BECOME A PART OF THE ART AT WANÅS 2011

On May 15, 2011 the exhibitions opened for the season, for the first time under new leadership.

The Wanås Foundation opened grandly with five parallel exhibitions. It is a lively season with new art works in the sculpture park by Yoko Ono and by Jacob Dahlgren. At the same time the permanent collection in the Park is activated by a closer look at Charlotte Gyllenhammar’s oeuvre and the release of a guide exploring the collection.  Entirely new initiative at Wanås is the premier of a children’s book series as well as Expeditionen för arkitektur och grafisk form who explores the tension field between past and present, between castle and barn, in a design intervention in the Wanås café.

New in the Park – Yoko Ono and Jacob Dahlgren
This year Yoko Ono (b. 1933, JP) and Jacob Dahlgren (b. 1970, SE) are invited to use the Wanås Park as their space. The new Co-Directors Elisabeth Millqvist and Mattias Givell, comment on the new season: “The artists’ work enhances the performative and the spectator becomes participant. Wanås 2011 invites you to take part.”

For the opening in May, Yoko Ono presented two works in the Art Gallery and two in the Park. In addition she created a new piece specifically for Wanås which will emerge throughout the year. Yoko Ono is a groundbreaking artist. Her work frequently consists of an invitation to participate through instructions, and by using simple means. For instance, inviting people to hang wishes from apple trees, mend broken porcelain, climb a forest of assembled ladders to look at the sky, place a photograph and write a thought about their mother and place it on canvas – are ways she deals with love, peace and memory. At the Venice Biennale in 2009 Yoko Ono received the prestigious Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Jacob Dahlgren is one of Sweden´s most prominent artists. He works continuously with material from daily life creating abstract works that in different ways engages the viewer. In a new large-scale sculpture in 18 colors he invites the spectator to move in the labyrinth-like sculpture. During the opening ceremony Dahlgren had a black and white striped performance consisting of 130 participants who performed a simple choreography and together became a large mobile painting.

Revisit - Charlotte Gyllenhammar
The Park at Wanås is open all year and exhibits nearly 50 permanent works of contemporary art. Starting in 2011 the collection is activated by featuring an in-depth presentation of an artist who is already represented in the sculpture park. The first Revisit is of Charlotte Gyllenhammar (b. 1963, SE). In 2002 she created the major installation Vertigo – a copy of her studio, upside down and under ground at Wanås. The exhibition contains sculpture and film, as well as early and recent art works.

Premier of a children’s book series – Astrid Trotzig & Fredrik Söderberg
In a book about tears of pearls and whispering winds, Sam and the children at the castle meet a Water Witch by the pond. The story takes place among the trees and art in Wanås Park and with the use of words and images it encompasses the magical and fantastical. The Enchanted Park is the first book in an artistic experiment – a children´s book series about Sam who experiences the art and the park in reality and in the imagination. Every year a new author and artist will create a children’s book experiment. The premier book is written by the author Astrid Trotzig (b. 1970, SE) with illustrations by the artist Fredrik Söderberg (b. 1972, SE).

Design – Expeditionen för arkitektur och grafisk form
Wanås expands to include related Art disciplines. The group that referrers to themselves as an expedition for architecture and graphic form, Matilda Plöjel (b. 1974, SE) graphic designer and Katarina Rundgren (b. 1973, SE), architect and writer, work with projects that explore the intersection between architecture and graphic design. In this tension field – between past and present, castle and barn, visitors will find their design intervention in the Wanås Café. In a free interpretation of table decorations and mealtime traditions, they explore and superimpose the past on today’s endless quest for the good life and the perfect kitchen.

