Mette Winckelmann’s solo show at Augustiana Art Park and Art Gallery is no traditional exhibition in the sense of individual, self-contained, complete works, but a total installation that crosses art genres, involving painting, fabric objects, architecture and sound. The exhibition features 3-metre-high wall modules, which together form a passage to walk around in. Paintings, articles of clothing, canvases and textile objects are not hung on the usual nails, but are propped against the modules in groups or sections. This results in new, abstract structures, which, rather than understand, we sense.
The title of the exhibition, LAILA UTI came from a clothing shop on Nørrebrogade in Copenhagen. At some point in time, two of the letters disappeared from the shopfront, and LAILA BUTIK became LAILA UTI. The shift of meaning that results from the missing letters tallies with the way in which the exhibition constantly changes character as we move around in it. The composer/producer Heidi Mortenson has created a richly sensuous soundtrack for the exhibition, which underpins and enriches the experience.
Mette Winckelmann (b. 1971) grew up in Guderup on the Danish island of Als, but today is based in Copenhagen. She studied at the Academy of Art and Design, Bratislava, Slovakia (1996-1997) and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (1997-2003). Mette Winckelmann’s work is represented in museums and collections both in Denmark and abroad, including the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen. Previous solo shows include Stop Calling Me Names at Gl. Holtegaard (2018) and Come Undone at Overgaden (2016). Mette Winckelmann has created several distinctive artworks in public spaces, including the long wall that encircles Viborg Kunsthal. She is currently working on a large-scale decorative commission for the new university hospital in Køge. In 2019, the Danish Arts Foundation awarded Winckelmann the 3-year work grant.
This exhibition is funded by the Danish Arts Foundation and was previously presented, though in a slightly different form, at Viborg Kunsthal.
Photo: David Stjernholm