sif Itona Westerberg

Den Frie Udstillingsbygning (DK)

26. november 2021 - 6. marts 2022

Adresse:

Oslo Plads 1

2100 København Ø

ARVEN

- efter Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen

Arv kan være en kilde til inspiration såvel som et åg – uanset hvad er arv et generationsoverskridende princip, hvor fortiden materialiserer sig i nutiden og er med til at påvirke mulighedsrummet her og nu. Arv kan også være et valg. En kunstner kan vælge at gå i dialog med værker skabt i en anden tid og kontekst. I sådanne tilfælde er det ikke kun fortiden, der påvirker nutiden, det modsatte finder også sted. De værker, der skabes i dag, påvirker vores tilgang til og forståelse af historiske værker og kunstnerskaber.

ARVEN – efter Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen præsenterer nye værker af Nanna Abell, Nina Beier, Hannah Heilmann, Sophia Kalkau, Marie Lund, Rasmus Myrup, Tal R, Jytte Rex, Torben Ribe og Sif Itona Westerberg, der på poetisk og gribende vis aktualiserer og forankrer den danske billedhugger Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens (1863-1945) værk i vores samtid.

I relation til deres egen praksis har kunstnerne forholdt sig til Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens kunstnerskab gennem forskellige berøringsflader som form over tematik og motivverden, til livsverden og materialitet. Med udgangspunkt i kendte rytterstatuer såvel som aldrig realiserede værker varierer deres greb ligeledes fra opløsning af hierarkier til tvist af former og radikale ændringer i skalaforhold.

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen tilhørte kredsen af stiftere af Den Frie Udstilling og var medlem af kunstnersammenslutningen frem til sin død i 1945, der blev markeret med en stor mindeudstilling på Den Frie det efterfølgende år. Med udstillingen ARVEN – efter Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen forbindes hendes historisk vigtige og særegne kunstneriske udsagn til en samtidig kontekst.

Udstillingen er generøst støttet af Carl Nielsen og Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat samt Statens Kunstfond, Dansk Tennis Fond og Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond.

Immemorial

ARoS (DK)

1. Oktober - 23. Jannuar

Ny udstilling på ARoS præsenterer mytologiske skulpturer der handler om, hvordan den menneskelige påvirkning af naturen er accelereret, og hvordan klimakatastrofen lurer i horisonten.

Sif Itona Westerberg (født 1985) er uddannet billedhugger fra Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi i 2014, og i efteråret præsenterer ARoS den hidtil største udstilling af den unge samtidskunstner. Hendes værker trækker ofte på referencer fra antikkens udhuggede billedfriser eller middelalderens farverige ikonografi, hvor hun henter en stor del af sin inspiration fra.

Hendes skulpturelle værker mimer et formsprog, der genkendes i historiske marmorskulpturer, men de er udført i gasbeton, som er et materiale, der primært bruges i byggeindustrien. I blandingen mellem det industrielle materiale og det raffinerede håndværk opstår der en helt særlig kontrast, som både er sensibel og monumental.

”Sif Itona Westerberg læner sig op ad historiske traditioner med den måde, hun hugger sine skulpturer på. Men fordi hun benytter et moderne materiale, bliver hendes kunst aldrig støvet eller fastlåst. Hun skaber i stedet et sitrende udtryk, der både formår at se tilbage og frem i tiden,” siger museumsinspektør og udstillingsansvarlig Jakob Vengberg Sevel, ARoS.

En udstilling i tre akter

Udstillingen bliver vist i det 420 kvadratmeter store Focus-galleri på niveau 5 og er opdelt i tre akter. Første akt House of Dionysus viser værker, der alle forholder sig til den græske mytologiske figur Dionysos, som var gud for vin og ekstase. I denne serie af skulpturer indgår House of Dionysus (I) og House of Dionysus (III), som efter en donation fra Ny Carlsbergfondet blev del af museets samling tidligere på året.

