Benedikte Bjerre, Lisas chickens. Photo: David Stjernholm.
Press release, May 2021
Nestled between the historical sites of Augustenborg Castle and Augustiana Kunsthal, near Sonderborg, an innovative new arts space and sculpture park will open its first exhibitions to the public on June 10th, leading up to the full opening in 2022.
Formerly a mental health hospital, the building has been undergoing extensive renovations to house and exhibit contemporary art. Augustenborg Project will become home to artists in residence and showcase their work. The project will enrich the existing culturally active community and bring international artists to this historical area. Augustenborg Project will also be the site of Augustenborg Food Project serving sustainable, locally sourced food. The new arts space, its gardens neighbouring the surrounding woodland, parks and waterfront, as well as the building of the former hospital have inspired the idea behind the first group exhibition FROM THE INSIDE OUT. The exhibition, curated by Claire Gould, formerly Curator at the Helsinki Art Museum, embraces both what is inside of us and outside, and addresses how things are not necessarily as they seem but shrouded in emotions, or by situations, materials and conditions.
FROM THE INSIDE OUT plays on the layers of perception, history of place and borders, challenging how we both present and perceive art. The selected artworks, and newly commissioned works by the seven contemporary artists, intersect with both the building and the surrounding park area. In-situ works playfully reappropriate materials sourced on site, abandoned by previous occupants of the property, or disrupt scales and understanding of material purpose. Intricately intertwined by the unique sense of place, the works also re-imagine the terrain, reacting site-specifically to the unique characteristics of the place. What constitutes the inside and outside, both physical and mental borders, and how we understand them, undergoes a subtle provocation redefined through the works incl. photography, performance, sculpture, installations, video and light works. Participating artists include: Benedikte Bjerre, Julie Koldby, Laura Konttinen, Freja Niemann Lundrup, Amalie Smith, Filip Vest and Albin Werle.
Augustenborg Project has invited Italian painter Francesco Pirazzi for the art space’s inaugural solo exhibition titled Nobody’s Dream with a selection of over 20 works created between 2018 and 2020. Inspired by the mystery of light, Francesco’s works evoke a silence, mystery, presence and absence in which the precious, fleeting, fascinating and even indecipherable are captured.
For Pirazzi, light is both universal and personal, “...something that dresses everything and everyone, but sometimes also nothing and nobody.” But equally, light can cause an abstraction or an experience that seems, as he puts it, “truer than truth.” In acutely observing the world, Pirazzi attempts to get lost, dream and hide – in other words, to float intangibly and be a pair of eyes observing without disrupting his subjects or the light. Painting is an open process of discovery and artistic research for him, for exploring direct experiences of reality and sensations of light.
In addition, and in anticipation of his solo show “ONE FOR SORROW, TWO FOR JOY” (29.07.21–19.09.21), at the neighbouring Augustiana Kunsthal, Albin Werle is creating a reinterpretation of his work Masquerade, a game of poetry and riddles. As an interactive outdoor installation it can be entered and played at any time of the day, bringing the two new art spaces into dialogue in a surprising way.
Augustenborg Project.
Augustenborg Project is a new, innovative art, food and creator’s space nestled between the historical sites of Augustenborg Castle and Augustiana Kunsthal in a former mental health hospital. The Art Project is a contemporary exhibition space, sculpture park and residency. Whilst the Food Project will house a café serving food based on local ingredients, as well as gastronomic pop-ups. The Work and Create Project will offer affordable ateliers to digital creators and artisans. The ethos of all three areas of Augustenborg Project is to invigorate and challenge, no idea too crazy. Augustenborg Project will officially open in 2022, but already in 2021 the first projects will be opened up to the public.
Augustenborg Project Art Space will host contemporary art exhibitions and welcome artists in residency. Inspired by its history and the ever evolving question of what is considered to be outside a norm of normality by a general public and the established institutions of society – this space aims to give room to those who are not part of and those who challenge the current establishment and division of practices within the art world. The new art space is being developed in collaboration with Isabella Hemmersbach, former Deputy Director of CHART, and the owners.
Opening: 10 June 2020, from 15-20.
Exhibition period: 10 June - 3 October 2021.
Opening Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 12-18. Monday-Tuesday: closed. Or by appointment.