Three disparate artists in curatoric interplay
The Jutland Art Academy exit exhibition 2017
Every year, May marks the beginning and the end of something huge for a group of final year students from Jutland Art Academy in Aarhus, Denmark. It marks the end of a five-year period of immersion into art in an educational institution, and it marks the beginning of a new life with art in a new framework, which is left to each individual to define and shape.
Saturday the 5th of May 2017, Kunsthal Aarhus could throw open the doors for this year’s exhibition, which goes by the name Afgang (departure) 17: Some advances in sedimentation/ the things that make art, presents three newly minted artists with severely different practices: Asger Dybvad Larsen, Marija Griniuk, and Tine Adler.
In keeping with tradition, the exhibition takes up the entire lower floor of Kunsthal Aarhus. For Kristine Siegel, the curator of the exhibition, it has been a priority to utilize the potential of the room and give the works of art the space to speak for themselves in a natural solidarity with ‘the white cube’.
Rough edges and a goth-like insistence on black
Despite his young age, Asger Dybvad Larsen has, througout last year, been exhibited in both Rome, Paris, and Mexico City. With his characteristic monochromic, close-knitted canvases, with which he simultaneously draws inspiration from the minimalist tradition and defines his own specific autonomy, Larsen’s future is predicted to be an impressive one. In the preface to the exhibition catalogue, Kristine Siegel expresses why:
“(…) Looking at Larsen’s Paint tray paintings with their seemingly fast-paced DIY stamp of work-in-progress, rough edges and a goth-like insistence on black, it is seductively easy to jump to conclusions of anti-establishment rebellion, but Larsen’s practice is not that kind of punk (…). Rather, it is the introduction of non-painterly elements, materials and methods incessantly forced onto the canvas that allow these sculptures, these architectural structures to pose as arguments in the Great Big Painting Debate.”
Rethinking art as discourse
Asger Dybvad Larsen and Marija Griniuk evidently stand diametrically opposed to one another. With her broad spectrum of performance, video, and installation art, Griniuk has had a number of exhibition both nationally and internationally, where she has been particularly active in Lithuania and the rest of Scandinavia. For the catalogue, Grinuk wrote the text: On the unbody and The Body: Inseparability on art, process, and multidisciplinary dialogue, where she ponders her role as an artist, as stated in the following paragraph:
“(…) I am an artist and I emphatically insist that the way out of exhaustion lies in rethinking one’s own input in art as discourse. It necessitates having an apocalyptic attitude to conceive of a career in one’s own generation, and rebuilding the structure of how art is seen, absorbed, and described. Of course, it is always harder to go against the stream. It demands courage, strength, and great swimming skills.”
All that jazz beneath the Californian sun
Judging by the history of works, Tine Adler is evidently the untried of the three artists. That is not to say that her work is overlooked. On the contrary. With oblong pieces of coloured latex that hangs from the ceiling like banners, Adler’s pieces speaks to the senses. The pronounced tactility makes you want to feel and experience every nook and cranny and is further supported by the tiny surrounding azure foam pools and the small grove filled with potted plants. Taken as a whole the work or art creates a scene, which makes you think of a sunset on a Bounty beach. In her travelogues, which is reproduced in the catalogue, Tine Adler writes:
“(…] My surroundings function as scenographic elements in an imaginary film where I, the main character, am smoking cigarettes slowly and seductively in dimly lit corners with spotlight and palms. California. Martinis and Jazz. Everything is slowed down. (…)”
The 19th of May, Tine Adler’s installation will be the scene for a performance by Tine Adler and a double concert by s_life_before_death & International Girls.
An alternative curatoric practice
Kristine Siegel is, as previously stated, curator at DJK departure exhibition 2017. Siegel has plenty of experience med curating and systematization project processing, where she draws special attention for the artistic progress that precedes the final product.
As director for the exhibition initiative Praxes in Berlin, which Siegel co-founded with Rhea Dall, Siegel has worked with both new and established artists. By doing exhibitions that allowed the people involved the freedom to follow along in an artist’s practice as long as half a year, Praxes offered an alternative to the quick-shifting exhibitions that the vast majority of commercial galleries offer today. In the early part of the 2016 summer, Siegel and Dall extended Praxes to include the triennial Bergen Assembly, where the two curators continued their ideas to new territory.
New art tracks in New York
The departure exhibition marks a beginning and an ending for Kristine Siegel. She has started a new chapter in the art metropolis New York, where she plans to leave her mark on the art scene. Artland will follow Kristine’s role as a curator in her aspiration to provide art with the best possible conditions in a new mini-series.
To be continued.
Info
The exhibition some advances in sedimentation / the things that make art presents works by three artists, Tine Adler, Marija Griniuk and Asger Dybvad Larsen, graduating from The Jutland Academy in Aarhus in 2017.
Exhibition period: 6 May–4 June 2017