Andet akt er en helt ny værkserie Sawn Song, der udstilles for første gang på ARoS og som tager udgangspunkt i den græske myte om Faeton. Som søn af solguden Helios forsøgte Faeton at styre sin fars solvogn, hvilket resulterede i at han stak ild til himmelen. Med denne værkserie beskriver Sif Itona Westerberg Faetons ulykke som historiens første menneskeskabte klimakatastrofe.

Udstillingens tredje og sidste akt består af værker fra serien Fountain, der blev vist på Tranen i Hellerup i 2019. Værkerne tager udgangspunkt i hybride væsner fra den europæiske middelalder, som er kombinereret med moderne genredigeringsteknologi. Teknologien gør det muligt at krydse arter og blande væv og DNA på en måde, som man tidligere kun har kunnet drømme om. Også her ser Sif Itona Westerberg både tilbage og frem i tiden, når hun forbinder middelalderen med moderne videnskab og derigennem undersøger hybridens potentiale.

Sif Itona Westerberg tager livtag med nogle af de store fortællinger, som danner grundlag for vores civilisation og kombinerer dem med moderne og fremtidige emner. Hendes værker udfolder de problematikker, der udspiller sig i en tidsalder, hvor grænserne mellem teknologi, menneske og natur synes at være udviskede.

Udstillingen er blevet til gennem samarbejde mellem ARoS, Sif Itona Westerberg og Gether Contemporary og gjort mulig med støtte fra Statens Kunstfond, Becket Fonden, Den Heilmstierne- RosencroneskeStiftelse, H+H, Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fonds, Knud højgaards fond og Aage og Johanne Louis-hansens fond.

Gether Contemporary have the great pleasure of announcing Sif Itona Westerberg’s debuting solo exhibition with the gallery “House of Dionysus” which will open Friday 21 August. The exhibition will also be part of this year’s Chart Art Fair, which due to the Corona virus, will take place de-centred in each participating gallery with a special program 28 - 30 August.

“House of Dionysus” will transform the gallery space into a scene of a procession in honour of the greek deity of wine and ecstacy, Dionysus.The cult of Dionysus has been known through wild parties and orgies to represent inhibition and loss of control, which in turn represents a potential for change, where one can become something more and other than oneself. Also the cult represents a deep and mystic connection with nature, something which the modern world has gone to great lengths to suppress, but now once more seems relevant in light of our current environmental and health crisis.

The exhibition will consist of a number of large stone reliefs meticulously carved out by hand arcing back to classical techniques but applied to contemporary industrial materials. The works, made out of aerated concrete pierced by industrial bolts to serve as methods of hanging, create a stark contrast to Itona Westerberg’s refined technique and the classical source material.

Through reworking classical imagery and morphing it with a multitude of different styles and perspectives Sif Itona Westerberg casts a light on the shadowy, subcultural and suppressed sides of humanity and our society, which in our modern rational world has been pushed aside or ignored.

Sif Itona Westerberg is a visual artist, working and living in Copenhagen. She holds a MFA from The Danish Royal Arts Academy. She works primarily within the field of sculpture, from where she examines new ecologies, relations and aesthetics within the anthropocene area.

The show is supported by the danish Arts Council

photos: David Stjernholm

TO THE RIVER

KIRA FREIJE, ANU PÕDER, SIF ITONA WESTERBERG

Gianni Manhattan, Wassergasse 14, 3010 Vienna. Austria

may 8th - June 20th 2020

“A river passing through a landscape catches the world and gives it back redoubled: a shifting, glinting world more mysterious than the one we customarily inhabit. Rivers run through our civilisations like strings through beads,”

– LAING, O., 2017. To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface. London: Canongate Canons.

All land is part of a watershed or river basin and is shaped by the water which flows over it and through it. It’s ever-changing bed, banks and groundwater below are all integral parts of a river. Even the meadows, forests, marshes and backwaters of its floodplain are part of its reach and can be seen as part of a river – and the river as part of them.

Nature constantly bears the inscriptions of time and force. Landscapes and the rivers that shape them always and inevitably speak of a past. The riverscape is what is left behind, defined by loss, an evolving force that connects the past with the present.

