Peter Linde Busk: Solaris / Numen/For Use: Tape Wanås

A sculpture to enter and a spatial design to be surrounded by—this year’s art projects invite the viewer in and embrace material experimentation as part of the work toward new greener solutions. Rather than raise our awareness about issues of the environment and sustainability as motifs, Danish artist Peter Linde Busk and design group Numen/For Use search for sustainable alternatives in the making of their work. 

Peter Linde Busk presents his first outdoor sculpture, made in paper pulp in the shape of a pumpkin. Material development and recycling are central elements of Linde Busk’s practice that combined with the desire to learn new things are driving forces when he approaches new artworks. He has experimented with material to make the new sculpture, rejecting traditional ones such as bronze, fiberglass, or epoxy materials as they present environmental problems. With its outside and inside, the sculpture is both a visual experience and a place to enter with space for reflection. Linde Busk is interested in the carved pumpkin—its form and the rituals linked to Halloween—but broadens the associations with the title Solaris, after Stanisław Lem’s sci-fi book from 1961 and Andrei Tarkovsky’s film from 1972. The densely ornamented surface of the sculpture is recognizable in his other artworks that can be explored in an indoor exhibition with sculpture, paintings, mosaics and prints from 2015 and onwards. 

The site-specific installation Tape Wanås, by industrial design collective Numen/For Use, fills a 165-foot barn from the 1700s. The installation examines the old, cathedral-like building as it continues through the space and outward through an open hatch, and affixed to tree branches outside, creates a portal that can be walked beneath. Visitors are invited to explore the cavities of the hovering large structure.

Since the 1990s, industrial design collective Numen/For Use, Sven Jonke, Christoph Katzler and Nikola Radeljkovic, has worked actively to erase the barriers between design, architecture, and scenography. They choose to work with tape for the first time when collaborating with a choreographer to document dancers’ movements. Since then, they have developed its use in their work with spacious installations consisting of self-generating, biomorphic, and cocoon-like forms reminiscent of how caterpillars produce silk. Enticed by the material’s possibilities, the question remained about its environmental impact. Early in their work, they initiated a dialogue with a manufacturer that has resulted in a biodegradable tape. The material leads to new questions—it will not be the solution, but it is part of an examination of alternatives, the result of not settling for the status quo. 

Also this summer, on June 18, 25 and July 2, Joanna Kotze performs in the sculpture park as part of her research before returning in 2023 as a guest curator of dance. Kotze, who creates highly physical dance performances through a collaborative, multidisciplinary process, is invited within the new initiative recognizing expertise in the field by choosing a choreographer or dancer to curate the Live Art program, selected by Wanås Konst’s long term collaborative partner Rachel Tess and her residency program MARC. 

The Sculpture Park and the Collection
Wanås Konst is a unique cultural foundation in Southern Sweden where art, nature, and history meet, composed of a sculpture park and galleries on the site of a Renaissance castle and an organic farm. Since 35 years, Wanås Konst is a Center for Art and Education that produces and presents site-specific, contemporary international art and education in the landscape with an emphasis on innovation and accessibility. Wanås is located in southern Sweden 1,5 h from Malmö/Copenhagen. The collection hosts more than 70 permanent works—specially created for the site by artists such as Igshaan Adams, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Rana Begum, William Forsythe, Yoko Ono and Martin Puryear. Wanås Konst is run by the nonprofit Wanås Art Foundation.

Media relations: Sofia Bertilsson, sofia [​at​] wanaskonst.se / T +46 733 866820