A Kassen Carnegie Art Award 2014
18 January–23 February, 2014
Opening: 17 January, 5–8pm
Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art
Oslo Plads 1
DK- 2100 Copenhagen Ø
Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the opening of a solo exhibition, A Kassen Carnegie Art Award 2014, with the Danish artist group A Kassen.
The Carnegie Art Award is a prestigious art prize, established in 1998 by the Carnegie Investment Bank with the aim of promoting contemporary Nordic painting and promising young artists from Scandinavia. In November 2013 A Kassen won third prize, awarded the sum of SEK 400,000 and an obligation to take part in a touring exhibition.
For financial reasons, the Carnegie Art Award was compelled to cancel both the 2014 tour and the exhibition at Den Frie. Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art found itself with a gap in the exhibition programme. We invited A Kassen to create a solo presentation. They will challenge the institution of art and turn inside out what we understand by such concepts as ‘work,’ ‘practice’ and ‘exhibition.’
One single, overriding installation forms the expressive basis for A Kassen’s exhibition. Based on imagery from the original exhibition, they have recreated the exhibition for the 2014 Carnegie Art Award. The original exhibition, which took place in Stockholm, comprised more than 100 paintings by 17 Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic artists. The exhibition at Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art is an overall conceptual expression, which highlights, not just one, but several meanings: originality and the production of art; the art world’s power positions; notions of value and ownership; copyright negotiation and global agendas.
A Kassen has a conceptual approach, which ranges from site-specific and performance-based installations to photography and sculpture. Their works are often understated yet immediate, and the concept is always the driving force. They have a special eye for existing stories and are interested in the opportunities presented by the surrounding world. By removing objects from their original and familiar location, modifying them and putting them into totally new and different contexts, they dislocate meanings in such a subtle and low-key manner that at first one hardly notices what is actually going on.
A Kassen consists of Christian Bretton-Meyer, Morten Steen Hebsgaard, Soren Petersen and Tommy Petersen.
For further information, contact head of press and exhibitions Kit Leunbach:
kl [at] denfrie.dk / T +45 23 32 86 70