Inaugurator Sune Nordgren

The 2010 program of the Wanås Foundation revolves around expanded, unique collaborations. The artists Roxy Paine, Ann-Sofi Sidén, and Anne Thulin, who early on in their careers exhibited at Wanås, will return this year. Over a long period of time Paine, Sidén and Thulin have been involved in lively dialogs concerning their projects, now resulting in new exciting works at Wanås. 17 young artists present their works within the project Another Way under the leadership of professor and artist Ann-Sofi Sidén. Further, three educational collaborations take place. All the activities of 2010, including an international seminar, focus on the comprehensive environmental effort which the Wanås Foundation launched in 2009. The catalogue for the exhibition WANÅS 2010 includes new essays by Tan Lin on Roxy Paine, by Ingela Lind on Anne Thulin, and by Sinziana Ravini on Ann-Sofi Sidén and the project Another Way.

The exhibition WANÅS 2010, May 16 – October 31, 2010

Roxy Paine, Anne Thulin, and Ann-Sofi Sidén with 17 young artists within the project Another Way

The Swedish art audience first met the now renowned American artist ROXY PAINE (b. 1965 in the US, based in New York City) at the Wanås group exhibition in 1998. At that time, he made the acclaimed field of weeds, Bad Lawn, which will be shown again at Wanås in 2010. Impostor, which was permanently installed in the Wanås Park in 1999, was Paine’s first stainless steel sculpture. Since then, he has built an additional 13 works in his series of dendroids in Europe and the US. When Paine exhibited at Wanås in 1998 he was a relatively unknown artist. Today, 12 years later, he is internationally active and famous for his hyper-realistic sculptures. Paine was given the prestigious assignment to create a site-specific installation for the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2009. The horizontal installation, Maelstrom, with New York’s skyline in the background, received praise by the public and critics alike. In 2009, a comprehensive book, Roxy Paine, was published (Prestel, ISBN 978-3917-4137-8). Paine is represented by James Cohan Gallery in New York City. At Wanås, Paine makes a new sculpture, Facade/Billboard, 14 meters high (46 ft) in painted steel. This spectacular art work marks a new direction in Paine’s large-scale sculptural expression. Once again Paine chooses Wanås as the place for a new art experiment.

ANNE THULIN (b. 1953 in Sweden, based in New York City and Sweden) exhibited at Wanås for the first time in 1994. She then, among other things, painted the large doorways of the 18th Century stable in ultramarine. This work, Ultra Marine, will be presented again in 2010. Thulin also creates the installation Dribble in the Park. Nine over-dimensional bright red balls (2 meters, 6 1/2 ft, in diameter) are placed in trees at different heights, engaging the entire park in a playful way. In 2003, Thulin had a praised solo exhibition at Lunds Konsthall, Ludo Alludo and an extensive catalogue was publishedAnne Thulin (ISBN 91–88846–31). In her work, Thulin often focuses on play and our need for an erratic element in life. Thulin is associated with Gallery Charlotte Lund, Stockholm, where she has had several notable exhibitions.

ANOTHER WAY is a unique collaboration between the Wanås Foundation and the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. The project started in September 2008, led by professor and artist Ann-Sofi Sidén. After thorough studies of travel as an artistic expression, 18 artists with links to the college started a journey from Stockholm to Wanås (approximately 650 km) without the use of artificial fuels. They travelled by bicycle, foot, horse or sailboat. At Wanås, each participant shows new work based on the journey. The media ranges from film, music, painting, sculpture and drawing to larger installations and performances. As part of the exhibition WANÅS 2010 the new works will be shown in the Konsthall and in the Park. The filmmaker Anna Sohlman, Hinden Film Company, has documented the project over the past year and will show part of her documentation at Wanås.

Participanting artits are Filippa Barkman, Sofia Bäcklund, Magnus Dahl, Klas Eriksson, Annette Felleson, Paul Fägerskiöld, Virlani Hallberg, Peter Holm, Malin Holmberg, Ingela Ihrman, Jakob Ingemansson, Nils Johansson, Christina Langert, Mikael Lindahl, Éva Mag, Kerstin Palm, Jennifer Rainsford, and Ann-Sofi Sidén.