To the River draws parallels between the relentless carving of a river and a feeling of grief and loss, and questions how in both instances it seems that memory has always a physical manifestation and that the past is both a genetic and a quaternary sediment.

“There is no possibility of permanent tenancy on this circling planet. It isn’t part of the deal.” – LAING, O., 2017. To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface. London: Canongate Canons.

Kira Freije’s sculptures are welded metal straps that trace a forgotten body, a mnemonic exoskeleton. Freije salvages scrap metal, welds and heats it to give her material a potency and allow it to form a language of its own. To salvage can also mean to save something from loss and Freije’s sculptures translate this concept as a way to give agency to the discarded, neglected and re-assembled.

Anu Põder’s Lickers and Honeycomb (both 2007) were originally conceived for Põder’s last solo show Super at the Tallinn Art Hall gallery. Echoing their initial display, the Lickers face the opaque wall of honey suppers which divides the room not only by sight but also by smell. The sweet waxy scent of honey that surrounds Honeycomb seems at contrast to the metal veneer of the Lickers. Despite their differing materiality both works speak to the structure of memory by embracing logic and intuition.

Sif Itona Westerberg’s wall reliefs take their starting point from weathered medieval corbels and bleached out frescos. Lethe – meaning oblivion or forgetfulness in classic Greek – was one of the five rivers in Hades. It was said to be running through the cave of Hypnos and according to legend was omitted light and sound.

Westerberg reclaims and blends stories, iconographies and hegemonic power structures to think about the trajectories of history, community building, archaeology and the epistemology that follows from it.

Exhibitions

Åndemaner - A Spiritual Obsession

Group show with works by Carl-Henning Pedersen, Marie Kølbæk Iversen, Sif Itona Westerberg,

Emil Westman Hertz, Astrid Myntekær, Rune Bosse.

17 January - 29 February 2020

september 14th - October 28th

Adress:

Oslo Plads 1

2100 CPH Ø

UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTERS – POSSIBLE FUTURES: COSMIC EXISTENCE

The exhibition explores human existence from a cosmic perspective, opening an infinite, utopian realm that transcends the limits of human categories and existence. All conventional thinking is abolished to make way for radical mutations and anarchistic evolutions.

The philosophical inspiration for the exhibition comes from Russian Cosmism, an avant-garde movement on the borderland between art, mysticism, science and activist speculation about the future. The exhibition is also closely connected to science fiction and its ability to think in radically alternative paradigms and expanded spheres of action. By linking contemporary art and science fiction the exhibition explores a wide range of scenarios for the future, giving visitors the opportunity to ‘invent’ the world anew.

- PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:
Ann Lislegaard, Arturs Virtmanis, Astrid Myntekær, Center for Militant Futurologi, Ferdinand Ahm Krag, Georg Jagunov, Honey Biba Beckerlee, Ivan Pérard, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Kristaps Epners, Lea Porsager, Ieva Balode, Marie Kølbæk Iversen, Mille Kalsmose, Sif Itona Westerberg, Viktor Timofeev and Xeropolis.

- A TRANSNATIONAL COLLABORATION
The exhibition 'Cosmic Existence' is part of the transnational project 'Unexpected Encounters – Possible Futures', a collaboration between Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art in Copenhagen and the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in Riga. 'Cosmic Existence' at the Den Frie is the first exhibition of the project. Its next iteration will be held in Riga December 2019. 'Unexpected Encounters - Possible Futures' is one of the events of the Latvia’s Centenary celebrations.

http://denfrie.dk/udstilling/cosmic-existence/

Sif Itona Westerberg

Fountain

18.05.2019-15.08.2019

Tranen,

Gentofte Hovedbibliotek,

Ahlmanns Alle 6

2900 Hellerup (DK)

visit www.tranen.nu for more info

Photo: David Stjernholm

-- scroll down for Danish version --

Creatures composed of different animals were once the domain of mythology. Today, such creatures are cultivated by the very same modern science, which systematically has challenged religious worldviews, superstition and the existence of supernatural beings. Chimeras no longer simply designate the kind of fire breathing mythological creatures, composed of lion, goat, and snake, which we find on ancient Greek pottery. Since the 20th century, the concept also applies to mixing cells from different animals within biology and genetic research.

