 | Life-Boats by Marit Benthe Norheim09. April 2012
The exhibition shows preparatory works for LIFE-BOATS.
Marit Benthe Norheim is working on a large LIFE-BOATS project
consisting of three sculptural boats shaped over the metaphor 'my
ship is loaded with' and presented in 1:5 models in concrete and
smaller models in 1:40 in bronze. The three boats each carry their
own theme: 'my ship is loaded with longing', 'my ship is loaded
with life' and 'my ship is loaded with memories'. This way the
sculptural boats lead us through women's life cycle while at the
same time we are travelling on the boats out into the world or back
to our home.
The end goal of the art project is to man the boats and sail them
along coasts and rivers.
For this exhibition, the artist has produced a head in full size
for the bow of 'the ship loaded with longing' and two figureheads
for 'my ship is loaded with memories', also in full size. The
finished boats will be 15 metres long and rise 3 metres above the
water. About the same size as that of the exhibition room!
The first thing that guests visiting the museum see is a large
magic treasure chest. The magic is that the audience think about
their wishes and hopes, write them down and place them in the
treasure chest, which is sealed and will sail on the boat loaded
with longing when the time comes.
Former head of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Else Marie
Bukdahl comments:
In a world where we often find opposition between population groups
and nationalities, 'LIFE-BOATS will create new optimistic relations
between people and symbolize the desire for community and respect
for one another that is always at the top of our agenda but which
it has often been difficult to reach.
The exhibition also presents the process of building your vision
from the first idea to documented completion. The first sculpture
has been financed - with among other contributions 1 million from
the Ministry of Culture - and is being built in full size in the
artist's workshop in Hjørring. Documentation of the creative
process, drawings and project descriptions of the total project are
part of the exhibition.
To the Women's Museum it is particularly significant that Marit
Benthe Norheim through her art provides voices and visibility for
women. It is an enterprising artistic project that understands and
interprets femininity on many levels and involves many elements -
from the physical building of the ships to existential
considerations of what a woman's life comprises.
Marit Benthe Norheim works with involvement on many levels, she
works in spaces outside and inside, in firm shapes and movement.
She communicates, insists and opens up. Her art inspires and
testifies that you can work in large sizes and succeed.
Read more about the project at www.life-boats.com/dk
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