SPATIUM. Danish Contemporary Art
Location: 5th floor, Gallery of Contemporary Art
According to Maria Kjær Themsen, the Danish curator of the SPATIUM exhibition, she has chosen the eleven most promising young Danish artists. Sharp-witted artistic solutions, which provide an opportunity for people to rediscover the world of illusions, will be presented to the public.
“The word spatium has several meanings, which include the physical space or architecture surrounding people, but can also refer to the small vacuums filled with emptiness that connect our world into a whole, simultaneously making it into one and many,” said Eha Komissarov, the Kumu coordinator for the exhibition. “Spatium can also refer to a large space – to the universe. In the exhibition, the concept of spatium includes installations of silk and iron, light and sound, interactive video projections and a large illuminated moon in Kadriorg Park.”
The artists participating in SPATIUM use methods related to artistic illusion in order to explore the development of pictorial portrayals; their extensive treatments include the dimensions of both the past and future. According to Maria Kjær Themsen, there is less spectacular showing off in these works and more refined cognizance, humour and poetic formalism. “These artists from the same generation work in various media, but they are united by their method of working with materials, which turns its attention to the object itself or the way in which we perceive the surrounding world,” said Maria Kjær Themsen, the exhibition curator.
The Danish artists included in the exhibition are Tove Storch (1981), Jacob Jessen (1976), Lea Porsager (1981), Kasper Akhøj (1976), Rolf Nowotny (1978), Marie Kølbæk Iversen (1981), Tamar Guimarães (1967), Ferdinand Ahm Krag (1977), Torben Ribe (1978), Jacob Kirkegaard (1976) and Olof Olsson (1965).
The project was initiated by the Embassy of Denmark in Estonia and the Kumu Art Museum to celebrate the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2012. The opening of the exhibition marks the beginning of the Danish EU Presidency.
Curator: Maria Kjær Themsen
Co-ordinator: Eha Komissarov
Sponsors:
Danish Arts Agency, Danish Arts Council, Royal Danish Embassy, Danish Cultural Institute, Plahn Systems, Tura Scandinavia, Bico Professionel