Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum

Region Sjælland er rig på søer – fra Tissø og Skarritsø i det gamle Holbæk amt til Tystrup-Bavelse søerne sydvest for Sorø. Omkring Sorø finder man ikke mindre end tre søer: Sorø Sø, Pedersborg Sø og Tuel Sø. I middelalderen udgjorde de et sammenhængende system, en sø-ring omkring en lille ø (Sor-ø), der siden skulle blive til byen Sorø. Byen ligger endnu i dag som en lille “ø” omgivet af de tre søer.

KURS: SØEN er en kunstnerisk udforskning af Sorø Sø som specifikt sted og af søen som kulturelt og kunsthistorisk begreb og motiv: Hvad er søen for et sted? Hvad betyder det for en by at have en sø? Hvad er det særlige ved søen? Hvilke betydninger og forestillinger knytter der sig til den? Hvilke aktiviteter finder sted her?

Få minutters gang fra Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum udgør Sorø Sø som samlingspunkt, udflugtsmål og naturlig afgrænsning for Sorø by en betydningsmættet ramme om en kunstudstilling.

KURS: SØEN finder både sted ved søen og på Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum. To bevægelser tegner sig, som kan sammenfattes under overskrifterne kunsten i søen og søen i kunsten.

Kunsten i søen
Med deres værker på og omkring vandet udvider de deltagende kunstnere vores forestillinger om søen og de aktiviteter, der kan finde sted her. Naturbetragteren, der sætter sig på en bænk ved søen, får pludselig kontrol over et springvand i søen i Jeppe Heins Did I Miss Something? To robåde i søen ligger og blinker til hinanden i Laura Belems lige dele sørgmodige og humoristiske værk, Enamorados (De forelskede), der spiller på vores forestillinger om søen som romantisk sted. Vand fra Sorø Sø omdannes til et kommunikationsmiddel i Julius Popps bit.fall, hvor vanddråber skriver ord i luften hentet fra internettets informationsstrøm. Et stort hul i søens vandspejl skal indeholde en Undervandsbar udtænkt af kunstgruppen A Kassen, som skal være tilgængelig via bådfart. Svend-Allan Sørensen sætter en naturtro lokkeand i kæmpestørrelse ud i Sorø Sø, mens en karpe, som søen er rig på, synger en sidste afskedssang på museet.

Søen i kunsten
Søen er et traditionelt motiv inden for billedkunsten, hvadenten som hovedmotiv med et topografisk og symbolsk potentiale, eller som et mere dekorativt element i en større landskabelig kulisse bag eventuelle hovedpersoner. En del af udstillingens kunstværker beskæftiger sig med, hvordan søen repræsenteres i kunsten, både i en aktuel og traditionskritisk optik. Ulrik Weck opsætter billedrammer på bredden af Sorø Sø, som giver forbipasserende mulighed for at kaste et særligt indrammet blik ud over landskabet. Med Hartmut Stockters How I lived, and what I lived for får vi i en hytte ved søen indblik i en naturelskers observationer og særlige instrumenter. Kan de måske bringe os tættere på naturen? Hvad er det egentlig, vi søger i netop naturen? Forskellige bud på et svar findes i Astrid Kruse Jensens fotografi She Was Looking for Herself, Peter Lands video The Lake, Johanna Domkes stedsspecifikke filmværk Søen i Spejlet og Lise Harlevs diasprojektion All distances seem shorter. Susan Collins anvender et nyere medie til at fremme en bevidsthed om tidsrum og afstand med et webtransmitteret udblik over et smukt sølandskab set fra Harewood House i England. Marijke van Warmerdams fotografier monteret på spejlglas forskyder positionen, hvorfra vi betragter sømotivet og lader samtidig den, der ser, komme til syne. Endelig oversvømmer virtuelle organismer dele af museet i Carl Emil Carlsens interaktive videoinstallation Infested Area.

Udstillingens værker udforsker og udfordrer således gennem en bred vifte af udtryksformer og strategier vores forståelse af søen som sted og søen som motiv både historisk og aktuelt.

Deltagende kunstnere:
A Kassen
Astrid Kruse Jensen
Carl Emil Carlsen
Laura Belem
Hartmut Stockter
Jeppe Hein
Julius Popp
Johanna Domke
Lise Harlev
Marijke van Warmerdam
Peter Land
Svend-Allan Sørensen
Susan Collins
Ulrik Weck

Udstillingen er kurateret af museumsinspektør Andreas Brøgger

Planlæg besøg
Museet har åbent tirsdag - søndag fra kl. 13-16. Kunstværkerne omkring Sorø Sø er tilgængelige hele ugen uden for museets åbningstid.
Julius Popps bit.fall kan ses dagligt fra kl. 15-20.
Laura Belems Enamorados (De forelskede) kan ses med lys på fra kl. 16-24.
Jeppe Heins Did I Miss Something? kan opleves fra kl. 7-01 (fra kl. 20 med lys på).
A Kassens Boat Trip, der foregår på Sorø Bådfart, har særskilte sejltider som annonceres snarest her på museets hjemmeside.

