Opening: Ghislaine Leung / Marie Søndergaard Lolk and Anne-Mette Schultz

Ghislaine Leung - Fountains
Marie Søndergaard Lolk and Anne-Mette Schultz - Skald

Simian is pleased to present the first two openings of the year: a solo exhibition by the British artist Ghislaine Leung (b. 1980) and a duo exhibition by Danish artists Marie Søndergaard Lolk (b. 1981) and Anne-Mette Schultz (b. 1983). The works in Fountains and Skald, despite varying mediums and methods, enter into conversation about the conditions of artistic production and (re)presentation.

In the larger of the two exhibition spaces, Ghislaine Leung shows a selection of works, whose formal commonality is their being based on and constituted of scores: short written instructions on the works’ materials and implementation. The physical manifestations of the scores are realised dependent on the location and in close collaboration with the respective art organisation. Although the works included in Fountains have been presented elsewhere before, their form is variable, contingent, and partly temporary.

The different expressions of Leung’s works and their conceptual underpinnings not only ask how an artwork is made—what is taken for granted, accepted, or expected—but also how context is constituent to the identity of each work. For this exhibition, Simian has performed the works according to the instructions, as open to interpretation, and in discussion with the artist. Oftentimes, the physical existences of these instruction-based works are made up of pre-existing or everyday objects.

The works within the exhibition reflect upon systems, networks, and interdependencies, which we as artists, art workers, exhibition visitors, citizens are aware or unaware of being part of. They speak of the circulation of resources, the movement of things and people, matter, and labour. Attending to external as well as internal constraints and its critical potentials, hegemonic conditions of art production, distribution and (re)presentation are called into question—as are predominant understandings of artistic labour and ownership. Engaging with these conditions and utilising their limits, Leung practices what she has called “constitutional critique.” Connecting to a lineage of institutional critique, but shifting focus and method, relationships between institutions and artists as collaborators, co-producers, partners, or accomplices, are being tested.

Other questions about collaboration and production arise from the duo exhibition Skald, which is shown in Simian’s second space. Marie Søndergaard Lolk and Anne-Mette Schultz present new works that have been developed through continuous conversation. The artists, who frequently work with the potentials and against the constraints of different mediums and dimensions, prevalently the boundaries and transitions between painting and sculpture, expand this investigation here to include the ranges between artwork and display, protagonist and support, ornament and function—besides the fathoming of individual and collective work.

When vocalized, the Danish word skald evokes skal (shall), the present tense of the verb skulle, as well as different meanings of the noun skal, a shell or the top part of the skull among other things. Skald implies chatter or nonsense, while skjald refers to skaldic poetry. The expression skjaldskab, phonetically associated with galskab (madness), means the art of this ancient Nordic poetry: the act of reciting stories, news, or historical events. The narrator, as a skilled practitioner, uses many different methods to memorize and tell tales. The signification of these narrations may distort after passing through many mouths and the content alters slightly with every re-enactment.

Skald is supported by Danish Art Foundation, L.F. Foghts Fond, Rådet for Visuel Kunst and Danish Art Workshops.

Read more about the exhibitions at: ssiimmiiaann.org

Opening: Feb 25, 16:00 – 22:00
Duration: Feb 25 – April 16, 2023
Opening hours: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 12:00 – 17:00
The opening is sponsored by Nørrebro Bryghus

Simian is supported by:
By & Havn, Realdania’s campaign Underværker, New Carlsberg Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation, Danish Arts Foundation, 15. Juni Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, A.P. Møller Foundation, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation, Sportgoods Foundation, Lizzi og Mogens Staal Foundation, Drost Foundation, City of Copenhagen, Amager Vest Lokaludvalg, Ørestad City Grundejerforening, Andreas Peitersen, Lauridsen Skilte, Fredericia Furniture, Bellagroup and Nørrebro Bryghus.

Simian / @ssiimmiiaann
Kay Fiskers Plads 17
2300 København S
(Ørestad Metro station)