Don't Miss the Party!

 

At Udstillingsstedet Sydhavn Station Anne Langgaard has created a scenery for a party, but when you enter the exhibition space you quickly discover that it is a party that is dying out.

You are met by a work consisting of an enormous sculpture of 666 kilos of salt sticks - the cheap party food that no one really cares about, but everyone eats without further thought. The salt bars form a sliding pile down in the exhibition room and works are strewn around - including an ordinary plastic chair, a pair of pineapple party glasses, a bunch of cheap roses from Netto and deflated balloons cast entirely in bronze. Here are also 1001 score cues written on A4 paper and crumpled up and thrown in a corner of a smaller room. These are sculptural processings of the everyday, and where the works contextualize a setting for a party that has been abandoned and where the air has literally gone out of the balloon. A party from the end of the spectrum, where people shop eagerly in discount stores. Here, everyday life and divinity are equal parts - the ordinary and banal objects are transformed into sculptural studies that emphasize and point out the poetry and magic in everyday life.

In the party lies both a potential euphoria and a potential disappointment. Something that can be great or can go wrong. Langgaard invites you to a party that is already over before you arrive, and it is the "leftovers" from the party that are at the center and which are elevated to something universal through the humorous and sculptural explorations of everyday life. This also includes both FOMO and the death of the consumption party. There is an implicit darkness in the weary traces that remain, something is over, and maybe you didn't really attack while you could, but just sat and ate salt bars. Langgaard's works can therefore also be seen as an attempt to hold on to the passing moment, in order to perpetuate it. This stems from a heartfelt desire to prolong the present in order to postpone the unpostponable; the loss of eternity.

 

In the poster frieze in the front hall, visual artist Martin Creed's lyrics to selected songs are presented. Creed's fantastic universe underlines the tone of the exhibition: He is an everyday poet, and in his poetry the banal is mixed with the existential, "I WAS THINKING/AND THEN I WASN'T THINKING". His works are often playful and simple, but at the same time deeply philosophical and conceptual. The exhibition in the gallery space with salt bars, castings and modeling of everyday life speaks to Creed's lyricism and the humor of the banal everyday. Anne Langgaard has generously been given permission to show the lyrics, and on the posters is a QR code that leads to the song on YouTube. Thereby, Creed's songs are brought to life and can follow the visitor on their way through everyday life.

 

Anne Langgaard studied BA Fine Art (Hons) at Chelsea College of Art and Design in London (2011-13) and lives and works in Copenhagen. She is committed to getting art out in contexts other than the traditional "white cube" and has worked with this through the curatorial duo Walther & Langgaard (2016-2019) and now at the Sydhavn Station Exhibition Centre. As a visual artist, she is preoccupied with the poetic and magical potential of everyday life, and she has regular exhibitions in Denmark and abroad. Her practice is an investigative flirtation with everyday life and revolves around the aesthetic and sculptural qualities of everyday materials. She is preoccupied with the completely ordinary objects that we are surrounded by as a matter of course, and which we normally don't give a thought or a glance to.

 

Martin Creed is a British Turner Prize winning artist known for his conceptual and minimalist approach to art. ​​Martin Creed incorporates everyday objects into his works, and he has worked in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, film and music. Creed's musical style is often described as minimalistic and experimental. In addition to his artistic and musical work, Creed is also known for his outspoken and humorous personality, which is often an expression of his work. Throughout his career, Creed has had numerous solo exhibitions in prestigious institutions around the world, including Tate Modern in London, MOMA in New York and the Venice Biennale.

 

The exhibition is supported by the Statens Kunstfond, the Copenhagen Municipality Council for Visual Arts, the 15 June Foundation and Netto at Sydhavn Station.