Please notice: Pay careful attention to the gradually darkness in the exhibition, and that the ground is uneven and in different levels. Unfortunately, the exhibition is not accessible in wheelchairs or with strollers.

This summer, Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents Renaissance of the Night: the largest-ever and most comprehensive solo presentation of the internationally acclaimed artist Kirstine Roepstorff. As one of the most versatile artists of her generation, Kirstine Roepstorff creates works that equally appeal to our deep aesthetic senses as well as our political, social and existential awareness’s.

Renaissance of the Night focuses on darkness and the cultural constructs that surround it. Darkness can be a purely physical phenomenon – an absence of light – but it is also associated with aspects of the human psyche, with sleep, death and the subconscious. It can connote a state of fear and uncertainty, while at the same time it constitutes the universal wellspring of all organic life; the primordial substance from which we all originate from. Based on the thesis that we are now living in a world that is too brightly lit, an overexposed world in which light is lauded as the absolute truth while darkness is associated with the unpleasant and the unknown, Kirstine Roepstorff explores the wider potential of darkness. Can darkness be felt and understood as a kind of dissolving energy, a transformative force rather than the sum of the great unknown that we tend to evade? What happens if we surrender to that darkness?

Orchestrated as a narrative journey from dusk to dawn, the exhibition unfolds as an immersive and ambient spatial installation that encompasses the entire south wing of Kunsthal Charlottenborg. At the heart of the exhibition visitors will find Roepstorff’s most recent magnum opus, the spectacular sound and light work Theatre of Glowing Darkness, presented here in a new format, as well as the virtuoso tapestry Renaissance of the Night, from which the exhibition borrows its title. Featuring approximately 75 works in total, the exhibition also presents a vast array of newly produced as well as older pieces spanning various media such as painting, collage, relief, mobile and sculpture.

Kirstine Roepstorff (b. 1972) is educated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (1994-2001) and Rutgers University, Mason School of Fine Art (MFA), USA (2000). In 2017 she represented Denmark in the Danish Pavilion at the 57^th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Kirstine Roepstorff can also be experienced at the museum Trapholt in Kolding, and has also created the scenography to a solo exhibition with the Danish surrealist Rita Kerrn-Larsen (1904 – 98), which opens in August at Gl. Holtegaard North of Copenhagen.

Renaissance of the Night is curated by Aukje Lepoutre Ravn, former curator at Röda Sten Konsthall in Göteborg, Sweden and artistic leader of GIBCA-Göteborg International Biennale for Contemporary Art 2015.

The exhibition is generously supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, Beckett Foundation, Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation, Oticon Foundation, Knud Højgaard’s Foundation, Spar Nord Foundation, the Oben Family Foundation and Axel Muusfeldt’s Foundation. Sponsors: Flügger, Stouenborg, Louis Poulsen, Kvadrat, Sten & Grus Prøvestenen A/S.

Podcast series on darkness
Focusing on the subject of darkness, the exhibition will be accompanied by a podcast series created in collaboration with Carsten Ortmann, MA in Aesthetics and Culture from Aarhus University and host of the radio broadcast ‘Supertanker’ on DR P1. Cutting across a wide range of professional fields, the series will feature a selected range of different voices speaking about their relationship with darkness – from a blind boy’s sense of light and colour to an acclaimed astrophysicist’s defining insights into stardust and its importance to the creation of planets. Leading figures within their fields, such as curator Bonaventure Ndikung, theologian Anders Laugesen, theatre director Catherine Poher, neurologist Andreas Roepstorff and astrophysicist Anja C. Andersen, are among the participants. Comprising a total of 20 podcasts in either Danish or English, the series will be available for free streaming and download at www.konkylie.dk from June 14.

Events (free admission)

Wednesday June 20 5pm
Kirstine Roepstorff in conversation with curator Aukje Lepoutre Ravn and composer David Hykes followed by a concert in the exhibition with David Hykes. This Wednesday, the work Theatre of Glowing Darkness can not be experienced 6pm-8pm.

Wednesday June 27 5pm
Guided tour and introduction to the exhibition by curator Aukje Lepoutre Ravn.

Wednesdays 6pm
Screening every Wednesday of Bjarke Underbjerg’s film Influenza (on Kirstine Roepstorff) from 2018 at the Kunsthal Charlottenborg cinema. Duration: 75min.

Hashtag to the exhibition: #kirstineroepstorff #renaissanceofthenight #kunsthalchalottenborg

OBS: Vær venligst særligt opmærksom på, at udstillingen foregår i gradvis mørke og at underlaget er ujævnt og i forskellige niveauer. Beklageligvis er udstillingen ikke tilgængelig i kørestol eller med barnevogn.

