Author: Karen Land Hansen

Fujian Southeast Satellite TV has produced a TV documentary about the exhibition Art in Social Space. The documentary can be viewed at their website.

Curated by Tine Hecht-Pedersen and Lan Lan with the academic support from Else Marie Bukdahl. Thanks so much to GEUS for the collaboration, to the Danish Art Workshops, to The Danish Arts Foundation and to PMH systems.

The exhibition is curated by Tine Hecht-Pedersen and Lan Lan, with the academic support from Else Marie Bukdahl.

I am exploring formations based on the wondrous seabed, for new sculptural works, at The Danish Art Workshops. Am working towards the upcoming exhibition ‘Art in the social space’ at The Nordic Contemporary Art Center in Xiamen, China. Later I will be developing this for the exhibition ‘Sensing the Sea’, curated by Cila Brosius and Tijana Miskovic. This exhibition also takes place at The Nordic Contemporary Art Center in Xiamen. Many thanks to the scientific team at GEUS for the great cooperation, to S. C. Van Fonden for financial support, to PMH Systems for the strong, lightweight Reboards and to The Danish Art Workshops for the residency to develop the work.

I am working towards the group exhibition ‘Art in the social space’ at The Nordic Center of Contemporary Art in Xiamen, China. The exhibition opens on March 31st and is on view until May 30th. The exhibition is curated by Artist Tine Hecht-Pedersen and Art historien Else Marie Bukdahl. Photograph by Mette Borup, work in progress at The Danish Art Workshops.

The exhibition opens on Friday January 12th and runs until February 4th.

A two months residency at The Danish Art Workshops will support me in my work towards new sculptures. Thanks to GEUS (The National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland) for the great cooperation and to The Danish Art Workshops.

We are so grateful for the support from The Danish Arts Foundation, from The Red Cross and the order Sankt Joseph Søstrene. We can continue in 2024, to develop the art school together with the residents. Our group consists of Hanne Ravn Hermansen, Tine Hecht-Pedersen, Gitte Ladegaard, Marie Flarup Kristensen, Tina Kallehave, Rau Flyvbjerg Nielsen and Karen Land Hansen. We will continue with Art School at Sjælsmark also, on a voluntary basis. These centers are so called Departure/ Deportation asylum centers where people live, often for many years. We believe that no one should live at these centers and that the residents should get residence permits. Also children sadly grow up in these centers in Denmark.

Kunstskole i Udrejsecenter Sjælsmark er nu i gang på sjette år, og indtil videre har Kunstskole i Avnstrup været i gang i ti måneder med ugentlige kunstworkshops i udrejsecenteret for familier, Avnstrup. Kunstskolerne tager udgangspunkt i en deltagerbaseret tilgang til kunstens udfoldelse. Vi har fokus på kunstens styrke, som samlingspunkt for sociale fællesskaber. Samtidig er vores fokus på et højt kunstfagligt niveau.

Igennem årene har vi mødt utrolig mange søde og kloge mennesker, voksne som børn. Vi har mange gode stunder sammen med beboerne. Det er fantastisk at se, hvordan kunsten, kunstneriske og kreative processer kan danne ramme om et rart og gensidigt lærerigt fællesskab, i de to udrejsecentre.

Vi møder samtidig også mennesker i Sjælsmark og Avnstrup, der fuldt forståeligt er ulykkelige pga deres situation. Beboerne lever under meget vanskelige vilkår og i stor uvished om fremtiden. Det er ikke retfærdigt. Læs blot denne vigtige rapport udgivet i 2023 af Røde Kors, der understreger den voldsomme mistrivsel blandt børnene i Avnstrup. Her kommer Røde Kors med syv anbefalinger, bl.a. at man ikke skal bo i længerevarende perioder på et udrejsecenter, og at Hjemrejseloven revideres så beboerne ikke er afskåret fra uddannelse – sådan som det desværre er nu for de unge og voksne. Læs den her: https://www.rodekors.dk/sites/rodekors.dk/files/2023-04/2023_Avnstrup%20rapport.pdf

Kunstnerne der forestår kunstskolens forløb sammen med beboerne er: Hanne Ravn Hermansen, Tine Hecht-Pedersen, Tina Kallehave, Marie Flarup Kristensen, Gitte Ladegaard, Tine Jakobsen, Rau Flyvbjerg Nielsen og Karen Land Hansen. Kunstskolen i Sjælsmark sker på frivillig basis, mens vi i Avnstrup er støttet af Statens Kunstfonds Huskunstnerordning, Røde Kors og Sankt Joseph Søstrene.