PICTURES ON THIS PAGE... DYRERIGET/ANIMAL REALM
CLASSROOM WALL ART
ARTIST AND TC1-OWNER GRETHE SOERENSEN WAS IN NORWAY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE INAUGURATION OF HER COMMISSIONS AT THE NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF LIFE SCIENCES (UNMB), JUST SOUTH OF OSLO. VIBEKE, WHO’S KNOWN GRETHE FOR DECADES NOW, PENS DOWN MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST AND HER WORKS. WORDS AND PICTURES - VIBEKE VESTBY
Textile artist Grethe Soerensen is active as ever before: a few days ago she and her partner Bo Hovgaard came to Norway to participate at the inauguration of her commissions at the UNMB, just south of Oslo. Just before the trip to Norway, they completed a big commission for a brand new children’s school in Aarhus, Denmark, and the week after Norway they will be in Paris for the opening of an exhibition in her gallery there! (8.September - 25. Oktober 2016 ‘Watermirror’ Galerie Maria Wettergren, Paris, France.). The commissions Grethe made at the NMBU are located in two auditoriums, one devoted to marine life and one to the realm of domestic animals. Both walls are divided up due to the double entrance doors. Both walls are divided up due to the double entrance doors.
Try this link representing the QR-code from the auditorium devoted to the HAVET/ OCEAN: (Humpback whales).
The big surprise is the QR-codes: If I had suspected that some you would come here in the near future, I would not have said anything more about this, except ‘Look Forward to it’! But, I feel like a small child who has promised to keep a secret: It is to big, so I cannot! One QR-code will reveal to everybody in the auditorium that your mind is drifting and you are not paying attention to the lecturer!
The ceiling has dominant beams which she emphasizes through vertical, blurred color stripes through the textiles. It also introduces ‘frames’ allowing a change of subject! The motifs are composed of several elements relevant to the subjects, selected from the photo archive of the university.
In the auditorium devoted to domestic animals, one QR-code (link) takes you to a reciting of a poem about a butterfly valley, by the late Danish poet Inger Christensen - beautiful and very much like a painting. The other QRcode (link) explains about the process of creating the artwork - all in 1 minute and 40 seconds.
PICTURES ON THIS PAGE... HAVET/OCEAN
WHO:
Grethe Soerensen - www.grethesorensen.dk
The link representing the other QR-code tells the story about the commission: the room, the inspiration, the execution, the assembly and finalization - all in 1 minute and 50 seconds. Simply Brilliant!
WHEN:
The inauguration of Grethe’s commission took place on September 1.
WHERE:
Norwegian Univeristy of Life Sciences (UNMB)
I believe the art commissions have power and beauty in abundance. The QR-codes are like secret codes, understandable to those who know what they are, and not disturbing for those who don’t. For young people and for anybody with a curious and open mind, the artworks offers a hand to lead you closer to the making of these pieces of art. The concept is superb, and offers a whole new way of sharing art with an audience!