Graduation show 2018

The Drama Graduation 18. Funen Art Academy’s graduation exhibition at Brandts 13
18 May to 1 July 2018. Vernissage Thursday, 17 May, 17:00

Artists: Pernille Kragh Christensen, Bertil Osorio Heltoft, Anna Weber Henriksen, Jeppe Jørgensen, Lea Momberg, Rasmus Myrup, Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen, Helene Vestergaard.

Curator: Charlotte Sprogøe

The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to life.
– Oscar Wilde, The Truth of Masks: a Note on Illusion

17 May marks the opening of this year’s graduation exhibition at Funen Art Academy, where the audience is introduced to a whole new group of graduating artists from one of Europe’s highly distinguished art academies.

This year’s graduating class comprises a number of young artists who, in the course of their five-year education in Odense, have contributed to Funen’s art scene with the establishment of artist-run exhibition spaces, project spaces and events. At the same time, they have formed a portal, from the local environment to the international art scene, through their meetings with guest teachers and their exchanges with other academies and other European art centres: Paris, Stockholm, Frankfurt etc. It is, in other words, a particularly well-versed and actively performing troupe of artists that are presented in grand scale this summer in Odense.

This year’s graduate exhibition unfolds in one of Denmark’s first major buildings created specifically for the purpose of experiencing art. It is this beautiful, classical museum, previously Funen Art Museum, that has now become Brandts 13, and which will be the new home of Funen Art Academy as of next autumn. Here, behind the pediment and frieze of Nordic history, depictions of the world through the lens of Funen’s artists have been shown since the museum was founded in 1885.

With its title, The Drama, this year’s exhibition makes reference to the theatre, to a group of actors with each their character and position, and to the stage space with its open plan, where everything from masquerades to performances to scenarios can play out. A drama arises whenever an actor takes the stage and initiates an action. After this, anything can happen; from the epic to the intimate, the dramatic to the poetic.

The artists work with a number of media, spanning painting, drawing, film, virtual reality, sculpture and research-based work. What is shared is the installation, which disperses the works and establishes their relation to the space. In addition, a number of works are based on manuscripts—dialogue, monologue and narration.

The Drama opens with a prologue in the front hall and continues on the main stage in the museum’s sculpture hall. The exhibition then moves up the stairway behind the balcony to the backstage, where one finds an artist’s workshop, and finally up top on the second floor, to the intimate stage, where a utopian scenario plays out.

Curator
Curator Charlotte Sprogøe has previously guested Odense as curator of Skulptur Odense 14. She has previously held positions at the National Gallery of Denmark, U-turn Quadrennial for Contemporary Art, as head curator at Kunsthal Aarhus, artistic director of Copenhagen Photo Festival and director of Tranen. She works as an independent curator with focus on the younger international contemporary art scene.

The exhibition is open from 18 May to 1 July 2018

In connection with the exhibition, Funen Art Academy will publish a catalogue designed by Studio Rosenmunthe, which will be launched on 2 June at 14:00 at Brandts 13.
Download catalogue as pdf here

The exhibition is supported by: the Toyota Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation and the HC Andersen Festival.

Thanks to: Gæsteatelier Hollufgård, Fyns Grafiske Værksted, Jonas Vang Hansen, Stine Nygaard, Heidi Nikolaisen, Laboratoriet for grafik og maleri, Drift og Anlæg, Park og Vej – Odense Municipality, The Royal Danish Theatre – Ballet School Odense, Birgitte Kragh, Helen Kragh, Anne Kragh Christensen, Sara Kragh Christensen, Morten Dall, Brandts værksted, curator Ellen Egemose & curator Anna Krogh.

Brandts 13
Jernbanegade 13
Odense
+45 65 20 70 00

Opening hours:
Wednesday to Sunday 10-17
Thursday 12-21