ANN-SOFI SIDÉN (b. 1962 in Sweden, based in Berlin and Stockholm) is one of Sweden’s most internationally successful artists. In 2000, Sidén createdFideicommissum, a bronze sculpture placed on the edge of Wanås’ pond, which today is one of the most noted works in the permanent collection of the Wanås Foundation. Within the project Another Way Sidén travelled 720 km by horse (together with her college Annette Felleson), from Stockholm to Wanås. Based on this horseback ride, Sidén makes a new video installation which is first shown at Wanås. This work can be seen as a parallel to a previous video, 3MPH (Horse to Rocket), which is based on Sidén’s journey from San Antonio to Lyndon B Johnsons Space Center in Texas in 2002. This work is today part of the collection of Moderna Museet in Stockholm and of Centro Galego de Arte Contemporáneas in the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela. In 2009, Sidén was awarded the sculpture prize of the Friends of the Moderna Museet (K. A. Linds Hederspris). For this occasion, a new book was published on Sidén’s recent work (ISBN 978-91-86243-04-3). Sidén took part in the exhibition Fear Society at the Venice Biennale in 2009. Internationally Sidén has had solo exhibitions at for example Musée d’Art de la Ville de Paris, Secession in Vienna, and Hayward Gallery, London.

NB! Ann-Sofi Sidén’s work “My Country (Somewhere in Sweden)” is currently on display at the Moderna Exhibition at Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

Additional Programs 2010

1. A solo exhibition with Åsa Lindsjö will take place in part of the Konsthall April 2-11.

2. In collaboration with Capellagården on Öland, park benches are designed by the school’s students.

3. The collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Alnarp continues. Seven students work on the project The city grows – green districts focusing on the urban environment.

4. The Wanås Annual Youth Project, Footprints in Art, concerns environmental issues and sustainable development.

5. An international seminar is held on September 29-30 on ecological sustainability within the art world.

6. The season finale takes place on October 31 in presence of several of the artists participating in the exhibition WANÅS 2010.

]]> http://www.wanas.se/2010/10/wanas2010/feed/lang/en/ 0 http://www.wanas.se/2009/03/wanas-2009-2/lang/en/ http://www.wanas.se/2009/03/wanas-2009-2/lang/en/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:20:02 +0000 wanas http://www.wanas.se/?p=1756&lang=sv

May 17 – October 25

The exhibition WANÅS 2009: Footprints, addresses man’s relationship to nature. This is not a new theme in art; nature has played an important role throughout art history and been given political, religious or scientific importance, depending on the time. Many of today’s artists show interest in man’s impact on the environment. They visualize art’s ability to interpret urgent issues and show possibilities of change. Art has a voice beyond that of politics and science, and can therefore add new perspectives to the environmental debate.

Participating artists: Tue Greenfort (Denmark), Henrik Håkansson (Sweden), Tea Mäkipää (Finland) with Halldór Úlfarsson (Iceland), Tomas Saraceno (Argentina) and Nilsmagnus Sköld (Sweden). Several of the participating artists will create new site-specific works in the Park and the Stable, the indoor exhibition space at Wanås.

Curators: Elna Svenle & Marika Wachtmeister.

Catalogue

A richly illustrated exhibition catalogue (ISBN 9789197755801) with texts about all artists and their works is available in the Wanås Shop. It can also be ordered on e-post@wanas.se.

Participating artists

Tue Greenfort (b. 1973 in Denmark) shows interest in questions regarding agriculture and cultivated nature. At Wanås he has created two new works with milk production as their starting points. Fresh milk has a temperature of 38°C and is cooled down to 4°C before being transported to the dairy. The excess heat is at Wanås used for heating the floor and the water of the cow stable through a heat exchanger. Greenfort observes this phenomenon in Milk Heat that gives the visitors the possibility to experience the heat of the fresh milk via a radiator placed outside the cow stable. In the Konsthall Greenfort presents What About Milk, an installation including the same amount of milk that the average Swede consumes annually. Through his projects he attempts to bring attention to the environmental efftects of industrialized animal farming – be it organic or not. He questions if dairy products can be considered ecologically sustainable food sources since cows’ methane emissions have a negative impact on the climate.

