Lene Adler Petersen – Space and Things
Experience one of Denmark's most significant feminist artists, whose unique universe examines the home as a feminist battlefield full of beauty, freedom and revolutionary action.
About the exhibition
Space and Things provide an opportunity to experience works that have not previously been exhibited together. Including new works from Adler Petersen's negative archive and deposits from other museums as well as the artist herself.
Lene Adler Petersen has been one of the most significant figures in Danish contemporary art since the late 1960s. Her multi-stranded artistry spans actions, painting, drawing, sound, graphics, ceramics, text, books, film and photography.
Adler Petersen is behind a series of iconic art actions, where she challenges the perception of gender, politics and the role of art in society, among other things. She is probably best known for the ground-breaking action "The Female Christ" (1969), where she walked naked and with a cross in her hand through the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, as a feminist statement created in collaboration with artist Bjørn Nørgaard. An action that still stands as one of the most significant feminist actions in Danish art history.
From political protests to the poetry of everyday objects
Space and Things provide an unprecedented look into Adler Petersen's impressive work and dive into her pioneering career from the late 1960s onwards, focusing on her experimental work with photography, film and text and highlighting key works such as Diary from Eks-skolen's print shop (1974), Opsatser (1980) and the iconic collaboration with Bjørn Nørgaard on The Female Christ (1969).
Rarely shown works are brought together in Space and Things, where Adler Petersen's fascination with space and things is central. Her sharp look at love, relationships and the structures of society is expressed in a way that is both personal and universal, poetic and political. Adler Petersen has a special ability to give everyday spaces and objects new, poetic meanings, and her works manage to connect the intimate with the critical.
It is a consistent feature in many of her works – including in her photographic work series Soltegninger (1977-1979), where she simply and focused documents the inflow of light in her home and studio. Here, the photographs capture the transient patterns and shadows on walls, floors and objects created by the penetration of sunlight into the room. In this way, an apparently simple everyday phenomenon is transformed into fleeting, delicate and almost intimate images, full of change and spatial relationships.
Experience an artist who throughout her career has challenged our human imaginations, and with her deeply engaging artistry has left a lasting mark on Danish art history. Her works still stand as deeply relevant contributions to our understanding of the world.
About the artist
Lene Adler Petersen (born 1944) was educated at Det Jyske Kunstakademi 1964-1966 and Royal Danish Academy of Arts 1968-69.
Throughout her career, she has been a central figure in several of Denmark's most influential artist groups, including the avant-garde Eks-Skolens Trykkeri and Arme og Ben in the 1960s and 70s, as well as the experimental film group ABCinema. Here, together with a number of other leading artists, including Bjørn Nørgaard, Paul Gernes, Per Kirkeby, Erik Hagens, Jørgen Leth, Ursula Reuter Christiansen and Richard Winther, she has investigated the limits of what art can and should be.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Adler Petersen received several large decoration assignments, which is why her art is present in many collective spaces. Among other things, she has epoch-making works at Herlev County Hospital, Horsens City Hall and Tørring high school, just as her impressive human height sculpture Krukken as a means of transport adorns the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg.
In 1996, Lene Adler received the Petersen Eckersberg Medal, which is awarded to artists who "have made an effort of high artistic quality within the free or bound art".
The exhibition is supported by Det Obelske Familiefond and Statens Kunstfond.
