well as a special midsummer event as part of our Research Programme—currently organised by Dexter Bang Sinister. In addition we are pleased to announce the opening of Motto Charlottenborg, a new bookshop at Charlottenborg organised by Motto Books.
Thomas Kilpper
Charlottenborg presents a major installation by the German artist Thomas Kilpper, entitled Pavilion for Revolutionary Free Speech. The work was originally created for the Danish Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale, where it took the form of a raised wooden platform appended to the pavilion. Into the wooden floor of this structure the artist has carved 33 portraits—including images of leading figures from Denmark and around the world, in politics, business, the church, and media. All of them are people who Kilpper believes have been directly or indirectly responsible for promoting censorship, social exclusion or intolerance.
The floor panels of Kilpper’s pavilion were designed to also function as woodcut printing blocks, and the artist has subsequently been using them to make a variety of prints: in both fabric and paper; including single portraits as well as larger banners. At Charlottenborg the exhibition features the entire floor, an installation of prints, and an 18-metre-wide banner on the building’s facade. Following its presentation in Venice the work was much debated in the Danish press, and Charlottenborg is now offering the Copenhagen audience the opportunity to see Kilpper’s work for themselves.
Christina Mackie
This is the first exhibition in Scandinavia by the Canadian artist Christina Mackie, and consists of an extraordinary installation that features such diverse elements as watercolors, photographs, and ceramics, as well as found materials that range from mineral deposits to plastic beer crates. The exhibition follows Mackie’s ongoing fascination with both human technologies and natural materials, and her exploration of the connections that run between people, societies, and the natural world.
Mackie’s exhibition is conceived as a single installation in two main parts. One part reflects the artist’s studio environment, and features makeshift tables and shelves on which are arranged a host of found and crafted objects—a sequence which follows a principle of repetition and morphosis that is relevant to Mackie’s work as a whole. The second part of the exhibition contains a scaffold of steel bars, a structure which is used to support a series of large-scale photographic prints depicting solitary figures in high-rise apartment buildings.
Artists’ tours
Sunday 27 May, 14
A special tour of the exhibitions with the artists.
Artist’s talk
Wednesday 6 June, 17
Thomas Kilpper in conversation with journalist Martin Krasnik about tolerance and freedom of speech, viewed in relation to the former’s exhibition.
Midsummer Party
Friday 22 June, 19–24
A solstice celebration in Charlottenborg’s courtyard, including a sonic composition on the theme of darkness and light. The event is inspired by Dexter Bang Sinister, the group of Danish, American, and British collaborators who are producing Charlottenborg’s latest Research Programme, and the evening reflects the notion of ‘black and white psychedelia’ that is at the core of their research project.
The exhibitions are supported by the Danish Arts Council. The Christina Mackie exhibition has been co-produced with Chisenhale Gallery, London, and is supported by the Henry Moore Foundation.