Henrik Håkansson’s (b. 1968 in Sweden) artistic production is shaped by a lifelong interest in our natural world. During the spring, Håkansson has placed four motion-sensitive cameras in the Wanås woodlands in order to document the wild animals. A selection of the images is now presented in the Konsthall. Instead of analyzing the animals and their movement patterns, Håkansson offers pure visual material – for many the most real relationship to wild animals. Håkansson is also creating The Reserve (001) in the Park which will be his first permanent art project in Sweden. Håkansson is currently investigating a 2500 m² reserve, area and will eventually fence it off, allowing it to develop freely without human interference in the future.

Tea Mäkipää (b. 1973 in Finland) aims to visualize the often invisible and fragile foundation that modern western society rests upon. In the Wanås lake Mäkipää presents Atlantis, a sculptural memento mori created together with Halldór Úlfarsson (f. 1977 på Island). In the Park Mäkipää presents 1:1, a full-scale representation of a modern apartment’s anatomy. The works can be seen as poetic reminders of the vulnerability of our modern lifestyle and of the infrastructure that keeps us alive. In the Konsthall Mäkipää presents her commandments on how to live in a more environmentally sustainable way. As a part of the work, Mäkipää presents a documentary from her trip to the 8th Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates in 2007, during which she attempted to follow these commandments.

Tomas Saraceno (b. 1973 in Argentina) works since the mid-2000s with Air-Port-City, a visionary project suggesting we lift our dwellings a few kilometers up in the sky in order to stop the exploitation of our planet’s resources. Climate change often has negative effects on the organisms that live in specific areas; with the environment changing quickly the organisms don’t have time to move to more suitable places. As a response to this problem, Saraceno has developed so called “flying gardens”, that are a part of Air-Port-City. These suspended growing places would be able to move to more suitable locations if or when the climate changes. In the Konsthall Saraceno presents the videoinstallation Cumulus, recorded at the world’s largest salt flat, located 3000 meters above sea level in Bolivia. Saraceno creates a panorama of the site, allowing spectators to experience what it would be like to live among the clouds in an Air-Port-City.

Nilsmagnus Sköld (b. 1968 in Sweden) works with nature as the source of this creative process. In the Konsthall, he presents the new installation No More Shall We Part based on the story of the passionate orchid grower Bertil Norrsell from Tollarp in the south of Sweden. When he died in 1974, Norrsell left a 600 m² greenhouse that has remained untouched since then. The installation consists of Sköld’s extensive research of the greenhouse ruin. He also offers a time travel through the last 35 years. With the help of archeological material, stories from the artist’s on life as well as classical radio clips, Sköld aims to visualize the inseparability and inevitable circulation of nature and culture.

Coming soon.

Coming soon.

May 14-October 22

The Wanås Foundation presents Insight Out , an exhibition of eight American artists showing new site-specific installations in the Park, in the Stable and in the Sculpture Yard.

Two different avenues in the Wanås Foundation’s activity provide the departure point for Insight Out: artists working in the United States and the commitment to emerging artists. Insight Out emphasizes both of these avenues with its focus on recent works by a new generation of American artists. Insight Out continues the dialogue with the American art scene a decade after the exhibition at Wanås in 1996 – one which also comprised of eight American artists. Some of the works from 1996 are now part of the permanent collection in the Park.

The individual artist’s work of this year’s exhibition touch upon each other while at the same time developing a group dynamic. The artists investigate subject matters such as architecture, narrativity, scientific processes and psychological perceptions. They explore the interplay between subjective and objective perspectives and gives new status to individual interpretation of the surrounding. The works also reveal a political consciousness of these artists who work in a global climate of increased polarization, and threats in the wake of September 11th, 2001. Insight Out is an over-all title designed to illustrate dualistic processes from a micro- as well as macro-perspective. The exhibition seeks to stress the importance of cultural, intellectual and artistic exchange.

Participating artists: Peter Coffin, Brian Conley, Corin Hewitt, Ross Knight, Melissa Martin, Karyn Olivier, Jane Philbrick, and Andrea Ray.

Curator: Linda Rydberg, The Wanås Foundation.

I utställningen inkluderas inlånade verk av följande konstnärer: Eric Andersen, Danmark, Ernst Billgren, Sverige, Bård Breivik, Norge, Barbro Bäckström, Sverige, Kari Cavén, Finland, Lena Cronqvist, Sverige, Jacob Dahlgren, Sverige, Stina Ekman, Sverige, Olafur Eliasson, Island, Lars Englund, Sverige, Lars Erik Falk, Sverige, Freddy Fraek , Danmark, Hreinn Fridfinnsson, Island, Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Island, Charlotte Gyllenhammar , Sverige, Katrine Helmersson, Sverige, Jan Håfström, Sverige, Søren Jensen, Danmark, Peter Johansson, Sverige, Clay Ketter, Sverige, Per Kirkeby, Danmark, Jone Kvie, Norge, Monika Larsen Dennis, Sverige, Marianne Lindberg De Geer, Sverige, Sivert Lindblom, Sverige, Niko Luoma, Finland, Eva Löfdahl, Sverige, Camilla Løw, Norge, Carl Magnus, Sverige, Ebba Matz, Sverige, Truls Melin, Sverige, Maria Miesenberger, Sverige, Katarina Norling, Sverige, Ö yvind Nygård, Danmark, Kirsten Ortwed, Danmark, Håkan Rehnberg, Sverige, Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, Sverige, Ulf Rollof, Sverige, Ulrik Samuelson, Sverige, Katrin Sigurdardottir , Island, Pål Svensson, Sverige, Jukka Vikberg, Finland, Dan Wolgers, Sverige, Fredrik Wretman, Sverige.

De fyra konstnärer möts i den råa utställningslokalen Stallet. Där visar David Svensson glödande väsen i olika färger, en vidareutveckling av hans tidigare arbete “Illuminators”, samt en fotografierna Funderingar i det gröna och Från tagningen av funderingar i det gröna. Efter resor till Ecuador och Madagaskar arbetar Nilsmagnus Sköld med Orchid Research Project, som han fortsätter med i installationen Paradise Lost. Kristina Matousch ställer ut teckningar från Mallorca och Eva Marklund visar installationen Puls. Därtill gör Kristina Matousch och Eva Marklund skulpturer utomhus. I Parken svävar Eva Marklunds linsformade verk Döda vinklar, gjord av 500 000 sugrör, som svarar på betraktarens rörelser. Vid Wanås busshållplats, väg 2050, har Kristina Matousch placerat metallkonstruktionerna Tabbas och Kilimanjaro, som tillsammans med busskuren bildar en form av stilleben. Formerna är klädda med morötter, potatis och bananskal. Eva Marklund och Kristina Matousch är utbildade vid Kungliga Konsthögskola, Stockholm. Nilsmagnus Sköld och David Svensson gick ut Konsthögskolan i Malmö år 2002.

MARIANNE LINDBERG DE GEER

Jag tänker på mig själv, Wanås 2003 – en ny permanent ljudinstallation i parken

I en park hörs vindsus, prassel av löv, avlägsna röster. Svaga ljud, nästan ohörbara. De tränger sakta in i våra sinnen. Vad är det vi tänker på som vi trodde att vi glömt för länge sedan? Pappa…mamma…viskar trädens grenar. En installation om det omöjliga i uppdraget att vara barn.