Transcript
Steffensen
Erik Steffensen New York, New York
New York, New York Første gang jeg lærte Erik Steffensen at kende var, da vi lå for anker med skibet Activ i ly for en tidlig vinterstorm ved Scoresbysund i det Nordøstlige Grønland. Om bord på skibet var – udover sømænd – en gruppe kunstnere og videnskabsfolk. I fravær af mobildækning, få kvadratmeter og med eneste mulighed at gå udenfor var i stiv kuling og snevejr, endte man med at lære hinanden ekstremt godt at kende. Jeg var midt i en bog af Kim Stanley Robinson – Rød Mars – som netop handlede om 100 videnskabsfolk, som er de første kolonister, der rejser til Mars, og deres praktiske og psykologiske udfordringer ved at oveleve elementerne og hinanden i selvvalgt fangeskab på en kold og gold planet. Ikke ulig den situation vi befandt os i. Vinteren endte med at ramme så hårdt, at vi blev tvunget til at flygte fra et 200 km bredt bælte af drivis og sejle til Island i stedet. Fra det ældste sted på jorden – til det yngste. Undervejs fik vi vandret i klippespalter, henover blokmarker, igennem lavafjelde, over gletsjere og snefaner og sejlet mellem isbjerge og skærgårde. Alt imens vi fortalte historier. Og Erik er en formidabel historiefortæller. Han nægter at anskue folks person som adskilt fra det, de gør. Gennem vores lange snakke fik jeg, ud over et indblik i hans eget liv og ophav fra Valbyengelsk til Desperado, indsigt i Eriks egen personlige kunsthistorie, hvor de enkelte kunstneres arbejde og privatliv blander sig ind og ud af hinanden på en måde, der ligger i krydsfeltet mellem Art Review og People Magazine. Men i stedet for at forblive løsrevet kunstkritik eller privat smuds, så opstår der i Eriks verden og hjerne en utrolig frugtbar blanding af biografisk materiale og kunstnerisk positionering. Gennem ham lærte jeg at se på de beslutninger, jeg selv har taget i mit eget liv og virke, og forstå deres rod fæste i min egen opvækst og familiemønster og ikke blot som logiske reaktioner på forhåndenværende fakta. Erik har dermed fundamentalt transformeret min selvforståelse som arkitekt. Hans egen barndoms mantra: ”Hellere sætte penge til end at lade forretningen stå stille”, gennemsyrer hans rastløse virke som mand og som menneske. Og det er også det, der i denne omgang har sendt ham med kameraet og notesblokken henover Atlanten. Til min store overraskelse gik det op for mig, at de samtaler vi havde, og de steder vi bevægede os, endte med at stå krystalliserede i form af vær ker og tekster i de kommende måneder og år. Som en form for kunstnerisk repor tage udgør Eriks virke en løbende autobiografisk aktivitet, som hele tiden noterer – med blokken og med det antikke kamera, han går rundt med. Og ikke som objek tiv dokumentation i en forgyldt skrapbog, men snarere som en form for løbende Dark Red Lady Liberty, 2015
mytologisering af det liv, man har levet, og de steder, man har været. En insiste-
[EST-15-004]
ren på mening og mystik i den dagligdag, der omgiver en.
Kilimanjaro i røde toner blev en form for realisering af den Mars-ekspedition, hvor jeg lærte Erik at kende. Et foto fra the Washington Mall transformerer the Capitols kuppel og The National Monuments spir til en Moské og Minaret i ekstremt mørke toner, som en måde at påpege en form for universal monumentalitet på tværs af kultur og geografi. Islandske lavafjelde som undersøiske koralformationer. For mig og Erik blev Grønland/Island-ekspeditionen starten på en serie af ekspedi tioner, som gennem årene har bragt os med skiftende grupperinger til toppen af Kilimanjaro til fods, på landevejscykel over Andesbjergene, på ski henover Alperne, med skib ind igennem Norges fjorde. Og senest mellem New Yorks tårne. New York forekommer mig som det ultimative sted for en kunstner med Eriks my tologiserende perspektiv på mennesker og steder. Som ingen anden by har New York formået at producere moderne mytologi. Hvor mange amerikanske byer føles overfladiske eller sterile og savner den historiske forankring eller den akkumulere de forskelligartethed, som gør en by levende og overraskende, så har New York formået at skabe bygninger og kvarterer, som på få årtier er blevet til kulturelle ikoner på lige fod med europæiske kongepaladser og katedraler. Flatirons ikoniske trekantede tårn. Rockefeller centerets klippelignende formationer. De førmoderne skyskraberes tilspidsede silhuetter, de moderne tårnes minimalisti ske monolitter. Sohos udvendige støbejerns brandtrapper og Tribecas glasbygge stens fortove. Indenfor et bymæssigt diagram – Manhattans grid af indekserede gader og boulevarder i tal og bogstaver, der er så hierarkisk og universelt, at man skulle tro det ville føre til en egenskabsløs by, er der udsprunget et bysamfund og en arkitektur, som er en af de mest mangfoldige og inspirerende noget sted i verden. Det egenskabsløse som kanvas for mangfoldighed. Kulturelt, kunstnerisk, arkitektonisk. Og i et Erik Steffensensk-perspektiv: En by som uden tvivl har påvir ket mig og min arkitektur igennem de fem år, jeg nu har boet her. Og af samme årsag en helt indlysende destination og genstand for Eriks manisk mytologiserende undersøgelser med egen krop og eget kamera. Bjarke Ingels, oktober 2015
