The first ARoS Triennial will feature major new commissions and large-scale installations across the city of Aarhus, Denmark. Focusing on depictions of nature throughout history, the Triennial will be split into three sections: The Past, The Present and The Future. The launch of the Triennial will coincide with Aarhus’ year as European Capital of Culture.
The Past, which opens April 8, will span 400 years and will illustrate man’s relationship with nature: from the powerful orchestration of the baroque garden, the mathematically constructed landscapes of neo-classicism, and the sensuous gardens of the rococo to the monumental use of nature in land art projects and modern man’s impact on nature portrayed in contemporary art. The Past will provide the historical context for the Triennial theme and will be spread across several levels of the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, comprising more than 100 works (paintings, installations, video art, and sculptures) by artists including Nicolas Poussin, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch, Robert Smithson, and Meg Webster.
The Present, which opens with The Future on June 3, will look at nature in the context of the modern city and will be based in an industrial site near the coast, as well as other sites across the city.
Fujiko Nakaya will create an immersive fog installation which will appear from the roof of the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum.
Danish artists’ group Superflex will present new work Investment Bank Flowerpot / Deutsche Bank Marijuana, 3D models of the corporate headquarters of 20 of the world’s largest investment banks, which will serve as flower pots for hallucinogenic plants.
Cyprien Gaillard will re-lay the floor of a bar in Aarhus using traditional terrazzo with mother-of-pearl from locally caught oysters, linking the space to natural life existing in Danish waters.
Multidisciplinary designer Oscar Lhermitte will present Urban Stargazing, a project which brings the stars to city skies using illuminated light installations.
Elmgreen & Dragset’s Cruising Pavilion will stage the social conflict both between public and private spaces and between what is considered normal and deviating behaviour.
The Future will examine artistic responses to ecological change and will feature large-scale installations in the forest, on beaches and along the coast of Aarhus.
Katharina Grosse will work with sprayed acrylic colours, creating a sculptural environment along the Aarhus coastline, her largest work to date spanning 4000 square metres covering breakwaters, grass, trees and the road.
Doug Aitken will present a live artwork which embraces the dichotomy between natural and man-made environments. The piece will be based on therapeutic “Anger Rooms,” in which participants are invited to destroy their surroundings.
Simon Starling will work with the prehistoric material Urushi, a Japanese lacquer produced from tree sap.
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) will present SKUM, a cloud-like pavilion made of inflatable material, illuminated by LED lights and blown up in only 7 minutes.
Meg Webster will present Concave Room for Bees, constructed using 300 cubic yards of fertile soil and covered with robust plantings of native grasses, flowers, and herbs.
The Past will feature works by Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain, Antoine Watteau, Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael, John Constable, Caspar David Friedrich, Edvard Munch, Paul Gauguin, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Maurice de Vlaminck, Emil Nolde, Max Liebermann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Max Ernst, Jean Arp, René Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico, Robert Smithson, Joan Jonas, Richard Long, Diana Thater, Meg Webster, Olafur Eliasson, Damián Ortega, Darren Almond, and Pamela Rosenkranz.
The Present will feature new commissions by Superflex, Cyprien Gaillard, Fujiko Nakaya, E. B. ITSO, Pia Sirén, Rune Bosse, and existing works by Ackroyd & Harvey, Elmgreen & Dragset, Ismar Cirkinagic, Mark Dion, and Oscar Lhermitte.
The Future will feature new commissions by Doug Aitken, Sarah Sze, Max Hooper Schneider, Katharina Grosse, Hans Rosenstrøm, Tomas Saraceno, Anssi Pulkkinen & Taneli Rautiainen, Simon Starling, Alicia Kwade, Henrik Menné, Tue Greenfort, and existing works by Bjarke Ingels (BIG), Meg Webster, and Rirkrit Tiravanija & Nikolaus Hirsch.
Read more about ARoS Triennial