VÆKST 4: Daniel Mølholt Bülow & Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen “Plateauic”
VÆKST var en udstillingsserie fra september 2021 til marts 2022, der kritisk undersøgte vores samfunds fokus på vækst, effektivisering og udvikling. I Villa Kulturs orangeri — et væksthus for planter - forgrenede fem udstillinger sig, skabt af unge danske billedkunstnere fra det såkaldte vækstlag i Danmark. Under kronen af et kæmpe figentræ, indrammet af marmorfliser og store vinduespartier, rykkede kunstværker skabt af beton, marmor, plastik, LED, lyd, video og tekstiler ind, og skabte nye fortællinger på tværs af tid og sted. Fra renæssancen til samtiden, fra Zanzibar til Danmark, på hospitalet, til før-festen og på en rejse ud i rummet og dybt ned i historien. VÆKST blev støttet af Roskilde Festival Fonden, Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen, Østerbro Lokaludvalg, Statens Kunstfond, Snabslanten og Dansk Tennis Fond.
In English below
Beholdere af keramik, en ølfontæne og en sekshovedet hårtørrerskulptur indtager Villa Kultur med udstillingen Plateauic af de unge kunstnere Daniel Mølholt Bülow og Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen. Udstillingen centrerer sig om en performance, hvor publikum er inviteret med til førfest og følger to performere style deres parykker og varme op til nattelivet. Kjolerne bliver rettet, poseringer øves og en stemning optrappes langsomt sammen med et dj-set. Vi får lov til at mærke den pirrende længsel, som ligger indlejret i opvarmningens forventninger til den ekstatiske afslutning. Men førfesten står denne gang alene uden sin forventede orgiastiske finale. Som et liminalt rum for forandring uden retning, bliver den til et billede på en fordrejet venteposition og undersøger mulighedsrummet i et plateau.
Hele rummet og stemningen er ekstravagant med skulpturelle værker skabt specifikt til udstillingen. På slippers, der flyder langs gulvet som punktomer, bevæger de to queerede kroppe sig rundt fulde af forhåbninger. De benytter sig af en røgmaskine som hårspray, drikker øl af en fontæne og spiser vulgære, runde pommes frites med hvid dip. Parykkerne gemmer sig i dekorative keramiske beholdere og en skulptur bestående af seks hårtørrere fungerer som en eksplosiv udgave af en vindmaskine. De forskellige objekter fremstilles i performancen som fetischerede og traditionsbundne symboler for opvarmningsritualet, hvori vi forvandler os ud fra forhåbningerne til dét, der kommer efter.
Påklædningen og forvandlingen af kroppens form, køn og integritet er omdrejningspunktet i begge kunstnernes praksisser. Ved at fordreje førfesten og dens implicerede venten til at blive selve hovedakten undersøger de, hvordan den queerede krop kan skubbe til vores forestillinger om præstationer og i stedet at hylde en verden, hvori stagnationen, det spildte og forfaldne kan få plads.
Tekster skrevet af Ida Schyum & Nanna Saplana
Billeder taget af Niels Vogensen Biasevich og performancefotos af Christian Brems
Om kunstnerne
Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen (f.1993) er uddannet fra Det Fynske Kunstakademi i 2018. Siden har han udviklet en performativ praksis styret af teatralsk opmærksomhed og bevæget af strukturelle ideer. Han har senest udstillet på OXER, Ebeltoft, 2021 med projektet “Beached at my breast”, hvor vores fælles vandede kroppe blev et horrorskvulp på havnekajen. Hans performances har bl.a. været vist på O–Overgaden Institut for Samtidskunst, JCE Biennalen i Paris, Brandts i Odense og Somerset House i London. I 2022 udstiller han blandet andet på den nyopstartede udstillingsplatform Toldkammeret i Helsingør.
Daniel Mølholt Bülow (f.1992) er uddannet fra Det Kgl. Danske Kunstakademi i 2020. Han er optaget af det som tør virke meningsløst, usikkert, usynligt eller transformerende. Hans seneste performance var ved havnen i Aalborg, med projektet ”Overgang”, hvor kroppe gik i dialog med en bro og visualiserede pandemiens påvirkning af stedet. Han har bl.a. udstillet på Delfi i Malmø, das weisse haus i Wien og E25 Gallery i New York. I 2022 arbejder han blandt andet på en mobil portal for en endnu umulig virkelighed.
Om kuratorerne
Ida Schyum (f.1992) er en dansk kunsthistoriker uddannet fra Københavns Universitet. Hun er kurator for Museet for Samtidskunst i Roskilde og har tidligere været kurator på O-Overgaden — Institut for Samtidskunst og Roskilde Festival, foruden at have kurateret freelance på Kunsthal Charlottenborg, ARoS, Alt_Cph20, Galleri Tom Christoffersen og Villa Kultur. Flere af hendes udstillinger er blevet hyldet som årets bedste i bl.a. Information, Kunsten.nu og Kunstkritikk samt præmieret af Statens Kunstfond.
Nanna Saplana (f. 1991) er en dansk cand.mag i Moderne Kultur uddannet fra Københavns Universitet og Visuel Antropologi fra Goldsmiths University i London. Hun er Gallery Director for Gas9Gallery på Vesterbro, København, og har tidligere arbejdet på Art Hub Copenhagen og O-Overgaden — Institut for Samtidskunst, foruden at have kurateret freelance på Nikolaj Kunsthal, @ Læderstræde og Villa Kultur.
