Free as a Bird

In May 1998 the ArtCentre Silkeborg Spa is celebrating the opening of the newly renovated spa building with the exhibition Free as a Bird. The exhibition invites the guests to a line of works and other contributions which circles about birds, in the the park and inside.

Many of the works are executed in perishable material made especially for this exhibition. All of the participants of the exhibition are trying to maintain the wonder of the being of the bird.

Graphics, sculptures, installations, photographies, weavings and much more are to be seen. About 25 participants, who have roots in for example zoology, ornitology or are well-known Danish artists, are contributing to the exhibition. It is possible to see works of Sigrid Lütken, Erik Eide, Annette Holdensen, Kirsten Klein, Lars Abrahamsen, John Olsen and many others.

The exhibition has the cultural history, as well as the nature as background. The artists are circling about birds, as well as in the reality and in symbols: Beautifull, frightening, mythological or fantastic.

In addition to the catalogue of the shown works and a illustrated collection of newly written stories about birds, a line of cultural historic books about scarecrows, decoys, elderly Danish poetry about birds and H.J. Ranch's Song about a Bird are published.

Jørgen Jakobsen - Roots and Music of Art

The guests are represented for a total picture of Jørgen Jacobsen and his art, all the way from he was young and autodidactively painted his first oilpaintings and in his thirties, among other things with the series Average Citizen started to experiment with etchings and through a couple of decades where he was working with the "heavy" oilpaintings. It brought him to the more poetic but also more expressive paintings from the middle of the 80ties and futher on.

Etchings, lithographs, ceramics and paintings are to be seen, just like more of the artist's decorations are documented. Jørgen Jakobsen is first of all painter and is working with the painting and it's premisses. Play, freedom, but also concentrations of a different world perceived by the senses is to be seen in the colouring. A deep, pure and intrepid joy by the life of the garden and the changes in the landscapes through the year are written in the paintings of the artist, which are containing transparent figures and elements from the nature, but the exhibition has abstraction as a mark, as well.

Furthermore the exhibition shows a line of objects from Silkeborg Museum to make clear how the many years' interess for archeology in Gudenaa/the area of Silkeborg have had a great importance. The land and land scapes of Jutland for example the hills of Gjern which have surrounded Jørgen Jacobsen most of his life have been an important and daily inspiration and background for his art. Culture is in these meanings a important concept to understand the life and art of Jørgen Jakobsen. The interaction between life and art will be illuminated by photographies and curiosities of the artist's collection.

From Sculpture to Puppet

The Czech artists are exhibiting marionettes, graphics and bigger puppets of wood in connection to Silkeborg International Puppet Festivall. There will be workshops in the period of the exhibition for professionals and people who are interested.