Green Flatiron Building, 2015 [EST-15-002]
Botanical Garden/Bronx Zoo XX, 2015
Lady Liberty XIV, 2015
Lady Liberty XIX, 2015
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[ESTU-15-066]
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Per Kirkeby Lille relief, 2003 [PKB-03-001]
New York, New York, 2015 [EST-15-006]
Lady Liberty XV, 2015 [ESTU-15-067]
Flatiron Building IV, 2015
Flatiron Building XI, 2015
Flatiron Building XIV, 2015
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Botanical Garden/Bronx Zoo XIII, 2015
Botanical Garden/Bronx Zoo V, 2015
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Botanical Garden/Bronx Zoo XVI, 2015 [ESTU-15-049]
Red Flatiron Building, 2015 [EST-15-001]
Yellow Flatiron Building, 2015 [EST-15-003]
Flatiron Building XIX, 2015
Botanical Garden/Bronx Zoo II, 2015
Botanical Garden/Bronx Zoo I, 2015
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Botanical Red, 2015 [EST-15-008]
Botanical Blue, 2015 [EST-15-009]
Flatiron Building VII, 2015 [ESTU-15-010]
Blue Lady Liberty, 2015 [EST-15-005]
Lady Liberty XVIII, 2015
Flatiron Building XXXI, 2015
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Lady Liberty IX, 2015 [ESTU-15-061]
Lady Liberty XI, 2015
Lady Liberty XIII, 2015
Lady Liberty X, 2015
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[ESTU-15-065]
[ESTU-15-062]
Pink City, 2015 [EST-15-007]
Jeppe Hein Stabile, 2013 [JHS-13-000]
Bjarke Ingels Model of 2 WTC, 2015 [BIS-15-001]
Lady Liberty XVII, 2015
Lady Liberty XVI, 2015
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Lady Liberty XII, 2015 [ESTU-15-064]
New York, New York
Kilimanjaro in red shades became a form of realisation of the Mars expedition where I got to know Erik. A photograph from the Washington Mall transforms the
The first time I got to know Erik Steffensen was when we were anchored on the
Capitol dome and the spire of the National Monument into a mosque and minaret
ship Activ, sheltering from an early winter storm in Scoresbysund in Northeast
in extremely dark shades, as a way of pointing out a kind of universal monumen
Greenland. On board the ship – besides the crew – was a group of artists and sci
tality across the boundaries of culture and geography. Icelandic lava rocks become
entists. With no mobile phone coverage, little space on board, and only being able
undersea coral formations.
to go outside in high winds and snowfall, we ended up getting to know each other extremely well.
For me and for Erik, the Greenland/Iceland expedition became the start of a series of journeys, which over the years have brought us in various groups to the top of
I was reading a book by Kim Stanley Robinson – Red Mars – which was about one
Kilimanjaro on foot, by bicycle across the Andes, skiing across the Alps, and by
hundred scientists who are the first colonists to travel to Mars, and the practical
ship through the fjords of Norway – and most recently, to the towers of New York.
and psychological challenges they encounter in trying to survive the elements and each other in a state of self-chosen captivity on a cold and barren planet. Not unlike
New York seems to me to be the ultimate place for an artist like Erik, with his
the situation in which we found ourselves. The winter ended up being so harsh that
mythologizing perspective on people and places. More than any other city, New
we were forced to flee from a 200 km wide belt of pack ice and sail to Iceland
York has managed to produce modern mythology. While many US cities feel super
instead – from the oldest place on Earth to the youngest.
ficial or sterile, lacking the historical roots and accumulated diversity that makes a city vibrant and surprising, New York has managed to create buildings and neigh
Along the way we traversed crevices and rock fields, crossed lava mountains,
bourhoods that in a few decades have become cultural icons on a par with Euro
glaciers and snow drifts, and sailed among icebergs and archipelagos. And all the
pean royal palaces and cathedrals.
