DHis mask fell on Denmark, and the other man’s surprise Art Fair It can be held almost unlimitedly in Copenhagen, and the Charlottenburg Art Gallery has almost no borders. Visitors to the 9th CHART crowded together, and the most common sentence was: “Isn’t it incredible?” For exhibition director Nanna Hjortenberg, it felt like “Christmas”.
Last year, the event founded by the Copenhagen gallerist confidently described itself as “the leading event in Nordic contemporary art”, but had to be separated due to the corona crisis: the gallerist did not exhibit in one place, but in five places. The capital of Scandinavia. The concentration of female works ensures the cohesion of the concept, but this is not an art fair in the true sense. Now, 37 exhibitors gather in the former castle again, almost no less than in 2019. There are 26 galleries from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and 11 non-spaces.
This time the proportion of female artists is around 50%. The curator’s program strengthened the network characteristics, the online journal asked about the future of the fair’s operations, and a small boutique book fair was added in which publishers displayed artist books and printed publications. After a year and a half of the pandemic forced a digital push, Nanna Hjortenberg focused on the body, touch, and direct contact with art.
Scandinavia in America
The pandemic confirms CHART’s down-to-earth focus on Scandinavia and the rest of Europe.However, links in the United States need to be strengthened: Buffalo will be exhibiting at the show AKG As a partner, the Art Museum intends to set up a gallery to showcase contemporary Nordic art in a new privately funded building on both sides of the Atlantic next year.
The installation “Framing Presence” created by Hannah Toticki in 2020/21 looks like a memorial to the present, because real contact is possible. The artist represented by the Danish gallery SPECTA created a seat structure for two people, separated by a translucent film. The rectangular cut reveals the face-not the screen. The fact that this ironic piece of furniture pays tribute to Marina Abramović and Ulay adds to its appeal (16,200 euros).
Face to face
Trine Søndergaard has an antidote to too much “screen time”: in her historical photos of women taken at Martin Asbæk Gallery (42,000 Danish Kroner) in 2020, it is reminiscent of Jan Vermeer. As in “Becky” from Gerhard RichterThe protagonist in Jenni Hiltunen’s paintings by Galerie Forsblom is also tired of watching and being watched. Finnish collectors should be happy to see that her unpleasant cheerful figure is now also made into ceramics (1,500 to 5,500 euros).
On the other hand, Norwegian Wiebke Tandberg performed a facial diagnosis at OSL Contemporary Gallery with a gloomy and serious expression: she photographed herself with a disfigured rubber mask, and then acted as a male elderly person; an AP version of the “old man” was added in March 2019/20 The series of photos can be purchased separately at a price of NOK 42,000. Anna-Karin Rasmusson, exhibited by Cecilia Hillström Gallery, is even more ruthless: in the 2021 four-channel video “The Order of Things”, her other self cries black tears and riots a masked child (5th edition; 15,000 euros).
You can breathe a sigh of relief with Eeva Karhu. Representatives of the Helsinki School created landscapes with time depth by superimposing photos created in the same way over a long period of time. Starting in 2021, the scattered openness of the large-format pigment print “En pleine air, Summer 1” of the Persons Project will remind many walks that meet the corona standard (7500 euros).
On the other hand, the appearance of the Oslo gallery Peder Lund is expansive: its installation inspired by Constantine Brâncuși’s photographic work “Vue de l’atelier” reaches its limit: Louise Bourgeois, Ida Ekblad, Isa Genzken’s works, Luo Ni Horne, Liz Lanner, Paul McCarthy, Lucas Samaras and Franz West have unified arrangements (from US$35,000 to US$450,000).
Dive into a Chinese restaurant with VR
The bony white interior of the artist Lap-See Lam contrasts with this colorful star battle. The furniture from the 3D printer was transported to the ghostly China together with the virtual reality device “Phantom Banquet”. It looked like the item in the shipwreck had been found-hijacking the restaurant among the diaspora (VR 360 degree video, 4 + 2 AP version; 35,000 euros); Galerie Nordenhake hopes to win a museum as a buyer.
The gallery owner Tuva Trondsdatter Trønsdal from Golsa has already succeeded in doing this: SKMU Sørlandets Art Museum recently purchased a sculpture made from mushroom mycelium by Johanne Hestvold. Other Norwegian objects can be seen on CHART, which combines the form of disposable packaging with a map of the park with unusual materials (from 10,000 to 13,000 euros).
For collectors who are less interested in organics, nature is a painting object rather than a work material: wild flowers in paintings by Kristín Morthens near Reykjavík Pula; Sif Itona Westerberg of Gether Contemporary combines humans and Animal mythology is combined in relief; Emma Hartmann’s ethereal landscape painting in Galleri Andersson / Sandström. The light of the north shines again.
The entrance fee is 125 krona (less than 17 euros).
