PAST EXHIBITIONS - 2024

SIMPLE CLAYWARE 

Ole Jensen (DK)

23 May – 29 June 2024

Preview opening 23 May at 16.00–19.00

Opening speech by Senior Curator Pernille Stockmarr, PhD, at 17.00


This exhibition presents a collection of new modelled pieces in red clay. The project aims to cultivate simple and unpretentious form through typical functions associated with ceramics. To save on energy, the items are raw-fired: kiln-fired once and at a relative low temperature. The ambition is to demonstrate that simplicity, slowness, repetition and a measured use of effects are not dull but can appear refreshing and vivacious. An attempt at finding greatness in small things.

The accompanying catalogue has photos by Ole Akhøj and a reflective text on things written by Pernille Stockmarr. An excerpt:

‘What do we need things for today, and what do things want from us? In a time of war, climate crisis and artificial intelligence, Ole’s Simple Clayware steps forward. Calm, frugal yet extravagant. Almost as when nature takes us by surprise; straightforward yet whimsical. The shapes of the bodies seem familiar but with degrees and elements of something slightly unfamiliar. The red clay has been shaped into simple, solid models. Handles, holes and spouts push forward but have been maximized and repositioned. In a sort of understated caricature of everyday utilitarian forms, Ole embraces the simple and commonplace with these pieces while also challenging our common notions of what is normal.’

Ole Jensen (b. 1958) is a ceramic artist and designer, trained at Kunsthåndværkerskolen (School of Arts and Crafts) in Kolding in 1981–85 and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1985–89. Ole Jensen has a particular interest in utilitarian objects, and over the years, he has engaged in a wide range of projects that have resulted in both industrial products and unique utilitarian objects. His works have been shown in countless exhibitions in Denmark and abroad and are represented in multiple collections, including at Designmuseum Danmark, Victoria and  Albert Museum in London, Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg and the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indiana, USA. Ole Jensen has been awarded numerous grants and prizes, including the Thorvald Bindesbøll Medal, 2004; the Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize, Sweden, 2006; the Danish Arts Foundation’s lifelong honorary grant, 2009; the Honorary Grant of Danmarks Nationalbank’s Anniversary Foundation of 1968, 2012; and Knud W. Engelhardt’s Memorial Grant, 2021.

The catalogue and exhibition received support from Danmarks Nationalbank’s Anniversary Foundation of 1968, Grosserer L. F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Foundation’s Committee for Crafts and Design Project Funding.

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MUTATED SEA / TRAMPLED GROUND

Sara Möller (SE)

11 April – 18 May 2024

Sneak preview 11 April at 16.00–19.00

Reading of text by author Sophia Handler, at 17:00

In the exhibition Mutated Sea / Trampled Ground, the creative process is cast as the protagonist in an attempt to reach behind the elevated artefact. Ceramic pieces appear alongside raw clay, slip, Jesmonite, textile and wood to form a new, spatial whole. The materials play the role of nature, while the artist’s hand, the human element, ultimately and undeniably controls the composition. But perhaps, these roles are not completely fixed after all? Instead, they move back and forth, flowing, intertwining and fusing into one, as in a dream-like play. Here, tamed nature is wild, as in our inner landscapes. Here, we find the tender, the soft, the pointy, dirty and cracked. A possible manifesto or a metaphor for the uncontrollable and chaotic nature of artistic creation. A walk into a waking dream, where disobedient wills command, and unresolved connections become possible.

Sara Möller (b. 1982) is a Swedish sculptor based in Gothenburg. Mutated Sea / Trampled Ground is her first major solo exhibition in Denmark. Her artistic practice unfolds within a multidisciplinary field but is firmly rooted in ceramic materials. With a playful and intuitive approach to clay, Sara Möller creates objects and installations that exude sensuality, fragility and raw power. Her reflections on topics such as sexuality, origins and nature worship are driving forces in the creation of her works, which find their form in a paused rhythm.

Möller holds an MFA in ceramic art from HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design in Gothenburg. She has held solo exhibitions in numerous exhibition venues, including Gallery Thomassen in Gothenburg, Berg Gallery in Stockholm, Norrtälje Konsthall and Ronneby Konsthall. In 2022, she received the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s ten-year working grant.

The exhibition is accompanied by a Riso-print poster featuring a text by writer Sophia Handler. The print will be available during the exhibition period. All proceeds go exclusively to charity.

The exhibition received support from Estrid Ericsons Stiftelse.