while, we told stories. Erik is a fantastic storyteller. He refuses to regard a person as separate from what they do. In the course of our long conversations, besides
The iconic triangular tower of the Flatiron. The cliff-like formations of the Rocke
hearing about Erik’s own life and upbringing from Valbyengelsk to Desperado, I
feller Center. The tapered silhouettes of the pre-modern skyscrapers, and the
learned about his own personal view of art history, in which the work and private
minimalist monoliths of the modern towers. The external cast iron fire escapes of
lives of the individual artists are interwoven in a manner that resembles a cross
Soho, and the glass brick sidewalks of Tribeca. Within an urban diagram – Manhat
between Art Review and People Magazine. But instead of detaching art criticism
tan’s grid of indexed streets and boulevards labelled with numbers and letters that
or private scandal, in Erik’s world and brain an incredibly fertile mix of biographical
are so hierarchical and universal that you would think it would give rise to a city with
material and artistic positioning arises. Through him I learned to look at the deci
out properties – an urban community and an architecture has emerged that are
sions I have made in my own life and work, and to understand their roots in my
among the most diverse and inspirational of any in the world. The propertyless as
own childhood and family patterns, and not just as logical reactions to the available
a canvas for diversity: cultural, artistic, architectural. And in an Erik Steffensen-like
facts. In that way, Erik fundamentally transformed my view of myself as an archi
perspective: a city that has undoubtedly influenced me and my architecture in the
tect.
five years I have lived here. For the same reason, it is a completely natural desti nation and subject for Eric’s manic, mythologising studies with his own body and
His own childhood mantra: “Better to put money to work than let business stag
camera.
nate”, permeates his restless nature as a man and as a human being. And that was also what, on that occasion, had sent him across the Atlantic with his camera and notepad. To my great surprise, I found that the conversations we had and the places we visited ended up being crystallised in the form of works and texts over the subsequent months and years. As a form of artistic reportage, Erik’s work rep resents an ongoing autobiographical activity in which he is constantly recording – with his notepad and the antique camera he carries around with him. Not as objec tive documentation in a gilded scrapbook, but as a form of ongoing mythologising of the life that you have lived and the places you have been. An insistence on the meaning and mystery of the everyday life that surrounds us.
Bjarke Ingels, October 2015
Erik Steffensen Born In 1961 Copenhagen, Denmark Lives and works in Birkerød and Læsø 1961
Born in Copenhagen
1983-86 Philosophy and Art History at the University
Selected group Exhibitions 2015 The Monochrome Symphony, Artipelag, Gustavberg,
of Copenhagen 1986-92 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen
Sweden 2013 State of the Art, Copenhagen Photo Festival, Slottet,
1998-07 Professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen
Carlsberg, Copenhagen, Denmark 2012
QUINTA ESSENTIA, semina rerum, Zürich, Switzerland
Recollections – of Willumsen, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Works in collections Arken –Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark 2011 Helt ude i Skoven / Out in the wild wood, Galleri Bo
ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark Chase Manhattan, New York, USA
Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark 2010 Fotografier, Kobberstiksamlingen, Statens Museum
Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark
Heart , Herning, Denmark
Fresco After Dark, Fresco, New York, USA
Kristinehamns Konstmuseum, Kristinehamn, Sweden
Dans un Jardin, Frac Haute-Normandie, France
Louisiana – Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
grey light – light grey, semina rerum, Zürich,
Kunsten, Aalborg, Denmark Skive Kunstmuseum, Skive, Denmark
Switzerland AUTOFOCUS, FOCUSAUTO, Projektraum
National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
Viktor Bucher, Vienna, Austria
Swiss Re, Zürich/London, Switzerland/ UK Projects / site specific works Selected solo Exhibitions
2013
Strindberg Lighthouse, VUC, Haderslev, Denmark
2015 New York, New York, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard,
2012
Winter’s Tales, KPMG, Flintholm, Copenhagen,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Denmark
2014 Persona, Museet Holmen, Løgumkloster, Denmark
Stilhedens Gave - Tidebøn i sort-hvid fotografi,
2011 Bridges, Novo Nordisk Fonden, Hellerup, Copen
Løgumkloster kirkes dormitorium, Løgumkloster, Denmark
Decoration, Skejby Hospital, Denmark hagen, Denmark
