NoDe an Exhibition

As part of House of Nordic Design, we have established NoDe, an exhibition and international platform showcasing the best of Scandinavian design, beginning with 3DaysofDesign in Copenhagen, 7-9 June, 2023.

Behind the exhibition is our founder Natalia Sánchez who was in charge of the Dawn Exhibition (2014-2019) and Apricus (2021). Dawn started as an exhibition in the same building on as the big Danish companies such as Kvadrat, Montana, Vola etc on Sundkaj in Nordhavn and later on moved to Nomad Workspace after Natalia Sánchez transformed the former court house into one of Copenhagen’s most popular office buildings. During Corona she made Apricus an exhibition in Frederiksgade 1 in the former shop Nyt I Bo. She is also one of three appointed judges to choose the best exhibition during 3DaysofDesign.

COCOONING BY Anne Nowak 2023

The human body is a container. It is where our bones, muscles, fat, blood, organs, our emotions, shame and nervousness reside. The skin is the elastic wrap that surrounds the body - we cannot escape our body, which will always own the truth about us, and which at the same time changes over time. The skin gradually lets go of the bones, it becomes thinner, and inside the debris accumulates. If only we could let the body carry us through life, if only we could make peace with its shedding skin. Let the pupa's stages take care of the transformation. With the exhibition Cocooning, I want to touch and comment on the themes of shame, body and transformation in a showroom whose fashion products point to the body in particular. We are brought up with a normative understanding of the body, where we have to fit in and push it to hide the skinfolds we all have.

Pupa-like objects sewn in transparent, skin-colored mesh and nylon pulled and filled with waste, in the form of fabric scraps, plastic and packaging from the production, will hang from the ceiling and physically confront the visitors. Hands, other body parts and upholstered stools will also form part of the installation.

Henriette Sabroe Ebbesen, Anne Nowak, Sarah Schönbeck & Caroline H. Thon

MirrorrorriM

October 14 - November 19, 2022

Arden Asbæk Gallery is pleased to present the group exhibition Mirror Mirror, which explores the use of reflective surfaces and the illusive effect of the mirror through the works of four visual artists. The mirror has always played a significant role in art history and cultural theory with art historians discussing art’s role as either a window or mirror, as either a view into someone else’s experience, or as a reflection of your own background.

In her newest series, visual artist Caroline H. Thon explores the boundaries between realism and abstraction, while also continuing her work with the aftermath of what can be characterized as psychosomatic disruption and the following healing process. The series deals with the potentials of change and our dependency on the world around us. By turning the world upside-down, Thon’s highly detailed oil paintings depict the surroundings through reflections in a still pool of water, creating an almost infinite view of the sky.

Sarah Schönbeck utilizes old and antique mirrors, creating depth and nuances on the shiny surfaces with sandpaper and etchings, proving the versatility of the material. While the mirror is by some seen as deceptive due to its infinite qualities, with a broken mirror deemed to give the culprit seven years bad luck and a distorted image representing corruption of the soul, Schönbeck’s work rejects all superstition. Instead, her work revolves around concepts such as space and expansion, and here, the broken mirror, like an exploding star or blossoming flower, opens itself up to the viewer, who is then reflected in the work itself.

By using different kinds of mirrors and reflective materials, photographer Henriette Sabroe Ebbesen blurs the lines between photography and painting, creating a symbolic boundary between reality and imagination. Her newest series of work is inspired by the prosperous Polycrates, who tried to escape his fate by throwing his jewel-encrusted ring into the sea, only for it to later return. The mutability of fate, or bending of world order, reflects in the mirror’s mystical side. Through various cultural readings, across the globe and across ages, mirrors have consistently been considered a gateway to the afterlife, and according to the theory of relativity you can bend space and time, which Ebbesen illustrates by literally bending rays of light with mirrors.

Some of the recurring themes in visual artist Anne Nowak’s oeuvre are impermanence and eternity, life and death, dark- ness and light, Sun and Moon as well as other inherent polarities of our existence and the cycle of life. Adopting the visual language of astronomy as well as an almost modernist form, inspired by artists such as Hilma Klint and Emma Kunz. Nowak’s works draws upon the mirror through several playful objects and portal-like formations, such as the artist’s alluring, multi-dimensional Mirages and floating meteor rock, forming alternate universes right before our eyes.

Exhibition at Alium Gallery the 7th October to the 2nd of November. A joint exhibition with Australian artist Ari Prasetya.

