June 9, 2023–January 14, 2024
Four solo exhibitions will open at Kunsthal Aarhus during the second half of 2023. These are the first to be curated by Diana Baldon since she became artistic director at Kunsthal Aarhus. She says that:
“With this programme, we want to challenge our audience to see and explore some of the topics that are being addressed and debated in media around the world today, through art. The four exhibitions approach the themes differently, and they have produced works that are visually distinct. The first two exhibitions focus on the relationship between visual arts and design and cultural heritage, while the second two consider the links between ongoing health and climate crises, and gender rights. I hope that the exhibitions will help people to learn more about these important contemporary issues”.
Nathalie Du Pasquier: paintings of things. paintings as objects
June 10–September 3, 2023
Paintings of things. paintings as objects is the first solo exhibition in Scandinavia of internationally recognised designer and artist Nathalie Du Pasquier (b. 1957, France). It consists of approximately sixty artworks—which include paintings and sculptures from 1989 to the present day—as well as a wall-painting commissioned by Kunsthal Aarhus.
The exhibition unfolds in three galleries in the oldest parts of Kunsthal Aarhus. The artworks are from two specific periods in Du Pasquier’s career—from 1989–2000, and from 2015–2023. To connect the two periods, the exhibition presents a series of ceramic works (Natures Mortes, 2002). These were made in collaboration with the experimental CRAFT laboratory in Limoges, France, a city that is known worldwide for its porcelain industry.
The exhibition is supported by: Danish Arts Foundation, Aarhus Municipality, The Augustinus Foundation, Beckett Foundation, Knud Højgaard Foundation, Institut français du Danemark.
Simon Dybbroe Møller: Hypnic Jerk
June 10–September 3, 2023
Dozing off, we often experience a shocking sensation of falling, causing the body to form a response. This familiar fright is referred to as a “hypnic jerk”, it is an involuntary twitch, a disruptive glitch in the smooth transition to a different kind of consciousness, a blip at the threshold of slumberland. The exhibition Hypnic Jerk occupies this twilight zone. It is Simon Dybbroe Møller’s (b. 1976, Denmark) first solo presentation in Denmark in more than a decade.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is the spectacularly large video projection Bag of Bones, a digital animation of a famous Iron Age bog body. The impressive video work is emblematic of the essential sculptural and image-related logics that permeate Dybbroe Møller’s work. Archaeologists once “rescued” this body out of the bog and now he, in turn, has snapped it from the holdings of the museum. The corpse is quite literally a “bag of bones.” It resembles an animal hide and the surface texture produced by 3D scanning an object.
The exhibition is supported by: Danish Arts Foundation, Aarhus Municipality, Axel Muusfeldt Foundation, The Augustinus Foundation, Beckett Foundation, Knud Højgaard Foundation, Overretssagfører L. Zeuthens Minde.
Maryam Jafri: No Lithium, No Work
September 23, 2023–January 14, 2024
No Lithium, No Work is Maryam Jafri’s (b. 1972, US) first project in Denmark in more than a decade. Consisting of a mix of videos, sculptures, texts, and photographs created between 2013 and 2023, the artworks explore different forms of visible and invisible female labour. The focus of the exhibition is the use of lithium—which is one of the most important elements in renewable energy—in rechargeable batteries, and the role played by this same substance in the treatment of mental illness.
The exhibition is supported by: Danish Arts Foundation, Aarhus Municipality, The Augustinus Foundation, Beckett Foundation, Hoffmann og Husmans Fond, Knud Højgaard Foundation.
Diana Policarpo: Nets of Hyphae
September 23, 2023–January 14, 2024
Nets of Hyphae is Diana Policarpo’s (b. 1986, Portugal) first exhibition at a Danish art institution. The artist is interested in botanical knowledge and its relationship to the human body, and this exhibition presents seven artworks in different media that explore issues relating to women’s sexual health, and the similarities between the reproductive systems of plants and humans. This is presented through the story of the ergot fungus—a parasite that grows in the reproductive parts of rye and other cereals—which was used by female healers for centuries to induce miscarriages, and to stop excessive bleeding after birth.
The exhibition is supported by: Danish Arts Foundation, Aarhus Municipality, The Augustinus Foundation, Beckett Foundation, Hoffmann og Husmans Fond, Knud Højgaard Foundation.
For further information
Anne Riis, Communications Manager: ar [at] kunsthal.dk / M: + 45 4149 9074