2010 Cézannes Garden, Center for Protein Research,
2013 Persona, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark
Panum Instituttet, University of Copenhagen, Copen
det måleriska rummet, Konsthallen Hishult, Hishult,
hagen, Denmark
Sweden 2012
Dark and Stormy, Semina Rerum, Zürich, Switzerland
2011 High Five, Kristinehamns Konstmuseum, Kristinehamn, Sweden Blue Notes, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark Blue Notes, Phototek, Esbjerg, Denmark 2010 High Five, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark
Erik Steffensen New York, New York 30 October – 19 December 2015
Works / Værker Red Flatiron Building, 2015
New York, New York, 2015
Flatiron Building VII, 2015
Botanical Garden/
Botanical Garden/
Lady Liberty XI, 2015
Lady Liberty XVI, 2015
Jeppe Hein
Flatiron Building
Metallic paper / Diasec
Black and white gelatin
Bronx Zoo
Bronx Zoo XVI, 2015
Black and white gelatin
Black and white gelatin
Stabile (2013)
Metallic paper / Diasec
90 cm x 135 cm; ed. 5
silver print
Botanical Garden/
Black and white gelatin
silver print
silver print
High polished stainless steel
120 cm x 80 cm; ed. 5
EST-15-006
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
Bronx Zoo I, 2015
silver print
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
(super mirror), varnished steel
ESTU-15-010
Black and white gelatin
40,5 cm x 50,0 cm
ESTU-15-063
ESTU-15-068
210 h x 100 w x 50 d cm
silver print
ESTU-15-049
Edition 1 of 3 (+ 2 AP) JHS-13-000
EST-15-001
Pink City, 2015
Green Flatiron Building, 2015
Metallic paper / Diasec
Flatiron Building XI, 2015
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
Lady Liberty XII, 2015
Lady Liberty XVII, 2015
Flatiron Building
60 cm x 90 cm; ed. 5
Black and white gelatin
ESTU-15-034
Botanical Garden/
Black and white gelatin
Black and white gelatin
Metallic paper / Diasec
EST-15-007
silver print
Bronx Zoo XX, 2015
silver print
silver print
Per Kirkeby
120 cm x 80 cm; ed. 5
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
Botanical Garden/
Garden/Bronx
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
Lille relief, 2003
EST-15-002
Botanical Red, 2015
ESTU-15-014
Bronx Zoo II, 2015
Black and white gelatin
ESTU-15-064
ESTU-15-069
Bronze
Botanical Garden
Black and white gelatin
silver print
26 cm x 95 cm x 69 cm
Yellow Flatiron Building, 2015
Metallic paper / Diasec
Flatiron Building XIV, 2015
silver print
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
Lady Liberty XIII, 2015
Lady Liberty XVIII, 2015
PKB-03-001
Flatiron Building
120 cm x 130 cm; ed. 5
Black and white gelatin
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
ESTU-15-053
Black and white gelatin
Black and white gelatin
Metallic paper / Diasec
EST-15-008
silver print
ESTU-15-035
silver print
silver print
Bjarke Ingels
120 cm x 80 cm; ed. 5
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
Lady Liberty
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
Model of 2 WTC, 2015
EST-15-003
Botanical Blue, 2015
ESTU-15-017
Botanical Garden/
Lady Liberty IX, 2015
ESTU-15-065
ESTU-15-070
Stainless steel
Botanical Garden
Bronx Zoo V, 2015
Black and white gelatin
H. 194 cm
Dark Red Lady Liberty, 2015
Metallic paper / Diasec
Flatiron Building XIX, 2015
Black and white gelatin
silver print
Lady Liberty XIV, 2015
Lady Liberty XIX, 2015
BIS-15-001
Lady Liberty
120 cm x 130 cm; ed. 5
Black and white gelatin
silver print
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
Black and white gelatin
Black and white gelatin
Metallic paper / Diasec
EST-15-009
silver print
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
ESTU-15-061
silver print
silver print
180 cm x 120 cm; ed. 5
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
ESTU-15-038
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
EST-15-004
Flatiron Building
ESTU-15-022
Lady Liberty X, 2015
ESTU-15-066
ESTU-15-071
Botanical Garden/
Black and white gelatin
Flatiron Building IV, 2015 Blue Lady Liberty, 2015
Black and white gelatin
Flatiron Building XXXI, 2015
Bronx Zoo XIII, 2015
silver print
Lady Liberty XV, 2015
Lady Liberty
silver print
Black and white gelatin
Black and white gelatin
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
Black and white gelatin
Metallic paper / Diasec
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
silver print
silver print
ESTU-15-062
silver print
180 cm x 120 cm; ed. 5
ESTU-15-007
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
50,0 cm x 40,5 cm
EST-15-005
ESTU-15-073
ESTU-15-046
ESTU-15-067
FLÆSKETORVET 85 A DK–1711 KØBENHAVN V TEL + 45 33 93 42 21 © Erik Steffensen & Galleri Bo Bjerggaard
[email protected]
Translation from Danish to English: Wordmaster ISBN 978-87-93134-14-0 Thanks to Rosendahls, Altan.dk and Bjarke Ingels. Courtesy of Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark p. 30
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