Turning Torso

It was my first day in Malmö yesterday.  I'm not going to write about my visit to Moderna Museet today, maybe some other time.  I went to see the tallest building in Scandinavia last evening - Santiago Calatrava's 2005 Turning Torso.  It's a really spectacular tower, gracefully twisting its way up into the air while dwarfing all structures around in this northern land.

Hirst @ ARKEN

Since I am leaving København today, I think I'll post something I was most ecstatic to see while staying here.  Although my visits to Kunsthal Charlottenborg and Dansk Arkitektur Center yesterday have been rewarded with excellent shows (I'll write about them another time), I must admit that I was most excited to see this British artist's works.  Just outside København in Ishøj, ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst has a wide collection of Damien Hirst's works from all his representative series.  Here are some currently on view:

I'll be crossing the border to Sweden's third largest city Malmö this morning.

Social Mobility (Staircase)

I spent my second day in København visiting a couple of heavy-weight museums outside the city.  Both ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art have a lot of Danish content.  Here's an installation by the Danish/Norwegian duo Elmgreen & Dragset at ARKEN just outside København in Ishøj:

Daring Danes

Arrived at København yesterday afternoon.  Since I had time to visit only one gallery - Den Frie Udstillingsbygning - and photography was not allowed, I have no pictures of the exhibition there to share.  The curated group exhibition is titled Space Is The Place.  It taps into the relationship between science fiction and visual art.  Picture of Den Frie Udstillingsbygning:

Den Frie Udstillingsbygning's history has a revolutionary beginning.  Danish artists, too, have impressed me with their daring originality.  My favourite Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's creativity is, without a doubt, truly original.  Danish artist Henrik Olesen's honesty expressing what the public discussion has marginalized, effaced and misrepresented is passionate and daring.  Poster of his 2011 solo exhibition I saw at Basel's Museum für Gegenwartskunst:

Daring bright København colours against the unforgiving grey sky:

Elbphilharmonie im Bau

Herzog & de Meuron's Elbphilharmonie is still under construction but it's already been getting a lot of buzz worldwide ever since its design was first proposed, and I have faithfully paid my visit every time I came to Hamburg.  Since I'm leaving Hamburg early this morning, I had to go and see it up close again last evening.

I have to admit that I didn't take the last picture.  I found it outside their construction site.  By the way, I am heading to København today - my first time ever in Scandinavia.

Lines in space

A couple of surprises at Hamburger Kunsthalle yesterday - I almost missed them since they were both in the old building.  All about expressions of lines in space ...

Jean Leppien's paintings, evident of his Bauhaus background, from his retrospective Vom Bauhaus Zum Mittelmeer:

Monika Grzymala's installation Raumzeichnung (Kubrick) from her solo exhibition Mono Meros:

Rodchenko vs DB Schenker

Since most art venues are closed on Mondays, I saw only one show on my first day in Hamburg.  Bucerius Kunst Forum is hosting this must-see show for fans of Alexander Rodchenko like me.  Drawings, paintings and sculptures by this prophet of a new era at the turn of the 20th century were exhibited.  Since photography was not allowed, I can only share these pictures:

Coincidentally, outside the Kunst Forum at Rathausmarkt, an impromptu show of a different kind was taking place.  I think it's a nice complement to the Rodchenko show inside.  Thanks to the DB Schenker workers.

Posenenske's constructivist space

I'm heading to Hamburg today.  As I'm waving goodbye to Berlin temporarily (I'll come back for a few more days in a couple weeks), there's one other show I saw here that I can't wait to write about.  I first saw Charlotte Posenenske's works six years ago at Documenta 12 in Kassel, and I've been following her ever since.  Her own manifesto from 1968 best summarizes her philosophy:

"The things I make are variable, as simple as possible, reproducible.  They are components of a space, since they are like building elements, they can always be rearranged into new combinations or positions, thus, they alter the space.  I leave this alteration to the consumer who thereby again and anew participates in the creation.  The simplicity of basic geometric forms is beautiful and suited
to the demonstration of the principles of rationalized modifications."

Posenenske at Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin 2013: