Æter / Aether

Danish:

Projektet Æter tager begrebet ’æter’ op som metafor for det, der ikke kan måles og vejes. Kunstnerne udfordrer deres materialers fysiske begrænsninger, som gørdet muligt for værkerne også at være broer mellem domæner. Bogen omfatter fuldfarve illustrationer af værkerne, der zoomer helt ind på deres materialitet, såvel som viser den bredere perspektiv, om hvordan de forholder sig stofligt til det æteriske.

De forskellige fagligheder der har arbejdet sammen om projektet, har udviklet ny viden og tilgange til ideen om æteren gennem research, der har fokuseret ikke kun på koncepter men også materialerne, som den altid foranderlige æter interagerer med. Videnskabshistoriker Helge Kragh fra Niels Bohr Instituttet har skrevet om æter som koncept fra Aristoteles til Einstein, mens kunshistoriker Christopher Sand-Iversen har fokuseret på konceptets kunst- og kulturelle historie hos futuristerne Boccioni og Balla, Kandinsky, og de russiske konstruktivister, såvel som i forholdet mellem fotografi og spiritualisme.

Psykolog og fænomenolog Tone Roald fra Københavns Universitet har interviewet keramiker Pekka Paikkari om sit forhold til ‘stoffet’ - pysisk som psykologisk. Til sidst er der en kort, poetisk undersøgelse af fænomenet ‘petrichor’, og hver af de 12 kunstnere har skrevet om deres forhold til æter i deres praksis.

Bogen Æter er lavet i forbindelse med udstillingen af samme navn, som blev vist på KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad 13. januar – 2. juni 2024.

English:

The project Aether takes up the concept of ‘the ether’ as a metaphor for that which cannot be measured and weighed. The artists challenge the physical restraints of their materials, allowing the works to became bridges between domains. The book features full colour reproductions of their works that zoom right in to their materiality, as well as showing the wider perspective of how they engage materiality with the ethereal.

The specialists who have worked together on the project have developed new knowledge and approaches to the idea of the ether, through research focused not only on concepts but also the materials, with which the ever-changing ether interacts. Historian of science Helge Kragh of the Niels Bohr Institute has written about the scientific history of the concept of the ether from Aristotle to Einstein, while art historian Christopher Sand-Iversen has focused on its art and cultural history, in the works of the Futurists Boccioni and Balla, Kandinsky, and the Russian Constructivists, as well in the relation between photography and spiritualist seances.

Psychologist and phenomenologist Tone Roald, University of Copenhagen, has interviewed ceramicist Pekka Paikkari about his relationship to his ‘material’ - both physical and psychological. Finally, there is a brief, poetic exploration of petrichor, and each of the 12 artists has written about their own relation to the ether through their practice.

The book Aether was produced in connection with the exhibition of the same name, shown at Silkeborg Bad Art Centre from 13 January to 2 June 2024.

Koncept og kuratering / Concept and curation

Vinni Frederiksen og/and Ane Fabricius Christiansen

Værker af / Works by

Hanne Friis, Anett Biliczki, Grethe Wittrock, Kasper Kjeldgaard, Barbara Skovmand, Ane Fabricius Christiansen, Inge Lise Westman, Lise Seier Petersen, Vinni Frederiksen, Erna Skúladottír, Pekka Paikkari, Pipaluk Lake

Essays af / by

Helge Krah, Neils Bohr Institute; Christopher Sand-Iversen, SixtyEight Art Institute; Tone Roald, University of Copenhagen

Softcover, 216 sider/pages, fuld farve illustrationer/full colour reproductions. Bilingual: Danish and English