Alexander Tovborg & Aksel Haaning

In connection with the opening of the exhibition The Church at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, artist Alexander Tovborg and author and lecturer in philosophy and Christian mysticism Aksel Haaning will explore the exhibition’s perspectives on the Christian-rooted myths, mysteries and symbols that the church represents. In which intersection does the church and art move? How does the power of the image emerge in the church space – and in our everyday life – and how can we disrupt this through art?

The church as symbol and paradox unfolds in this conversation, where mystery and art meet each other, as it also does in The Church. The talk is in Danish.

Time: 21 June at 17.00-18.00
Place: Charlottenborg Art Cinema
Admission: Free but seats are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis

Alexander Tovborg has his degree from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (2004-10) and Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe, Germany (2007-09). He has had solo exhibitions at e.g. Overgaden, GL Strand, Rudolph Tegner Museum and State of Concept in Athens. His works have been exhibited both at home and abroad, i.a. at Camden Art Center in London, IMMA Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, ARKEN, ARoS, Holstebro Art Museum and KØS. He has created numerous art projects in the public space e.g. to the Eastern High Court, Copenhagen Airport as well as Jelling Church, Tejn Church and Trekroner Church. He is also represented in the collections at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Kunsthalle Bremen, ARKEN, ARoS and the Museum of Religious Art. Tovborg is represented by Galleri Nicolai Wallner and Blum & Poe.

Aksel Haaning primarily researches the history of philosophy and the sciences in the period between Late Antiquity and early modern times, with an emphasis on overlooked and misrepresented traditions such as contemplation, medieval and Renaissance natural philosophy, alchemy and the history of medicine, including cosmology and worldviews and the human views they contain. A unifying element in his work is therefore critical historiography and a constructive uncovering of how the often forgotten and overlooked traditions and worlds of thought are connected to our own time and challenge ourselves, our culture and self-understanding. Educated as Master in Classical Philology (Greek and Latin) from the University of Copenhagen with medieval Latin as the main area; completed with a silver medal thesis on the concept of nature in the Middle Ages. Guest lecturer at C.G. Jung Institute Zurich; member of the Pontoppidan Society; Member of the Archive for Research of Archetypal Symbolism (ARAS) International Advisory Board.