Silje Figenschou Thoresen - "Et stille og beskyttet farvand, de overliggende lag gik uforstyrret hen over den"

Silje Figenschou Thoresen
"Et stille og beskyttet farvand, de overliggende lag gik uforstyrret hen over den"
A quiet and protected water, the layers above it, passing undisturbed
5 September - 17 November 2024

A quiet and protected water, the layers above it, passing undisturbed is a new site-specific commission by Silje Figenschou Thoresen. Its permeable form is created through the gathering of diverse objects into groups, which are often stacked precariously on top of one another. Materials are never altered, instead they are placed in compositions that take their existing qualities into account. Figenschou Thoresen notes: ‘I think like this. What does the stick want? And then I don’t change the materials, I let them determine the shape instead of imposing a form on them from the outside.’ Objects often bear traces of human use or natural weathering; or alternatively, they are newly fabricated and come from industries such as construction, fishing, or transportation. There is no hierarchy within the artist’s lexicon and components are often reused in new configurations and new works.

Figenschou Thoresen, who is based in Kirkenes, draws upon Sámi design traditions that value improvisation and the re-purposing of materials. Her practice is rooted in a context in which culture has an intimate connection with everyday life. As disciplines such as architecture urgently integrate principles of reuse into new buildings, Figenschou Thoresen’s approach suggests that these strategies have a history within indigenous communities. The title is a reinterpretation of several lines in a report by Danish archaeologist Povl Simonsen about the Sámi Stone Age from the 1950s. Though an external viewpoint that is of its time, Simonsen established the presence of Sámi peoples in Sápmi for several millennia. The artist ‘harvests’ this history, reworking it for her own purposes.

The work is commissioned and produced by Astrup Fearnley Museet and funded by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB Kunsten i dag and Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond.

Curated by Owen Martin.