GROWTH 4: Daniel Mølholt Bülow & Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen “Plateauic”
GROWTH was an exhibition series lasting from September 2021 to March 2022 that critically examined our society’s focus on growth, efficiency and development. In Villa Kultur’s greenhouse, five exhibitions branched out, each created by young Danish visual artists from the so-called ‘growth layer’ in Denmark. Under the crown of a giant fig tree and framed by marble tiles and large windows, works of art made from concrete, marble, plastic, sound, light, video and textiles moved in, creating new narratives across time and place. From the Renaissance to the present, from Zanzibar to Denmark, at the hospital, to the pre-party, and on a journey into space and deep into history. GROWTH was supported by Roskilde Festival Foundation, the Palaces and Culture Agency, Østerbro Local Committee, the Danish Arts Foundation, Snabslanten and the Danish Tennis Foundation.
Containers of ceramics, a beer fountain, and a six-headed hairdryer sculpture invade Villa Kultur as a part of the exhibition Plateauic by the young artists Daniel Mølholt Bülow and Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen. The exhibition centers around a performance inviting the audience to a pre-party where we follow two performers styling their wigs and warm-up for the night life. The dresses are corrected, poses are rehearsed, and a DJ set slowly generates an energetic atmosphere. We feel the tantalizing longing and the expectations of the ecstatic end embedded in the warm-up ritual—however, this time, the pre-party stands alone without its expected orgiastic finale. As a liminal space for change without direction, it becomes an image in a distorted waiting position and examines the space of possibility in a plateau.
The whole space and atmosphere are extravagant, with sculptural works created specifically for the exhibition. On slippers, floating through the space like points, the two queered bodies move around full of hopes. They use a fog machine as a hair spray, drink beer from a fountain, and eat vulgar, round french fries with white dip. Their wigs are hidden in decorative ceramic containers, and a sculpture consisting of six hairdryers acts as an explosive version of a wind machine. The performance portrays the various objects as fetishized and tradition-bound symbols of the transforming warm-up ritual based on the hopes of what comes next.
The attire and transformation of the body's shape, gender, and integrity is the focal point of both artists' practices. By distorting the waiting act of the pre-party, making it the main act itself, they explore how the queer body can push our understandings of achievement and instead pay homage to a world in which stagnation, the wasted, and the decayed can take place.
Texts by Ida Schyum & Nanna Saplana
Photos by Niels Vogensen Biasevich & performance stills by Christian Brems
About the artists
Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen (b. 1993) graduated from the Funen Art Academy in 2018. Since then, he has developed a performative practice guided by theatrical attention and moved by structural ideas. He has most recently exhibited at OXER, Ebeltoft, 2021 with the project "Beached at my breast". His performances have i.a. has been shown at O - Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art, the JCE Biennale in Paris, Brandts in Odense, and Somerset House in London. In 2022, he will exhibit at the newly started exhibition platform Toldkammeret in Elsinore, among other places.
Daniel Mølholt Bülow (b. 1992) is a graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2020. He works with what dares to seem meaningless, uncertain, invisible, or transformative. His latest performance was at the port of Aalborg, with the project "Transition," where bodies entered into a dialogue with a bridge and visualized the pandemic's impact on the site. He has exhibited at Delphi in Malmö, das weisse haus in Vienna, and E25 Gallery in New York. In 2022, he works on a mobile portal for a yet impossible reality.
About the artists
Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen (b. 1993) graduated from the Funen Art Academy in 2018. Since then, he has developed a performative practice guided by theatrical attention and moved by structural ideas. He has most recently exhibited at OXER, Ebeltoft in 2021 with the project Beached at My Breast. His performances have been shown at O—Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art, the JCE Biennale in Paris, Brandts in Odense and Somerset House in London. In 2022 he exhibits at the new exhibition platform Toldkammeret in Elsinore, among other places.
Daniel Mølholt Bülow (b. 1992) is a 2020 graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He works with what dares to seem meaningless, uncertain, invisible, or transformative. His latest performance was at the port of Aalborg with the project Transition, where bodies entered into a dialogue with a bridge and visualised the pandemic’s impact on the site. He has exhibited at Delfi in Malmö, das weisse haus in Vienna and E25 Gallery in New York. In 2022 he is working on a mobile portal for a yet-impossible reality.
About the curators
Ida Schyum (b. 1992) is a Danish art historian educated at the University of Copenhagen and a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde. She was previously a curator at O-Overgaden — Institute of Contemporary Art and Roskilde Festival, as well as a freelance curator at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, ARoS, Alt_Cph20, Galleri Tom Christoffersen, and Villa Kultur. Her exhibitions have been selected as the best of the year in Information, Kunsten.nu, and Kunstkritikk as well as awarded by the Danish Arts Council.
Nanna Saplana (b. 1991) has a master’s degree in Modern Culture from the University of Copenhagen and is a graduate of Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is Gallery Director for Gas9Gallery on Vesterbro, Copenhagen, and has previously worked at Art Hub Copenhagen and O-Overgaden — Institute of Contemporary Art, in addition to curating freelance at Nikolaj Kunsthal, @Læderstræde, and Villa Kultur.