ARoS sets its sight on the sky in anticipation of the launch of The Dome, a Skyspace by James Turrell. The group exhibition Sky Gazing explores shifting sensibilities and stark truths told through the imagination and observations of renowned artists across time.

“Sky Gazing takes us through representation and symbolism to distillation and fragmentation. A sojourn from hope and wonder to the more troubling considerations of our current dilemma of extinction and depletion. Sky Gazing will be romantic, sublime, supernational, untameable – and it takes us on a journey of mystery, wonder and fatal futures,” says museum director Rebecca Matthews.

The group exhibition presents a transhistorical delight including works by celebrated artists Wassily Kandinsky, Alexander Calder, Douglas Gordon, Tacita Dean, William Kentridge and historical icons Vilhelm Hammershøi, C.W. Eckersberg, Janus La Cour, Christen Købke and many more.

Sky Gazing is the brainchild of guest curator Juliana Engberg who draws upon ARoS' own collection, as well as major contributions and loans by National Galleries of Scotland, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Statens Museum for Kunst, Glyptoteket, The C. L. David Foundation and Collection. 

"For millennia humans have gazed up to the sky. The vast spaces of the cosmos have both intrigued and perplexed. The sky – full of startling matter and ever-changing atmosphere – has been imagined by humans to be a place of Gods, a heavenly space, a home to spirits, a meteorological foreteller, a territory to claim, a riddle to unravel. Sky Gazing journeys through many skies and opens our eyes to the majesty and mystery of our perpetually evocative atmospheric canopy," says curator Juliana Engberg. 

Naminapu Maymuru-White, Tacita Dean, Katie Paterson and Lucienne Rickard

Sky Gazing introduces Danish audiences to the beautiful spirit works of Australian indigenous artist Naminapu Maymuru-White whose larrakitj (memorial poles, ed.) tell the story of the Milky Way, The River and the ‘everywhen’ place of souls who travel between the sky and earth.  

British artist Tacita Dean records the duration of the 1999 eclipse, allowing animals and landscape to tell the tale of this mysterious event which periodically interrupts normality. Her one-hour film installation captures the failing light and the second dawn which transforms the senses.  

You can also look forward to experiencing the immersive cosmos created by renowned Scottish artist Katie Paterson who invents a galaxy – Totality – from a dazzling disco ball of photographed eclipses. This is brought together with her prepared piano piece Earth-Moon-Earth (Moonlight Sonata Reflected from the Surface of the Moon) in which the moon ‘plays’ Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. The composition was translated into Morse code and sent to the Moon. Returning to Earth fragmented by the Moon’s surface, this historical composition was then re-translated into a new score. The Moon-altered piece is played on an automated grand piano as part of the exhibition. 

During the first month of the exhibition period, the Tasmanian artist Lucienne Rickard performed her epic ten metres long extinction drawing and erasure act Wreck. She meticulously drew a series of the endangered bird species shearwaters based on images of dead birds washed up on the Tasmanian coast. Then, she erased them again to bring attention to loss of species and the biodiversity crisis we are currently facing. 

Sky Gazing is on view at ARoS Level 5 from October 5, 2024 to February 16, 2025. 

About curator Juliana Engberg

Curator and writer Juliana Engberg has been Artistic Director of several Biennales - Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney - and has created and curated exhibitions for numerous galleries, museums and projects: For the Venice Biennale and Glasgow International among others. She was the Programme Director of Aarhus 2017: European Capital of Culture. 

The exhibition is realized with generous support from New Carlsberg Foundation, Knud Højgaard Foundation, C.A.C. Foundation,Aarhuus Stiftstidendes Foundation, Ege Carpets, Detached Foundation, and Hizkia.

 

Press photos can be downloaded from Dropbox when giving due credit.  

Go to Dropbox. 

For more information and details on the opening and press event, please contact:

ARoS Press and Communication
presse@aros.dk
+45 61904942