Under titlen Renaissance of the Night viser Kunsthal Charlottenborg over sommeren den hidtil største soloudstilling af Danmarks repræsentant ved Venedig Biennalen 2017, den internationalt anerkendte kunstner Kirstine Roepstorff. Som en af sin generations mest alsidige billedkunstnere skaber Kirstine Roepstorff værker, der rækker ud efter vores dybeste æstetiske sanser såvel som vores politiske, sociale og eksistentielle bevidstheder.

Renaissance of the Night sætter fokus på mørket og vores kulturelle forståelse af det. Mørket kan både være et fysisk fænomen – en mangel på lys – men det forbindes også med aspekter af menneskets psyke, søvnen og underbevidstheden. Det kan være en tilstand af frygt og uvished, og samtidig udgøre vores fælles universelle fundamentet; det urstof hvorfra vi alle kommer. Med tesen om at vi i dag lever i en “overbelyst” verden, hvor lyset dyrkes som en absolut sandhed mens mørket associeres med det ubehagelige og ukendte, undersøger Kirstine Roepstorff vores sanselige fokusering på mørkets potentiale. Kan mørket være en energi og en transformerende kraft snarere end summen af det store ukendte, som vi er tilbøjelige til at undvige? Hvad sker der, hvis vi giver os hen til det mørke?

Udstillingen iscenesættes som en ambient totalinstallation, der spreder sig over hele Kunsthal Charlottenborgs sydfløj og tematiseres som en rejse fra tusmørke til daggry (”dusk to dawn”). Centralt i udstillingen og præsenteret i en ny form, installeres Roepstorffs seneste hovedværk fra Venedig Biennalen, det spektakulære lyd- og lysteater Theatre of Glowing Darkness, og den mesterlige gobelin Renaissance of the Night, hvorfra udstillingen tager sin titel. Dertil vises et stort udvalg af nyproducerede såvel som ældre værker i form af maleri, collage, relief, mobile og skulptur.

Kirstine Roepstorff (f. 1972) er uddannet ved Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi (1994-2001) og Rutgers University, Mason School of Fine Art (MFA), USA (2000). I 2017 repræsenterede hun Danmark i den Danske Pavillon ved den 57. internationale kunstbiennale i Venedig. Kirstine Roepstorff er lige nu udstillingsaktuel på museet Trapholt ved Kolding, og har desuden skabt scenografien til en soloudstilling med den danske surrealist Rita Kerrn-Larsen (1904 – 98), der åbner til august på kunsthallen Gl. Holtegaard nord for København.

Renaissance of the Night er kurateret af Aukje Lepoutre Ravn, tidligere kurator på Röda Sten Konsthall i Göteborg og kunstnerisk leder af GIBCA-Göteborg International Biennale for Contemporary Art 2015.

Udstillingen er generøst støttet af Statens Kunstfond, Beckett-Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansen Fonden, Oticon Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Spar Nord Fonden, Det Obelske Familiefond, Axel Muusfeldts Fond. Sponsorater: Flügger, Stouenborg, Louis Poulsen, Kvadrat, Sten & Grus Prøvestenen A/S.

Podcast-serie om mørke
Med fokus på emnet mørke produceres der i forlængelse af udstillingen en podcastserie i samarbejde med Carsten Ortmann, cand.mag i Æstetik & Kultur fra Aarhus Universitet og radiovært på DR P1s program ’Supertanker’. På kryds og tværs af sprog og -fagområder udfoldes en bred vifte af forskellige stemmer, der alle taler om deres forhold til mørket – lige fra en blind drengs sensibilitet af lys og farver til en anerkendt astrofysikers definerende viden om stjernestøvs betydning for planeters skabelse. Kapaciteter som kurator Bonaventure Ndikung, teolog Anders Laugesen, teater instruktør Catherine Poher, neurolog Andreas Roepstorff og astrofysiker Anja C. Andersen er blandt de deltagende. Serien vil bestå af 20 podcasts, og vil være frit tilgængelige til streaming og download fra www.konkylie.dk den 14. juni.

Events (fri entré)

Onsdag 20. juni kl. 17.00
Kirstine Roepstorff i samtale med kurator Aukje Lepoutre Ravn og komponist David Hykes efterfulgt af koncert i udstillingen med David Hykes. Teatret ‘Theatre of Glowing Darkness’ vil derfor ikke kunne opleves kl. 18-20.

Onsdag 27. juni kl. 17.00
Omvisning og introduktion til udstillingen ved kurator Aukje Lepoutre Ravn.

Onsdage kl. 18.30
Hver onsdag i udstillingsperioden vises Bjarke Underbjergs film Influenza (on Kirstine Roepstorff) fra 2018 i Kunsthal Charlottenborgs biograf. Varighed: 75min.
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