“Dissecting Anneberg” at Hempel Glasmuseum

Part of the Norwegian Wood serie

Details:

Part of the project Norwegian Wood 2015-2017

Venue: Hempel Glass Museum, Denmark

Photos: Kurt Rodahl Hoppe

This installation is my artistic response to the specific interior of Hempel Glasmuseum and the landscape surrounding it. In particular the gigantic window, which serves as the background for my work as well as the main light source of the room.

I wanted to create an art piece which would not only play along with the architectural structure, but also give it a new interpretation. The suspended modules of wood and glass are repeating the rhythm of the window frame but are at the same time breaking it.

The wood I used – is local wood, which I found on site just before mounting the objects, in order to bring a historical and site specific context to the work. The color, shape and size of the wood planks have not been changed and are intentionally left in the condition I found them in order to keep this tight connection with the surroundings.

This wood was the material houses used to be built of here and in this way it carries in it the time and space heritage of this place. I believe these planks still hold the energy people were using to cut, paint and build, even though the houses they came from have now been renovated or destroyed.

The glass in this work represents the local wood in shape and form, but it has a very different expression. Glass is a contrast to the wood in many ways. Shiny and transparent it is reflecting the light from the sea and the sky, while the wood works as a black, strong vertical rhythm, playing against the light.

I applied silver on the glass not only to make it even more light reflective. Silver gets black in time through its communication with the world and the atmosphere, while wood, on the contrary, becomes silverish grey with age.

The glass itself represents transformation and a changing substance – on the borderline between real and non-existing objects. The old wood represents the changes through time in this very specific small corner of the world.

The minimal, powerful and very Danish view from the window is a part of the installation – and the flag in the background is very much included.

By playing with the idea of the abstract and representational, found and fabricated pieces, my aim is to change the perception and feeling of this space and our presence in it over time.