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Even Granite Crumbles

Amalie Vöge Jensen (DK)

22 February - 23 March 2024

Preview opening 22 February at 17.00–20.00

At 17.30, the exhibition is opened by ethnologist Marie Stilling (UiO)

With the exhibition Even Granite Crumbles, Amalie Vöge presents abstract interpretations of the concepts of time and home from a poetic and personal perspective. Ceramic objects are juxtaposed with granite sculptures and a video projected on a thin membrane of porcelain in an installation that examines transformations and time frames. Vöge explores the encounter of nature and psyche, of outer landscapes in hard granite, shaped by the Ice Age mantle and inner landscapes shaped by varying environments. New environments that make us feel like an ‘alien’ element and which need to be transformed before we can feel at home – in a new life and in ourselves.

Landscapes are in a constant state of geological change; temperature variations, water and wind will gradually cause mountainsides to erode – to crumble. This process brings out feldspar and kaolin, two minerals that make up the main components of stoneware clay and porcelain. The objects in the exhibition are made of granite, stoneware and porcelain – hard materials shaped into soft forms. This contrast between hard and soft relates to the soft exhibition themes of home, body, nurture - as well as the absence of these phenomena. 

Amalie Vöge Jensen’s sculptural expression is abstract-figurative, her works storytelling. Several of the sculptures in the exhibition were inspired by the sea hare. This sea slug that does not have an outer shell, but inside its body, it carries remnants from a time when it still grew and carried its own house on its back. When the slug dies, and the soft tissue decomposes, its internal home appears in the form of a shell that we might find washed up on the beach. Like the soft amorphous body of the sea slug, Vöge’s sculptures also involve the contrast between appealingly cute and disturbingly undefinable.

Amalie Vöge Jensen (b. 1992) graduated as an MFA from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2023 and holds a BA from the Royal Danish Academy – Design, Bornholm from 2019. Vöge has participated in several exhibitions in the Nordic region: the Biennale for Crafts & Design, Copenhagen (DK, 2023); Nitja Senter for Samtidskunst, Oslo (NO, 2023); Haugar Art Museum, Tønsberg (NO, 2022); Höganäs Konsthall, Höganäs (SE, 2022); Birkerød Gl. Præstegaard, Birkerød (DK, 2022); Galleri Seilduken, Oslo (NO, 2021); Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition, Copenhagen (DK, 2020).

Vöge received support from the Danish Arts Foundation’s project fund for this exhibition.

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GLAZE STORIES

Nina Malterud (NO)

11 January – 17 February 2024

The exhibition was introduced by curator Jorunn Veiteberg and Norwegian Ambassador to Denmark Katja Nordgaard held the opening address.

Nina Malterud has worked with ceramics for nearly 50 years, and in her native Norway, she is regarded as one of the foremost practitioners in her field. In addition to setting an artistic standard, she has also played a key role in setting the agenda for the development of ceramics as an artistic medium through central positions in education, organizations and the journal Kunsthåndverk (Crafts). 

Malterud works with earthenware, often focusing on flat shapes and small formats with references to the classical ceramic repertoire of tiles, tablets and dishes. She experiments with slips and glazes and remains open to the visual effects that sometimes arise through more or less controlled random occurrences. The traces of the process are an important element in the expression of the finished piece. 

Layers of glaze interacting through repeated firings produce images and patterns. Sometimes, the visual elements are recognizable as organic plant imagery or geometric stripes, but mostly, Malterud pursues an abstract expression with a sensitivity that incorporates both tender and fragile, strong and juicy qualities. In combination with the characteristic materiality and weight of earthenware, this lends the pieces a powerful sensuous appeal. Even if it may look effortless, it is based on many years of experience, and the result is playful and free. 

The exhibition title, Glaze Stories, is taken from a series of new pieces featuring an organic pattern with multiple variations created through a special method for applying glaze on both raw and fired tiles. Another central piece is Victoria, a series of green circles inspired by the giant water lily of the same name. A white, oval wall object called whiteout refers to a weather condition where snow blurs all contours and makes orientation impossible. The serial approach is a characteristic aspect of Malterud’s practice, as she uses a given format and a narrow selection of glazes as a basis for trials and variations. Each of the serial objects is an independent piece in its own right. All the works on display were created between 2020 and 2023.

Since establishing her artistic practice in 1975, Nina Malterud (b. 1951) has been one of Norway’s leading ceramic artists. Her works have been purchased by all the most significant museums, she was the initiator of the journal Kunsthåndverk (Crafts) and has played a central role in the development of artistic research. She trained at the National College of Art and Design in Oslo in 1971–74. From 1994, she was a professor of ceramics at Bergen Academy of Art and Design, where she was rector in 2002–10. In 2022, she held a comprehensive retrospective exhibition at Kode in Bergen. That same year, she received Ulrik Hendriksen’s Honorary Award from the Relief Fund for Visual Artists and was appointed an Officer of the Royal Order of St Olav for her contributions and accomplishments in art education and for her artistic practice.
More info at www.ninamalterud.no 

The exhibition was supported by Norwegian Crafts, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Copenhagen.

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