"Stalke Trade with Top Security for a Million"

"The exhibition venue Baghuset hosts Stalke and simultaneously has its own guests – Torben Weirup talks about the artists, the new management structure, and company profile, which they aim to create to stand stronger in the 1990s."

The white light glares into your eyes in the innermost basement of the Stalke Gallery in Copenhagen. The white light comes from a bent neon tube on the white wall.

Decipher a few letters—and yes, it’s art, detail—until you reach the words “The Polar Fraud.” According to legend, Robert Edwin Peary uttered these words when, on April 6, 1909, he claimed to have reached the North Pole. Or, perhaps, he continued to insist so without ever actually doing it?

Fraud, indeed. Is the art in Stalke’s basement also an expression of fraud, deception, and the emperor's new clothes? What’s the real meaning here?

Beyond the glowing script on the wall with Peary’s arguably unoriginal words, one finds a black box and four framed family portraits. These depict the four artists behind the Baghuset installation at Stalke. They are Erik Steffensen (born 1961), Ole Jensen (born 1958), Susan Hinnum (born 1959), and Ivar Tønsberg (born 1961).

These four artists were behind successful room installations at Baghuset in the fall of 1988. Their work has been documented through photographs, and one of the other rooms in the installation is filled with shelves. These shelves are of the characteristic type that is recurrent in this new conceptual art. The shelves might almost seem like part of the grammar of modern art.

Haim Steinbach, one of the artists, uses this type of shelf, among other things, as the basis for his piece titled “Dorfet,” which was exhibited in February.

In addition to the neon-lit room, there are unused paint buckets in four bright colors placed opposite the black box. And what is above the beam is the review from Flash Art

In another room in the basement, one finds a very large black box. It functions as a kind of minimalist sculpture. Extremely minimalistic but not without effect in the cold and barren rooms. Inside the box, one finds a note written by art critic Peter S. Meyer, who, like Torben Weirup, tries to rid the term “Danish” in relation to the branding of brand-new art.

Above the large box hangs a smaller Kawara-style black box with white text. The text states succinctly: Lars Bent Petersen and Peter Holst Henckel.

Unused Paint Buckets
One might immediately think that the objects in the exhibition in Baghuset reflect Stalke, specifically because Stalke has repeatedly introduced new names to the art world. A similar approach is evident here, with the presentation of six artists, which, as often happens, quickly becomes group-oriented. The exhibition aims less at showcasing individual artists and more at presenting a combined grammar or conceptual art methodology.

Baghuset began in January 1987 with an exhibition by Peter Holst Henckel (born 1966). Holst Henckel is one of the Baghuset team’s younger talents, who focuses on presenting the conceptual side of modern art.

is in the beam above the reviews in Flash Art.

In another room in the basement, there is a very large black box, functioning as a kind of minimalist sculpture. Extremely minimalistic but not without effect in the bright and cold white rooms. On top of the box, one finds a text written by art critic Peter S. Meyer, who, like Torben Weirup, tries to break away from the label of being a "banner bearer" for new Danish art.

Above the large box hangs a smaller Kawara-style black box with white text. The text simply states: Lars Bent Petersen and Peter Holst Henckel.

Unused Paint Buckets
One might immediately think that the objects in the exhibition in Baghuset reflect Stalke, specifically because Stalke is known for introducing new names to the art scene. This misinterpretation likely stems from the fact that, just a few months ago, the gallery introduced six young Swedish artists—including Annette Abrahamsson and Lars Forslund—in a group exhibition. This was an experimental effort, and it became more of a groundbreaking event than an expected encounter.

This, however, is not entirely the same. It is not a chance meeting with the new generation. The exhibition is not just a presentation of six artists where one quickly discerns one from the other. Instead, it is far more a presentation of Baghuset's exhibition concept and its curatorial approach.

Baghuset opened in January 1987 with an exhibition by Peter Holst Henckel (born 1966). Holst Henckel's works were among the first pieces to be part of the exhibition context here, setting the tone for the artistic direction that the gallery has since pursued, emphasizing the conceptual side of modern art.

wild painting breakthrough. This trend was confirmed through a series of exhibitions, which simultaneously demonstrated an increasing focus on sculpture or objects rather than painting.

The trend became more pronounced during the summer of 1988 with, for example, Lars Mathiasen’s large work The House, The Boat, and The Art, where a remarkable centerpiece was 120 unused, shiny paint buckets made of zinc.

Or take, for instance, the contribution by Jensen & Steffensen: an installation including a B&O stereo system, three orange chairs, and seven photographs of old-fashioned school desks. Alternatively, Hinnum & Tønsberg’s very simple installation, which consisted of an 11-meter-long monochrome painting combined with lighting that formed the letters "HOTEL."

