Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead, 2022. Total installation consisting of hay, rug-beaters, coins, burned butterflies, collected flora, pumpkins, broken hearts (jute, fabric scraps, yarn - made in collaboration with seemstress, Fredericke Kellberg). Photo: Mikkel Kaldal.
Press release, September 2022
In Ladder Space – a 19th-century horse stable in the meatpacking district, which is now housing exhibitions of contemporary art – you’ll find the exhibition In Captivity But No Longer Dead by Olivia Rode Hvass.
In the exhibition, you will experience a site-specific installation taking us back to the time when the horses took residence in the buildings. A universe of broken hearts, scarecrows, and tapestries depicting horses in captivity and their memories of violence and grief.
The installation features works from her series of digitally woven tapestries My Heart Breaks Every Day… …Until I Run Away. They are inspired by the mysterious medieval fantasies of the Hunt of the Unicorn (La Chasse à la licorne), dating back to 1495-1505, originally depicting French noble hunters capturing an unicorn. The original story celebrates the conquest of the "exotic"/the virgin by the hunter/the man. In Olivia Rode Hvass' series, the horse is the main character, and here the escape from the violent systems and relationships ends up with the horses running free.
In Ladder Space we find ourselves lingering in a scenery of sorrow. A longing for change.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Can’t seem to get out of my bed... out of my head.., 2022. TC2-woven tapestry, carved, stained and burned wood - mount made in collaboration with carpenter, Claus Hvass. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Can’t seem to get out of my bed... out of my head.. (detail), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Can’t seem to get out of my bed... out of my head.., 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Can’t seem to get out of my bed... out of my head.. (detail), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass is a visual artist who graduated with a BA from the Jutland Academy of Fine Arts in 2021 and a masterclass with a large scholarship in TC2 weaving with Professor Corrie van Eijk-Doktor, Drachten NL. Rode Hvass works in a sculptural crossfield between textile and drawing. In recent years, she has expanded her metier to tapestries, where she combines her interest in cartoon and sketch drawing with craftsmanship in digital weaving. Her work unfolds out of an interest in identity-building in relation to the idols, emotions and expressions we are brought up with and brought up by, and the industry and history behind the textiles that surround us, intertwined in this. Rode Hvass' work has a subtle underlying humor which invites the viewer inside.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Big Daddy, 2022. Scarecrow, butterfly bushes, thistles, broken heart chain. Photo: Mikkel Kaldal.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Big Daddy (detail), 2022. Scarecrow, butterfly bushes, thistles, broken heart chain. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead (detail), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead (installation), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead (detail), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Hand Holding Memories (De dårlige minder holder i hånd), 2022. TC2-woven tapestries, upholstery, french lilies, thistles, hay.
Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Hand Holding Memories (De dårlige minder holder i hånd) (detail), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Hand Holding Memories (De dårlige minder holder i hånd). Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead (installation), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, I cry and I cry and I cry and I cry, 2022. Pencil on paper. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead (installation), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead (installation), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Patriarchal Harmonies, 2022. Pen and marker on relief. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, Patriarchal Harmonies (detail), 2022. Pen and marker on relief. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Olivia Rode Hvass, In Captivity but No Longer Dead (detail), 2022. Photo: Anders Aarvik.
Opening/vernissage: September 30, 17-22.
Exhibition period: September 30 - October 8, 2022.
Opening hours: October 1-2: 12-18 or by appointment.
End event/vinissage: October 08, 12-18.
The production of the work is supported by Statens Kunstfond and Dansk Tennisfond.