instantHERLEV

YEAR: 2004.

GROUP EXHIBITION: Byskovvej 28, DK-2730 Herlev, Denmark.

MATERIALS: Grass, soil, house, garden, video, photograph, film, wood, PVC, posters, and performance.

instantHERLEV is an installation created on the plot where I live. A total of 9 artists and architects contributed their projects, that all take the public space of the Municipality of Herlev as their starting point. Each project is installed in relation to private as well as public space.

I initiated the project instantHERLEV as an artist living in the Municipality of Herlev. The cues for the project are public space and the ways in which artists and architects can initiate a dialogue within the limitations of a given geographical area.

When I first moved to Herlev I imagined that the infrastructure of the municipality might serve as the basis for artistic interpretation. In order to test these ideas in practice I invited 3RW Architects, Yvette Brackman, Marianne Bramsen, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Jakob Jakobsen, Gitte Juul, Jonas Maria Schul and Åsa Sonjasdotter to participate in instantHERLEV with me.

By Danish standards Herlev is a relatively small municipality, a fact that highlights cultural and social differences, for instance when it comes to architecture and urban planning. It was precisely this concentrated visibility that made me interested in using Herlev as a model of larger, global conditions. I tried to emphasize this by inviting participants who work internationally. Using Herlev as a starting point I am interested in posing the question of whether it is possible to affect the reality of social and cultural constructions in order to initiate a different kind of dialogue with visitors and residents. Can such a dialogue change matters in relation to individual anxieties and
prejudices? This is why instantHERLEV deals artistically with problems and phenomena like urban planning, culture clash, sociality and gender in relation to Herlev Municipality, its functions and public spaces. Thus the artists and architects invited have each chosen a place,
a story or a social activity within the boundaries of the municipality before installing their finished projects on my private plot.

BACK TO PROJECTS