The Heavy Hitters
It is this exhibition practice that Baghuset brings to Stalke. An individualized, conceptual art where the term "prominent significance" is key to the discussion. Unless one is familiar with the specific details, it can be difficult to discern where the contribution of the individual artist lies and what they intended to express. Anonymous works or components in the materiality also often consist of a large proportion of ready-mades, which many of the included pieces might as well have been industrial products. Financial constraints are a notable obstacle to taking these logical steps further.

This is art that traces its roots back to minimalism and conceptual art of the 1960s and 1970s. But there is a significant difference. Where conceptual art of that time sought to convey a message, to plant a thought or image in the viewer's mind, the newer, more sensitive conceptual art operates with a high degree of ideology, under another pretext than just the clear-cut message. It seeks to establish itself as non-representational, anti-psychological art.

It could therefore be interesting to ask what bids could have been made on these new ideas if money hadn’t been an obstacle to materializing them.

heavy hitters, who in January this year visited Stalke. Already, people such as Lawrence Weiner, Yutaka Matsuzawa, Les Levine, William Anastasi, and Joseph Kosuth. Baghuset's guest activity was also planned to include Kosuth at the same time—but Kosuth picked up the phone in NYC and called Stalke in Copenhagen with a clear message. The old conceptualists had to be alone on stage. The young juniors had to prove themselves separately. And that’s a shame, because it could have created an interesting dialogue between the old conceptualists and the younger generation. But that’s how it is—time for intense training in the field of neo-conceptualism and gathering experience. In fact, something is brewing within this new Danish conceptual art, which bodes well for a revival in the coming years.

The conceptual exhibition, which Stalke organized in collaboration with Brigitte March Galerie in Stuttgart and Espace des Arts in Chalon, is otherwise supported by an extensive catalog, which is available through Stalke. It contains photographs, biographies, and very good articles.

At Home in Baghuset

Mediocrity or the middle ground? The concept. Thomas Holm is a prominent example using the same for his exhibition in Baghuset. Baghuset has otherwise, as the many reviews above have shown, gradually developed into a painting-free zone. But Thomas Holm, who studies at the Academy, still exhibits something that resembles traditional painting.

However, it only appears to be that. Thomas Holm's work deals with problematic painting in untraditional forms. For instance, there is a large painting where the entire edge is framed by some sort of colored lines, likely created through a masking technique. The strips even add a border, forming a kind of frame around the “actual” painting, which is itself painted. In this way, Holm seems to use his Academy time to produce something far removed from the genre of traditional painting, as seen when he paints faux marble on staircase walls.

Or take two rectangular paintings, which consist of quadrilateral blocks of color. In the first, gray shades become increasingly darker. The second uses bright colors—red, blue, yellow, green, etc. Between the fields, you see something Holm forgot to remove: masking tape that sticks and creates white stripes. Upon closer inspection, you might discover that the tape was intended to stay, making it resemble painting gone awry. Illusion or reality? Deception?

Rothenburg Abroad

Stalke Gallery, together with, for instance, Galerie Rothenburg and Trio in Aarhus, is one of the most ambitious new gallery ventures, aiming to reorient itself. The earlier artist-driven initiative.

Joachim Rothenborg has stepped down from the gallery's management. Instead, through his consulting firm, Rothenborg will represent several international artists such as Anastasi, Kosuth, Goldberg, and Weiner.

The new management consists of Sam Jedig and Leif Jedig, and the gallery is divided into two sections. Partly the gallery itself, Stalke, with permanent artists such as Thomas Bang (exhibition opens on March 31), Osmund Hansen, Mogens Møller, Dorte Dahlin, Margrethe Sørensen, and Torben Ebbesen. And regular guests such as Henrik B. Andersen, Nina Sten-Knudsen, and Elisabeth Toubro.

Mezzaninen, as the other section is called, though it is actually located in the basement – hopefully not a bad omen – is intended to showcase young talent through permanent displays mixed with guest exhibitions. According to Sam Jedig, it will be a creative hub, a place for exploring art that has its roots in the 1980s. Among the planned exhibitions are Mette Gitz-Johansen, Jette Ranning, and Michael Petersen.

Stalke’s exhibitions will not finance the gallery’s operations, according to Sam Jedig. The funding will come from other sources, such as foundations, art associations, and decoration projects. That this can be achieved is evidenced by a deal the gallery has made with Topsikring. This is reportedly a million-kroner deal, where Topsikring has filled their office building in Ballerup with works by 17 Danish artists, ranging from Wilhelm Freddie, Osmund Hansen, Egill Jacobsen, and Preben Hornung to Margrete Sørensen, Torben Ebbesen, and Kurt Trampedach. The wild generation is also represented, including artists such as Nina Sten-Knudsen and Inge Ellegaard. In connection with this collaboration, Topsikring has published a fully illustrated catalog showing how the artworks create an inspiring environment in their office landscape, with text about each artist written by the competent Ann Lumbye Sørensen.