Udstillingen KURS:SØEN er støttet af
Oplev Sorø, Sorø Turist- og Erhvervsråd
Stiftelsen Sorø Akademi
Grundfos DK A/S
AV-HUSET
MT Højgaard
Bredgaard Bådværft, Sakskøbing

KURS: THE LAKE

KURS: THE LAKE is an artistic exploration of Sorø Lake as a specific place and of the lake as a concept in cultural history as well as a subject in art history: What kind of place is the lake? What does it mean to a town to have a lake? What is special about the lake? What significance and concepts are connected with it? Which activities take place here?

A few minutes’ walk from Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum, Sorø Lake makes up a gathering point, tourist attraction, and a natural demarcation of Sorø town and a momentous frame for an art exhibition.

KURS: THE LAKE takes place both at the lake and at Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum. Two movements are drawn, which can be summarized under the banners art in the lake and the lake in art.

Art in the lake
With their works on and around the water the participating artists expand our ideas about the lake and the activities that can take place here. The contemplator of nature, who sits down on a bench by the lake suddenly gains control of a fountain in Sorø Lake in Jeppe Hein’s Did I Miss Something? Two rowing boats are winking at each other in Laura Belem’s both sorrowful and humorous piece Enamorados (The Enamoured), which plays on our ideas of the lake as a romantic place. Water from Sorø Lake is transformed into a means of communication in Julius Popp’s bit.fall, where drops of water write words in the air gathered from the internet’s stream of information. A large hole in the lake’s water surface may turn out to contain an underwater bar conceived by the art group A Kassen. It will be accessible by boat if realised. Svend-Allan Sørensen launches a giant realistic duck decoy on the lake while a fish sings a last goodbye song at the museum.

The lake in the art
The lake is a traditional motif in the pictorial arts, whether it is the main motif with a topographic or symbolic potential, or as a more decorative element in a larger landscape backdrop behind any main characters. Some of the exhibition’s artworks are inspired by how the lake is represented in art, both with contemporary and traditional critical optics. Ulrik Weck sets up picture frames on the bank of Sorø Lake, which give passers-by a special framed view of the landscape. With Hartmut Stockter’s How I lived, and what I lived for we get an insight into the observations and special instruments of a nature lover in a cabin by the lake. Can they perhaps bring us closer to nature? What is it precisely that we seek in nature? Different bids for an answer can be found in Astrid Kruse Jensen’s photograph She Was Looking for Herself, Peter Land’s video The Lake, Johanna Domke's film production The Lake in the Mirror, and Lise Harlev’s slide projection All distances seem shorter. Susan Collins uses a newer medium to promote an awareness of timespaces and distances with a web-transmitted view of a beautiful lake landscape seen from Harewood House in England. Marijke van Warmerdam’s photographs mounted on mirror glass displace the position from which we view the lake motif and at the same time allow the viewer to appear. Finally, in Carl Emil Carlsen’s interactive video installation Infested Area.

The works exhibited thus explore and challenge our understanding of the lake as a place, and the lake as a motif both historically and in a current context through a wide variety of expressions and strategies.

Sorø and the lakes
The Zealand Region has many lakes – From Tissø and and Skarritsø in the old Holbæk county to the Tystrup-Bavelse lakes south-west of Sorø. Around Sorø we find no less that three lakes: Sorø Lake, Pedersborg Lake and Tuel Lake. In the Middle Ages they were a connected system, a ring of lakes around a small island, which later became Sorø (Sor-ø meaning Sor Island). The town is still a small “island” surrounded by three lakes.

To Sorø the lakes were what the sea has been to harbour towns – a lifeline. The lakes were a considerable reason why the Cistercian monks settled in Sorø in the 1200s with a convent on the site of Sorø Academy. The lakes were also a natural defence for Peder Thorstensen’s castle, which was erected on the top of a hill where Pedersborg Church is now.

The lakes have had utility value to the population as fishing waters, though it is no longer trade fishing,but angling, sea sports, sailing trips and outdoor life by the lakes that now dominate the water.

The three lakes, which are beautifully encircled by woods, inspired the artists and writers of the Golden Age in the 1800s, not least B.S. Ingemann. The students at Sorø Academy, which is situated by the lake, also feel the spiritual call of nature. In the instrument of foundation of the academy, the very special location is praised having “Land and plain, forest, fields, fishing waters and grazing pastures, wet and dry, absolutely nothing amiss…”

Sorø Lake has had a great influence on the surroundings, among them Sorø town. From the original settlement by the lake in the 1100s and up to Sorø’s role as a market and educational town, a cultural and geographic trace can be drawn up till today, where the town is directly connected to the rest of the country and world by roads, bridges, railways, motorways and electronic media streams.

Participating artists:
A Kassen
Astrid Kruse Jensen
Carl Emil Carlsen
Laura Belem
Hartmut Stockter
Jeppe Hein
Julius Popp
Johanna Domke
Lise Harlev
Marijke van Warmerdam
Peter Land
Svend-Allan Sørensen
Susan Collins
Ulrik Weck

The exhibition is curated by Andreas Brøgger

The exhibition KURS:The Lake is supported by
Oplev Sorø, Sorø Turist- og Erhvervsråd
Stiftelsen Sorø Akademi
Grundfos
MT Højgaard
Bredgaard Bådværft, Sakskøbing