Fernisering torsdag d. 15. oktober kl. 17 – 21

Udstillingsperiode: 15/10 – 31/10 2015

Dansk version:

The Natural History of Birds er det første omfattende, naturvidenskabelige værk om ornitologi, skrevet mellem 1770 og 1793, af encyklopædisten, matematikeren og naturforskeren George-Louis Leclerc. Om ådselæderen skriver Leclerc blandt andet: The ferocity of the vulture is such, that it cannot be tamed. Sometimes it seizes it’s prey in it’s flight; at other times, it darts upon its victims from the top of a tree or elevated cliff; but always upon it’s wing. It eats flesh, the entrails of living animals, and even carrion. It leaves nothing but the white bones.

Erased de Kooning Drawing er titlen på et tidligt, konceptuelt værk af Robert Rauschenberg: Et næsten blankt stykke papir i en simpel ramme. Efter at have skabt en serie hvide monokromer havde Rauschenberg sat sig for at skabe et kunstværk in reverse, med et viskelæder. I 1953 bad han derfor Willem de Kooning, der på det tidspunkt allerede havde opnået verdensberømmelse, om at donere en af sine tegninger til formålet. Reaktionen på Rauschenbergs ikonoklastiske værk er blevet beskrevet som en detonation, der rystede kunstverdenen.

At slagte en hellig ko er en dansk talemåde, der betyder, at man bryder med gamle traditioner eller standpunkter. Indiens hellige køer er et fænomen, jeg tidligt blev introduceret til. Engang i 90’erne fik jeg mit livshoroskop lagt, in absentia, af en indisk astrolog i Delhi. I løbet af samme årti bemærkedes det, at bestanden af ådselædere i Indien var faldet med 90 procent siden starten af 80’erne. Massedøden skyldtes et antibiotikum, man havde givet køerne for at gøre dem resistente mod sygdomme. Køerne overlevede, men kødet blev giftigt.

George-Louis Leclerc betragtes i dag som faderen til evolutionismen, og Rauschenbergs værk har forlængst indskrevet sig i det 20. århundredes kunsthistorie med samme selvfølgelighed, som vesterlændige valfarter til Indien i en evig søgen efter det spirituelle. Hvide monokromer hænger tavse og gådefulde på kunstmuseer verden over, mens køernes hellige kadavre rådner i solen.

Engelsk version

The Natural History of Birds is the first comprehensive, scientific publication on ornithology, written between 1770 and 1793, by the encyclopaedist, mathematician and naturalist George-Louis Leclerc. In it Leclerc i.a. writes about the vulture: The ferocity of the vulture is such, that it cannot be tamed. Sometimes it seizes it’s prey in it’s flight; at other times, it darts upon its victims from the top of a tree or elevated cliff; but always upon it’s wing. It eats flesh, the entrails of living animals, and even carrion. It leaves nothing but the white bones.

Erased de Kooning Drawing is the title of an early, conceptual work by Robert Rauschenberg: An almost blank piece of paper in a simple frame. After Rauschenberg had produced a series of white monochromes, he decided to create an artwork in reverse, with an eraser. In 1953 he asked the already famous painter Willem de Kooning to donate one of his drawings for the purpose. The reaction to Rauschenbergs ikonoclastic piece has been described as a detonation that shook the artworld.

To kill a holy cow is a danish way of speaking, which means that one breaks with old traditions or viewpoints. The holy cows of India is a phenomenon, I got introduced to early on. Once in the 90’s a horoscope of my life was written, in absentia, by an Indian astrologist in Delhi. During the same decade it was also observed that the stock of vultures in India had decreased with 90 percent, since the beginning of the 80’s. The mass extinction was caused by antibiotics given to the cows to prevent diseases. The cows survived, but the meat was poisoned.

George-Louis Leclerc is regarded as the father of evolutionism, and Rauschenbergs piece has long since been inscribed in the arthistory of the 20th century with the same matter of course, as Westerners flock to India in search of the spiritual. White monochromes are on display, silent and enigmatic, in museums all over the world, while the holy corpses of the cows are rottening in the sun.

 

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