Hybrids and relics are recurring themes in the work of Sif Itona Westerberg. In her installation Fountain, the Danish artist processes historical representations of composite creatures at a time when such creations no longer simply bear witness to a bygone era. Itona Westerberg’s hybrids, carved and shaped in aerated concrete panels, are based on imagery from legends and myths. Her sculptures are a reminder of what human imagination is capable of. However, what human beings could only dream of, describe and depict in medieval times, is now something researchers actively work on creating and bring to life.In recent years, international researchers have carried out a series of controversial laboratory experiments. In the USA, researchers have injected sheep embryos with human cells with the declared goal of growing human organs for transplantation. In China, monkey brains have been enriched with human brain cells – an experiment whose purpose critics question. CRISPR gene editing, which allows for cutting and pasting DNA strings, is but one among other new technologies that open up vast possibilities of manipulation of existing fauna and flora.   

Itona Westerberg’s installation does not present itself as futurology about new biotechnology or eco-systems. Her work is rather a meditation on the metamorphoses of life from mutations in the primeval soup to the journey from water to land towards gene modification and manipulation of plant and animal species. However, in this exhibition there is no chronological timeline from past to present to future. Remnants from different time periods wildly weave in and out of each other. The exhibition, which takes the form of a fountain, is built around medieval hybrid creatures that spew water out of their mouth. The water is collected in tubs of polyester, which contain fabricated deposits of trilobites extinct 252 million years ago next to scientific visualization models of DNA strings. The water is pumped back via hoses through pipes of aluminum, which has found application within everything from construction work to design since the 20thcentury. If the exhibition is contemporary art, it is however not solely a picture of our specific moment in time.   

The title word ‘fountain’ is derived from the Latin word for spring or source. Fountainmarks not so much where something comes from but rather wherefrom something continually flows. In Itona Westerberg’s work, hybrids and chimeras aren’t treated as obscure mythological creatures, which science and enlightenment once discarded as mere fiction, but as creations that new research endows with new life.

The creatures which Itona Westerberg has carved in aerated concrete are sourced from adornments of cathedrals and scripts. In medieval times, illuminated manuscripts - where text is framed by ornaments and images - teemed with hybrid figures. While the text was considered holy, the margin allowed for profane and pagan fantasies of fabulous beings contrary to the Christian teachings of distinct species anchored in an eternal God-given world order. Today, when humans are equipped with ever more advanced prostheses, implants, and speculations about homo sapiens as but one step on the road towards a post-human future, hybrids are once again objects of indignation and fascination.

The exhibition is accompanied by a selection of fiction and non-fiction books curated by Itona Westerberg. The books have served the artist as inspiration during the making of Fountainand additionally serve the public as alternative points of entry into the exhibition. 

Toke Lykkeberg
Director of Tranen

Sif Itona Westerberg (b. 1985, DK) lives and works in Copenhagen. She has studied at The Royal Danish Art Academy and among others exhibited at ARoS Triennial and Odense Sculpture Triennial. Fountainis Itona Westerberg’s first institutional solo show.

Fountainis the fourth exhibition in Tranen’s program about extemporary art. The focus is on contemporary art that is not primarily focused on our contemporary condition. When everything from climate to technology evolves at ever greater pace, the present becomes ephemeral and intangible. The present starts to shrink. Meanwhile, our knowledge of the past increases. Speculations about the future abound. As part of this development, much art is no longer contemporary, which literally means ‘with time.’ Instead, art is rather ‘extemporary, i.e. ‘out of time’. 