AMALGAM: A Matter of Trust

They laugh a lot. Teasing each other like old friends, but actually they only met last year during 3 Days of Design. “We were exhibiting in the same space — and we just started talking. It was quite funny because instantly we had a connection…” Nowak trails off as Prasetya makes a face. “I wouldn’t go that far.” He says, and they laugh. Now they have worked intensely to put together the AMALGAM exhibition.

“It’s kind of nerve-racking,” Nowak says. “Normally if you go into a collaboration as I have done before, you know who is doing what and you know exactly what your job is. It can be uncomfortable just to do what you do, but doing it with someone else.”

And as it turns out, the exhibition is not only about doing something together. Rather it is a blend of two artisans and their craft as well as a merging of two independent personalities.

Anne Nowak and Ari Prasetya not only come from opposite sites of the world, they also work in different albeit creative disciplines. As such they seem like an unlikely match. “But then this opportunity came along, and we were like okay, let’s start from scratch and see what we can do together. Can we meet up somewhere where we could do something collectively,” Nowak says.

“In that regard,” Prasetya adds, “I think this exhibition is very personal.”

THE FUNCTION OF FORM

In the AMALGAM exhibition, you will meet familiar objects that have been made unfamiliar by the choice of materials, shapes and colours. It is something that moves on the edge between art and design. Between form and function.

“I think it is funny actually. That you can make art of something that you can also use. When something can be used as an object, but it also presents itself as art.” Nowak says. As is the case with the various chairs, scattered throughout the Alium space. Each chair comes into its own right and presents itself as different stages of deconstruction. Or rather, as the tangible merging of the two artists.

“And then with the small sculptural pieces,” Prasetya continues, talking about the abstract symposium of glass, wood, stone and mirror. “We wanted to create something that was visually pleasing. That takes a lot of brainpower, because when you work toward a function — that is a kind of purpose. But you cannot ask your brain to create something that makes you feel good,” Prasetya says.

In the end, the sculptures took shape from the instinctual feeling when synthesizing seemingly contrasting materials. “For instance, the combination of mirror and the stone? That just gives me that feeling! It’s a combination I really like working with,” Nowak tells.

PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST

Both Nowak and Prasetya shy away from the artist batch. “The thing with me avoiding the label…Well, I find it very pigeon-holed,” Prasetya explains. “But it is difficult with that labelling. Because I don’t want to look like I am deliberately trying to avoid a label. That is not the point.”

Australian-born Ari Prasetya did not come into the world of arts and design by the straight and narrow road. But by appreciating how things work. “I’ve always been generally interested in how things work, how proportions feel when you create something. So there wasn’t really this thought of I wanted to be an artist,” he says. Instead, his craftsmanship was and is driven by curiosity and a joy of expressing himself.

“And that could be through anything really,” Nowak joins in.

“Exactly. Everyone has a similar feeling when they are thriving. It is a feel-good feeling,” Prasetya says. “So I am just a design object maker.” He hesitates for a brief moment before continuing: “And maybe… I didn’t do the whole school thing. So I don’t have something that says ‘you are this’. Maybe that is also why I don’t really do the labelling.”

They discuss the seemingly existential need for labelling things — and people — in order to be able to understand them. And as Prasetya says, it seems like a very thin approach as it does not cover the complexity of being human. Nowak adds: “Are you an artist? Are you a designer? What are you? I get asked that a lot and I am like: I don’t know. I am ME. I am just doing my shit.”

IT IS A GUT FEELING

Known for her atmospheric artworks that stretch from functional design into the depths of the universe, Anne Nowak has a long creative practice behind her. Starting out with a degree in textile design, she is in a constant evolutionary process as a human and as an artist. “So when this opportunity came along, I thought that it could be nice for me to expand. To do something I wouldn’t have done if I did it on my own.”

However, the cost of evolving is not always pleasant. “It is so sensitive to me,” Nowak says. “So when Ari says to me ‘I don’t think this work’ — I am like… What!?”

“Yeah, so I have been told I need to work on my delivery of things. I can be very blunt.” They laugh. “It is because my intuition is saying that. It’s like ‘no!’ But I can’t just say that, so I — or we both — tip-toe a bit about it. It is challenging.”

Even though Nowak has worked on projects with others before, neither of them has worked together on an art exhibition like this. Nowak says: “So we needed to ask ourselves how do we merge our feelings? You know, without the other one screaming. Or with us ending up doing nothing.”

Creating the AMALGAM exhibition has been a case of trying something and then trying again: Consistently working towards something undefined as if in a hectic jive.

“We thought about the process from the beginning. How something can be very simple and then it evolves. How can things look or change or feel when they are approached differently?”

Visit the AMALGAM exhibition at Alium Cph, Frederiksberg Bredegade 1, until the 4th of November 2022.