Our AKN Editor Greatly Enjoyed A Guided Tour Of The ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum In Denmark

Written by Renata Morelli Saturday, 03 March 2012 22:13

ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, in Aarhus, Denmark is one of the largest art museums in northern Europe, 10 floors high with a total of 17,700 m². The museum opened on 7 April 2004 after a construction process that started with Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen winning the design competition in 1997. The name ARoS is the Old Danish name of the city Aarhus, while the capitalized letters of the name hint at the Latin word for art, namely ars. It is the ambition of ARoS to create and develop an international art museum in Aarhus to be known and appreciated both nationally and internationally as an innovative and attractive art museum with a high degree of artistic experience. The museum is divided into three different permanent collections: The Danish "Golden Age" 1770–1900, Danish Modernism 1900–1960 and Contemporary Art. The ARos also includes The 9 Spaces, a specific use "gallery in progress" of installation art, where 1 or 2 rooms are done by guest artists each year. The use of the number 9 refers to Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy and the 9 circles of hell. The rooms are painted black to contrast with the bright white exterior. The roof terrace substitutes for the divine light as if you descended from hell. In this way the whole museum is part of the travel from hell to heaven. This movement is emphasized by the grand spiral staircase in the main 'museum streetscape'. With thousands of square meters spanning the ten levels the museum now has ample space to showcase its extensive collection of 2,100 paintings, 400 sculptures and installations, 200 art videos and over 7,000 drawings, photos and graphics: a collection that ahead of the inauguration was enhanced by the addition of works by international artists such as Bill Viola, Tony Oursler, Carsten Höller, Miwa Yanagi and James Turrell. In large measure, a donation of DKK 40m by New Carlsberg Foundation over a ten-year period enabled the purchase of these works. Besides finishing The 9 Spaces, and many future exhibits ARoS extended the museum with "Your Rainbow Panorama" by Ólafur Elíasson (see image below ). Situated on the roof, it is a circular skywalk in the colors of the rainbow, the gives a very unique panorama of the city of Aarhus. ARoS has featured some prominent changing exhibitions inspired, curated or made by the likes of Bjørn Nørgaard, Ingvar Cronhammar, architect Frank Gehry, Paul McCarthy, Robert Rauschenberg, Michael Kvium, H.C. Andersen, and Wim Wenders. The first of these exhibitions presented a series of main works by pop artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. As many other modern art galleries and museums ARoS also plays great tribute to architects and their works having hosted several architecture themed exhibitions. Website: _ www.aros.dk/

ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum's collection of paintings and sculptures from the 18th and 19th centuries is the largest in Denmark outside Copenhagen. The collection of art from the Danish "Golden Age" in particular is one of the finest in the country. The collection is located in Gallery I at the top of the building – provides two gallery trails that bring visitors into close contact with major works from the museum’s comprehensive collection of paintings and sculptures dating from the period 1770-1930. The first trail traces the development of Danish art from N.A. Abildgaard at the close of the 1700s through Vilhelm Hammershøi and J.F. Willumsen at around 1900: a trajectory that includes “Golden Age” paintings by C.W. Eckersberg, Johan Thomas Lundbye, Christen Købke, P.C. Skovgaard among many others as well as works representative of National Romanticism and late Romanticism. French Salon art from Mønsted’s Collection leads on to Naturalism, P.S. Krøyer and the Skagen School. The selection of nineteenth century works is rounded off by a series of realist works by Frants Henningsen, among others. Classical modernism from 1900-1930 is the theme of the gallery’s second trail. Here visitors encounter notable works by early modernists such as Karl Isakson,Edvard Weie, Harald Giersing and Olaf Rude. The collection of contemporary art at ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum reflects the international thrust of the modern age. Gallery II – the middle gallery – shows works from the museum’s collection of Danish and international art dating from the period 1930–1980. The collection of artworks from these highly consequential 50 years concentrates on a succession of pillars in twentieth century art. The groundbreaking experiments of 1930s’ surrealism led to the formation of two international schools – Cobra with Asger Jorn as its leading light and that of “concrete art” pioneered by Richard Mortensen and Robert Jacobsen. Both movements are represented in the gallery. Separate rooms are dedicated to the two luminaries of post-war expressivism – Svend Wiig Hansen and Mogens Andersen. The 1960s saw the total subversion of the concept of art through the emergence of experimental movements such as Pop Art, Fluxus and the Danish Eks-school. Trailblazing works by Andy Warhol, Arthur Køpcke and Bjørn Nørgaard occupy a prominent position in the gallery, as does the museum’s Per Kirkeby collection, which is the most comprehensive Kirkeby collection in the world. The museum’s gallery for contemporary art shows Danish and international art from 1980 to the present day. The collection ranges from the Danish “Neue Wilden” of the 1980s to the 1990s’ experiments with the new mediums of photography, video and installation art. The Gallery is home to works by a spectrum of artists – both Danish and international – who, as established figures on the international art scene, enable us to take the pulse of art today. The West Gallery with its almost 400 square meters hosts three to four temporary exhibitions annually as well as a number of informal presentations of particular art projects. The exhibition space highlights new media – photography, video and installation art. The exhibitions focus on both young, experimental art and established artists. As is the case with the other exhibitions in the museum, the west gallery presents art of high, international quality.

ARoS is currently exhibiting the work of Christian Lemmerz - "GHOST", through March 6th 2011, a revolutionary artist who employs a wide range of materials, such as marble, paper, wire, meat, fat, and margarine. Lemmerz has created a large body of art that fascinates even as it repels, brushing against or transgressing taboos and incarnating the darker sides of human nature in artistic form. With the exhibition 'Ghost', the largest solo exhibition of the works Christian Lemmerz yet staged, ARoS wishes to celebrate an artist who has continually renewed his artistic idiom over the course of the last 25 years. Employing a wide range of materials, such as marble, paper, wire, meat, fat, and margarine, Christian Lemmerz has created a large body of art that fascinates even as it repels, brushing against or transgressing taboos and incarnating the darker sides of human nature in artistic form. From his original point of departure in the experimental art scene of the 1980's, e.g. at Værkstedet Værst, Christian Lemmerz has evolved to become a master of classical arts. With his marble sculptures he has inscribed himself in a sculptural tradition with roots going back to the immortal masters of Antiquity, the Renaissance, and neo-classicism. In 2009 his endeavors were recognized when he was awarded the Thorvaldsen Medal, the most prestigious accolade any Danish sculptor can receive. Over the course of two years, ARoS has worked closely with Christian Lemmerz on setting up the comprehensive exhibition, which features his large-scale, painstakingly crafted marble and bronze sculptures as the central works.