Væsner sammensat af forskellige dyr var engang mytologiernes gebet. I dag dyrkes sådanne skabninger inden for den selv samme moderne videnskab, der op igennem historien systematisk har udfordret religiøse verdensbilleder, folketro og eksistensen af overnaturlige væsner. Kimærer kalder man ikke længere blot de ildspyende blandingsvæsner, der er sammensat af løve, ged og slange og fremstilledes på bl.a. oldgræske vaser. Begrebet dukker siden det 20. århundrede også op inden for biologien og genforskningen, bl.a. i forbindelse med blandinger af celler f.eks. fra forskellige dyrearter. 

Hybrider og fortidslevn er et tilbagevendende tema i Sif Itona Westerbergs arbejde. Hendes nye totalinstallation Fountaintager form af et springvand. Her bearbejder den danske kunstner historiske fremstillinger af sammensatte væsner på et tidspunkt, hvor disse skabninger ikke længere blot er vidnesbyrd om en svunden fortid. Itona Westerbergs hybrider, der er udhugget og sammensat af gasbetonplader, er baseret på billedsprog fra sagn og myter. Hendes figurer er påmindelser om, hvad den menneskelige forestillingsevne til forskellige tider kan kaste af sig. Hvad mennesket f.eks. i middelalderen blot kunne forestille sig, beskrive og afbilde, arbejdes der i dag også aktivt på at fremstille og give liv. De sidste par år har internationale forskere realiseret en serie af kontroversielle laboratorieeksperimenter. I USA har man udviklet fårefostre indeholdende små mængder af menneskelige celler - blandt andet med det erklærede mål at gro menneskelige organer til transplantation. I Kina har man beriget aber med menneskelige hjerneceller, hvis formål af kritikere betvivles. CRISPR gen-redigering, der tillader at klippe og klistre i DNA strenge, er en blandt andre nye teknologier, der åbner uanede muligheder for manipulering af eksisterende dyre- og plantearter. 

Itona Westerbergs installation tager sig ikke ud som kunstnerisk fremtidsforskning i bioteknologi eller nye økosystemer. Den er snarere en meditation over livets metamorfoser fra mutationerne i ursuppen over rejsen fra vand til land mod genmodificeret og –redigeret flora og fauna. I udstillingen aftegner sig ikke en tidslinie fra fortid over nutid til fremtid. Fund fra forskellige tider fletter sig snarere vildt ind og ud af hinanden. Udstillingen er bygget op omkring middelalderens hydbridvæsner, der spyer vand ud af munden. Vandet opsamles i kar af polyester, som rummer fabrikerede aflejringer af trilobitter, der uddøde for 252 millioner år siden – side om side med videnskabelige visualiseringsmodeller af DNA-strenge. Vandet pumpes tilbage via slanger i rør af aluminium, der siden midten af det 20. århundrede har fundet anvendelse inden for alt fra design til byggeindustri. Hvis udstillingen er samtidskunst, er den imidlertid ikke blot et billede på, hvad der udelukkende rører sig i vores tid. 

Titelordet ’fountain’ betyder springvand og er afledt af det latinske ord for udspring eller kilde. Fountainmarkerer ikke så meget, hvorfra noget kommer, men snarere hvorfra noget til stadighed flyder. I Itona Westerbergs arbejde behandles hybrider og kimærer ikke så meget som de obskure fortidslevn, som videnskab og oplysning har aflivet som opspind, men snarere som billeder den ny forskning giver nyt liv. 

Væsnerne, som Itona Westerberg har udhugget i gasbeton, finder deres forlæg i gamle udsmykninger af katedraler og manuskripter. I middelalderens bogmaleri, hvor tekst blev indrammet af billeder og ornamenter, optræder en mangfoldighed af hybride væsner. Imens teksten var hellig, tillod margin mere profane og hedenske fantasier om fabeldyr i strid med den kristne lære om distinkte arters forankring i en gudgiven, uforanderlig verdensorden. I dag, hvor mennesker udstyres med stadig flere og mere avancerede proteser og implantater og spekulationer om homo sapiens som blot et skridt på vejen mod en posthuman fremtid tager til, er hybrider på ny genstand for forargelse og fascination. 

