BJARNE v.H.H. SOLBERG
As Installation Artist, I have created some notable large outdoor projects as
'Place NIKOLAJ Places' at Nikolaj Place in Copenhagen, KOMMUNE' IK@TION at Rødovre Town Halls roof, 'ATTENTION' in Elsinore Harbor, '5 SPIRSʼ in Sortedams Sea, Copenhagen. I have also created
large Installations in Charlottenborg, Kunsthallen Brandt, Aarhus Art Building, Museum of Contemporary Art, B & W Shipyard Hall, Kronborg Castle & Gallery Asbæk. Has exhibited in New
York, Norway, Sweden, Berlin & Hannover. Received in 1991 the large 3-year fellowship from the National Arts Foundation and in 1996 The Pollock- Krasner Foundation Fellowship. My last
exhibition was at with the installation 'To Be Or Not To Be'.
As Scenographer I have created scenery and costumes for most of the major theaters and some theater groups as well as ballet and performance groups. For the performancegroup Cantabile2 I did
the site specific performance ʼLoreleyʼ, ʼSeven Beautiesʼ and ʼHellʼ. ' Morell invention ʻ and ' Speranzaʼ with the Danish Dance Theater. The musical 'Atlantis' in Eastern Gasworks', 'Human Nest'
and the ballet 'On Edge' at The Royal Theatre, the musical ʻThe Threepenny Opera' and 'Drums in the Night' by Brecht at Aarhus Theater, the musical 'Chicago' at Odense Theater, ʻThe Double Loveʼ
by Anouilh at Betty Nansen Theater, ʻTime and the Room ʻ by Botho Strauss at Boat Theatre and 'Trash, City and Death' by Fassbinder with Mammut Theatre.
Artist-in-residence September 2012
To Be or Not To Be
'Heirlooms'/Kronborg Castle/Elsinore Denmark 2008
Heirlooms are all the traces we leave behind. At Kronborg, the traces are theatrical and fictitious after the
non–existent Hamlet character, which has been brought to life here in countless versions. I am working with three stages of the legend of Hamlet, freely adapted from Shakespeare: To Be / The
Past, Or Not / The Present, To Be / The Future.
From the organic body of primitive man – via the preoccupation of our times with the brain and artificial organs –
to the control of the future of genes and technology. Prince Hamlet has been laid to rest in this burial chamber among his ancestors and in our consciousness as dead, as alive or as the spirit of
the time.
Video: B.V.H.H.S. Actor : Niels Ander s Thorn as ʼHamlet ʼ
Sound: Ander s & Ul la Koppel
Global 'Supper'
Overgaden - Institute of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen 2004/05
THE INSTALLATION resembles a big black closed oval universe with shining stars – or a perforated organ gasping for
breath. The closer you get to the installation, the more clearly you hear the sound of breathing from the many small speakers.
A red liquid pulses through 13 bullet–ridden oil drums via winding plastic tubing, connecting the scarlet interior
of this universe to its black exterior in a closed circuit. You get the sense of looking into a bodily organ, into the inside of life. Each barrel, with printed lettering, symbolises one of the
13 major themes in life with which the global world, as well as
every individual, is always struggling. The oil drums form a chaotic, symbolic circle, GLOBAL ʼSUPPERʼ, where the
eternal subject – lifeʼs essence and centre – is under debate.
ART • SCIENCE • SPIRITUALITY • PHILOSOPHY • ETHICS • CULTURE • RACE • LANGUAGE • SEX • LABOUR • ECONOMY • POLITICS
• UNIVERSE
-The 13 major themes in life -
Global 'Heart' Circulation
Arken Museum of Modern Art/Denmark 2001/02
Video: B.v.H.H.S.
THE INSTALLATION, custom–made for the Arken Museumʼs monumental Axis, visualises society as a pulsing heart chamber that has the rhythm and sound of a ticking bomb – a reactor bursting with
energy affecting life and death. A red liquid bursts forth, in pulsating spurts, from the end of a diving board and into a reactor–like, circular, industrial 4x4
meter container emitting a digitally treated heartbeat. Cylinder pipes under each of the three speakers afford you a look at a digitally processed video. The video is of a pulsating human heart
edited in with a hectically pulsating universe, merging whirling images of blood and rivers. Organic life alternates with images of the technological universe of atomic energy, artificial hearts
and chemical liquids accompanied by the computerʼs controlling and regulating, universal heartbeat. The heart beats 100,000 times a day, sending out 15,000 litres of blood to supply the bodyʼs
300 billion cells with oxidised blood.
Relativism
'Art Meets Science & Spiritualitiy in a Changing Economy'
Kunsthal Charlottenborg/Copenhagen 1996
Sound: Marco Spallanzani
B.v.H.H.Sʼs large work, ʻRelativismʼ, is one of the most fascinating. Over a lead–covered floor, large, flat,
nearly circular pieces of slate sway gently like pendulums from massive steel beams, to the accompaniment of powerful ʼsphericalʼ tones. The soundscapeʼs floor covering reflects strong light but
otherwise, all is peace and quiet in this meditative mood–room.
'Sphere no 1
Kunsthallen Brandts/Odense/Denmark 1993
Sound: Martin Hall
A ʼSPHERE of brooding physical presence, absence and transience suffuses the room. Twelve black charred–wooden
sculptures, dangling like lifeless bodies from metallic umbilical cords, are suspended among sculpture fragments, resting only on their bronze tips. The ʼsphericalʼ atmosphere is intensified by
six burning gas flames and the musicʼs brooding
undertones, composed by Martin Hall.
