Sculpture, both what it is and what it can be, will be explored when Wanås Konst kicks off summer starting May 6. Chiharu Shiota (JP/DE) and Katarina Löfström (SE), who have created new artworks both indoors and outdoors in the surrounding landscape, are presented in two solo exhibitions. In different ways, the artists combine subtle reflections and observations with mesmerizing details and large-scale formats. In a special project in the sculpture park, Poul Gernes’ (DK) social sculpture Pyramide, emphasizes his thoughts on the social role of art. The exhibitions are curated by Elisabeth Millqvist and Mattias Givell, co-directors of the foundation. In addition, starting July 20, Xavier Le Roy and Scarlet Yu work with sculptures that are embodied by humans in Still Untitled.
Acclaimed artist Chiharu Shiota invites us to enter her installations; in Everywhere, thin lines of thread covers metal frames in a red web. In addition, for the first time she develops an outdoor work using metal wire in which the black drawn line of her sketch is translated into a three-dimensional outline of a house. In her work, she returns to a feeling of displacement and loss; at Wanås the house-like shape signifying home and family is present in both the outdoor and the monumental indoor installations. Katarina Löfström works with visual abstractions that can be perceived as screens erected between us, between her experience and our perception. For the sculpture park, she developed a new work entitled Open Source (Cinemascope), 2018. Referring to cinema through its title and its dimensions taken from the film format, and placed on a slope surrounded by beech trees, the sequin-covered screen is impacted by light and wind and makes the forest dissolve into a constantly changing image.
The special project with legendary Danish artist Poul Gernes (1925-1996), takes as a starting point a 1967 sketch of a work intended for public space. A wooden pyramid designed as a resting place, a stage, and a lively meeting place rises six meters high in the sculpture park and articulates Gernes’ interest in the social dimensions of art. Based on a processed sketch, it was realized for the first time in 2016 at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, in conjunction with a solo exhibition of the artist. At Wanås, the Pyramide gains a permanent residence after a donation by Klara Karolines Fond. Poul Gernes has influenced many young artists through his work with color experiments and collective and interactive art.
The idea of shared experience is also central in Still Untitled, by choreographer Xavier Le Roy, which was developed with Scarlet Yu and in collaboration with the Still Untitled team originally conceived for Skulptur Projekte Münster in 2017. Still Untitled takes the form of sculptures, embodied and presented by human beings for human beings. It is something to be shared by anyone, anywhere, any time throughout and beyond the exhibition. At Wanås Konst, the project continues, inviting visitors to engage in workshops that examine the relationship between live art and sculpture as they relate to time and public space. The work unfolds through these workshops and the possible encounters of embodied sculptures in public spaces. In 2016, Wanås Konst began actively investing in “live art,” art that must be experienced in the moment and requires presence then and there. The program is created with Rachel Tess, Associate Curator of Dance.
The Sculpture Park and the Collection
Wanås Konst is a sculpture park, Art Gallery and center for learning run by The Wanås Foundation. Since 1987 it works with site-specific, contemporary international art and education with an emphasis on innovation and accessibility. The art center as well as Wanås Restaurant Hotel are located at Wanås Estate in southern Sweden 1.5 hours from Malmö/Copenhagen. The permanent collection in the sculpture park hosts close to 70 permanent works by artists such as Igshaan Adams, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, William Forsythe, Ann Hamilton, Jenny Holzer, Maya Lin and Yoko Ono.