Fountain ledsages af et udvalg af fag- og skønlitterære bøger kurateret af Itona Westerberg. Bøgerne har været referencer for kunstneren under arbejdet og tjener publikum som andre indgange til udstillingen.

Toke Lykkeberg
Leder af Tranen

Sif Itona Westerberg (1985, DK) bor og arbejder i København. Hun er uddannet på Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi og har bl.a. udstillet på ARoS Triennale og Odense Skulptur Triennale. Fountainer Itona Westerbergs første institutionelle soloudstilling. 

Fountainer fjerde udstilling i Tranens program med ekstemporær kunst. Fokus er på den del af samtidskunsten, som ikke er fokuseret på samtiden. Når alt fra økosystemer til teknologi udvikler sig med stadig højere hastighed, bliver samtiden flygtig og uhåndgribelig. Den skrumper. Til gengæld vokser vor viden om fortiden konstant. Spekulationer om fremtiden tager til. Som del af denne bevægelse er megen samtidskunst ikke længere kontemporær, hvilket bogstaveligt talt vil sige ’med tiden.’ I stedet er den ’ekstemporær’, altså ’ude af tiden.’ 

Udstillingen er blevet til med støtte fra:

Statens Kunstfond

Statens Værksteder for Kunst

Knud Højgaards fond

H+H

Cosmic Commuters,

2017, dimentions variable,

fiberbeton, stål, pigment

Foto: David Stjernholm

Til Udstillingen Becoming Human i Odense Zoo har Sif Itona Westerberg skabt en serie skulpturer i fiberbeton. I skovbrynet på en kunstig ø snor og bugter de sig som nye arter i den zoologiske have. Afventende og udforskende titter de frem fra buskadset og venter på at undersøge og blive undersøgt.

Som løsrevne lemmer, og legende streger er hænder og læber stukket af fra kroppens fængsel. De er exo-indvolde og hyper skærpede sanser, leddeløse enheder, skjulte passager og hulrum i det menneskelige, vendt på vrangen. De er kroppe transcenderet til bevægelser og strømme, de er klar til en ny verdensorden. De er de sidste og de første mennesker på jorden.

Becoming Human

Skulptur Odense 17

6th of may 2017

Odense Zoo

press:

https://www.idoart.dk/kalender/skulptur-odense-17-becoming-human

https://kunsten.nu/journal/transformationer-i-odense/

https://kunsten.nu/journal/transformationer-i-odense/

Kunsthal Charlottenborg

Afgang 2014

Post affirmative society, post food chains, post supermarket chains, post factories, post traffic jams, post efficiency, post maternity leave, post extended office hours, post home investments, post GMO cornfields, post bioengineering, post crisis, post cancer, post assaulted personal sphere, post creative management, post trippleshot hazelnut macchiato on the go, post elevators, post radiation, post fossil fuels, post economic growth spurt, post convulsive beauty, post Global Warming, post forever young, post Fuck For Forrest, post conscious consumerism, post 9 to 5 your way out of this, post Fairtrade Organic Pineapple in January, post Yoga, post H2O, post MegaMass 4000, post back to basics attempts, post working class heroes, post democratic warfare, post the rising of the masses, post NATO, post EU, post ergodynamic footwear, post white mans burden, post first world problems, post joined armed forces, post lip on lip action, post Greener City advocates, post lifeboats, post borders, post nations, post baked goods, post sunscreen, post implosion, post collapse, post work related hazards from sitting all day long, post bureaucratic release forms, post obesity epidemics, post public restrooms, post private property, post Collective Commons, post surplus value, post Slothism, post military, post post la petit mort, post mass extinction, post banana chocolate chip dairy ice cream, post monumental promises, post ecliptic architecture, post politicians, post liposuction, post famen, post Arctic, post Real Estate, post Lotto, post redemption, post retreat, post all you can eat seafood buffet, post holocaustic chicken farming, post human, post Office.

2014, Plaster, steel, 110 cm x 10 m 

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