GENNEM LYSETS RUM - THROUGH THE SPACE OF LIGHT

21. 03. 2022 - 31. 10. 2022

Text by Tine Nygaard

Christina Augustesen’s works of art render daylight visible. Angled, coloured acrylic panels refract the daylight, making it possible to observe and sense the otherwise unnoticeable shifting intensity of the light minute by minute.

Most of the works in the exhibition “Through the Space of Light” were created for the rooms at the Bornholm Art Museum that face north and, thus, the sea. They relate to the architecture’s embrasures and to paintings by two of the collection’s prominent artists, Edvard Weie and Niels Lergaard.

Christina Augustesen (b. 1975) is a visual artist with a background in architecture and the design of light. In 2021, she received the Danish Arts Foundation’s three-year work grant to explore light and its significance for the sensory perception of objects and spaces. Augustesen has exhibited at a number of collective exhibitions in Denmark and abroad, and she has created commissions for public spaces and institutions. “Through the Space of Light” is her first solo exhibition at an art museum.

“Through the Space of Light” is one of several exhibitions which, in the years ahead, will lay the groundwork for a future Museum of Light and Art at the Bornholm Art Museum. The museum intends to present interdisciplinary exhibitions of international calibre. The point of departure for the exhibitions will always be artists who are devoted to exploring art through light. The perspectives are abundant and exciting. Through this exhibition, focus is brought to bear on daylight.

Daylight defines the fundamental living conditions on the Earth: the seasons, biological rhythms, the weather and vegetation. Daylight directly affects our body and mind and has been part of religious ideas through the ages. A guiding premise for the preparatory works is studying light in a multidisciplinary perspective.

This finds expression in this catalogue, but it was also communicated at a festival of knowledge at the Bornholm Art Museum on 21June 2022 in a series of panel discussions and presentations, with the participation of rural dean Johannes Gregers Jensen, meteorologist Jesper Theilgaard, historian of science Kristin Hussey, architect Nanet Mathiasen, astrophysicist Michael Linden-Vørnle, art historian Marie Nipper and visual artists Christina Augustesen, Ruth Campau, AVPD and Ann Linn Palm Hansen.

Our heartfelt gratitude for the support received – which has enabled us to realise the exhibition and catalogue – goes to the Danish Arts Foundation, Poul Johansen Fonden af 1992, Arne V. Schleschs Fond, Danmarks Nationalbanks Jubilæumsfond af 1968, Beckett-Fonden, Konsul George Jorck og hustru Emma Jorcks Fond, Dreyers Fond, Knud Højgaards Fond, Oda og Hans Svenningsens Fond, Overretssagfører L. Zeuthens Mindelegat, 15. Juni Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis- Hansens Fond, the Danish Art Workshops and Brdr. E., S. and A. Larsens Legat. Christina Augustesen also wishes to express her gratitude to Ingela and Thomas Skytte, Jess Tillge, and Lise and Mogens Augustesen. Bornholm Art Museum, 2022