June 22–August 14, 2022
In this exhibition, three well-known and highly regarded artists—Kirsten Ortwed, Rosemarie Trockel, and Lawrence Weiner—each of whom has contributed in their own special way to defining what we understand as contemporary art—intertwine fluid Mexican onyx, altered digital prints, and text-based works scaled to fit the urban space.
In the series Elective Affinities, which examines links between artists across time, place, and media, Gogo is the second exhibition. The sculpture artist Kirsten Ortwed has been asked by Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art to exhibit a variety of her works from 1990 to the present, with an emphasis on sculptures and installations from the most recent years. Both American artist Lawrence Weiner and German artist Rosemarie Trockel, both of whom Ortwed has known and collaborated with for years, are alongside her. New pieces by Rosemarie Trockel, including two huge photo installations from her “CLUSTER” series, will be on display.The exhibition will feature text-based works created between 1988 and 2012 by Lawrence Weiner, who sadly passed away in December 2021 while the exhibition was being prepared. These works were created expressly for the angular architecture of Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art. Together, these pieces form a creative dialogue concerning the line separating physics from metaphysics and about the commonplace from the strange.
For many years, Kirsten Ortwed has been a key player in reinventing the discipline of sculpture. In 2021, Ortwed returned to Denmark after a protracted period of living and working overseas. She began residing in Cologne, Germany, in 1982 and spent many years working as one of the few female sculptors there. She began working in Italy after representing Denmark at the Venice Biennale in 1997. Ortwed’s works include industrial, geological, and organic materials while drawing inspiration from movements like minimalism, conceptual art, and arte povera—always paying close attention to the process and transition.
Since the 1980s, Ortwed and Trockel have been acquainted and have collaborated on exhibitions. Additionally, Ortwed and Lawrence Weiner met and grew close during that time. In 1999, they put together a sizable exhibition at Malmö Konsthall in which Weiner’s works intersected with Ortwed’s field of floor-mounted objects made of aluminum. There is no aesthetic affinity between Ortwed, Trockel, and Weiner. It is primarily motivated by a desire to push the limits of art using ideas of resistance and modification.
For further questions and/or press images please contact curator Magnus Thorø Clausen [email protected]
Oslo Pl. 1
2100 Copenhagen
Denmark
