The exhibition Migratory Birds is part of the Open Call on the occasion of Art historian Hanne Abildgaard’s Monograph Kirsten Kjær. Human painter. 4 artists each won an exhibition at the museum this summer.
“In the footsteps of Kirsten Kjær” Open Call Fall 2023
In the fall of 2022, Kirsten Kjær’s Museum issued an Open Call. The museum selected four artists from the submitted proposals to create exhibitions inspired by Kirsten Kjær’s life and work.
On Saturday, August 5th, an opening reception for BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! by Mette Kit Jensen and Migratory Birds by Bodil Brems will be open.
– 15:00 15:20 15:40 16:00 16:30
Performance: Mette Kit Jensen will present the performance BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!’ with an Artist Talk. Bodil Brems will discuss her exhibition Migratory Birds. Refreshments will be provided.
– 18:30, Tango in the Concert Hall. Tango DJ: Bodil Brems. Performance and dance.
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! by Mette Kit Jensen is a room installation and a performance that will be presented on the opening day. The work explores the experiences of women who leave their hometowns, choose not to start families, and strive to break societal norms to create new opportunities.
Mette Kit Jensen writes:
I draw inspiration from my unmarried aunt from North Jutland, who traveled to Copenhagen and became a seamstress at Yves Saint Laurent on Strøget, and from my own journey from the western suburbs of Copenhagen to the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg and further out into the world.
The work revolves around access to and impact on the world in different decades, and in this way, it also relates to Kirsten Kjær, who, more than anyone, refuted any expectation of women’s behavior.
The installation, which consists of sculptures in the form of giant buttons and a pair of shoes with texts under the soles, as well as a reconstruction of my aunt’s homemade text artwork, comes together in a reading performance on the opening day. This performance also involves the audience in helping the female artist maintain balance.
The exhibition has received support from the Danish Arts Foundation.. https://mettekitjensen.dk/
In the painting exhibition ‘Migratory Birds,’ Bodil Brems encounters Kirsten Kjær through two themes: the wind in the landscape and the flowers. Works from both artists will be featured in the exhibition.
Bodil Brems writes:
The region has few and small flowers. They provide an immediate joy, a gentleness to the barren landscape. They must have inspired her throughout her upbringing.
The wind in Thy twists the trees into unexpected forms – a portrait of the wind. It is a companion, a condition of life, and is often experienced as headwind. It imparts resilience, stubbornness, and energy, shaping people as it shapes trees – perhaps one becomes dependent on resistance.
Migratory birds fly out and return – yearning outward and yearning back – learning to know the resistance, the headwind, and using the tailwind. Kirsten longed out and longed back – it resonates. https://bodilbrems.dk/
The OPEN CALL initiative is a new approach for Kirsten Kjær’s Museum, established in response to increased attention on the painter Kirsten Kjær. In June 2023, a research-based monograph titled “KIRSTEN KJÆR. HUMAN PAINTER” was released, written by art historian Hanne Abildgaard, published by Strandberg Publishing, and funded by the 15th of June Foundation. Recognizing the previously overlooked painter Kirsten Kjær is a significant advancement for Kjær and her museum. The book also contributes to highlighting generations of overlooked female artists and directly inspires the thematic focus: “In the footsteps of Kirsten Kjær”.
