After the Fire
Kunstnernes Hus, Århus, september 1994

I udstillingsrummet løber der afsats langs den ene side af rummet i et par meters højde. Set oppe fra denne afsats ligger udstillingsrummet som et stort dybt bassin, man kommer ned i ad en trappe midt på afsatsen.
I dette bassin hænger ca. 500 brandslanger ned fra loftet. Slangerne er sat op med metalwire i koblingerne og hænger regelmæssigt i samme højde og med samme afstand. Publikum kan ikke gå ned i bassinet, men må opholde sig på afsatsen.
Slangekoblingerne hænger i normal øjenhøjde for de fleste mennesker, og danner et horisontalt plan i rummet som man alt efter højde enten betragter lidt oppe- eller lidt nedefra. Denne horisontale flade beskriver med sit kvadratnet af koblinger rummets perspektiviske plan, og opdeler rummet så alt nedenunder er kompakt og uigennemtrængeligt af slanger og alt ovenover tomt og luftigt med et frit synsfelt bortset fra de tynde metalwirer.I det vertikale plan bevæger slangerne sig fra orden og regelmæssighed i loftet til kaos og uorden ved gulvet, hvor slangerne ligger filtret ind i hinanden i et morads af ler og vand. Et landskab af flere tons vådt ler er bredt over hele gulvet ved en proces hvor slangernes løse ender er trådt ned i leret og trukket rundt mellem hinanden.
Umiddelbart efter at installationen var færdiglavet lå dette lerlandskab som en mudret sump med vandpytter mellem øer af fast ler. I løbet af udstillingsperioden fordampede vandet og leret tørrede ind. Midtvejs i forløbet var der en overgang en blanding af tørre, lyse lerlag og våde, mørke lag afhængig af lagenes tykkelse. Ved udstillingens afslutning lå lerlandskabet som en lys, skorpet overflade i det udtørrede bassin.

After the Fire
Kunstnernes Hus, Århus, september 1994

Kunstnernes Hus, Århus, Denmark, september 1994. Visitors approach the exhibition room by an elevated ledge which runs along one side of the room at a height of several metres. From this vantage point, a stairway situated roughly halfway along the ledge descends into the body of the exhibition room, which resembles a large, deep tank.

The tank is penetrated by some 500 fire hoses hanging from the ceiling. The hoses are supported on metal wires attached to thei connectors and are suspended at a uniform height and distance. The hoses are spaced less than half a metre apart, so that visitors cannot descend into the tank but must remain on the ledge.
The hose connectors are suspended at what for most people is normal eye level, and form a horizontal plane which is observed either from slightly above or from slightly below, depending on the height of the spectator. This horizontal surface with its square-shaped network of hose connectors defines the room’s perspective plane, and divides up the room so that all below is compact and made inpenetrable by hoses, while all above is empty and airy, with a clear field of vision except for the thin metal wires.
In the vertical plane the hoses move from order and regularity at ceiling level to chaos and disorder at floor level, where the hoses lie entangled in a morass of clay and water. A landscape consisting of several tonnes of wet clay was spread over the entire floor by a proces in which the ends of the hoses were trodden down into the clay to become intertwined.

Immediately after the installation was completed this clay landscape resembled a muddy swamp with puddles of water between islands of firm clay. Over the course of the exhibition the water evaporated and the clay dried out. Halfway through this process there was a transitional period with a mixture of dry, light clay and wet, dark clay depending on the thickness of the clay layers. At the end of the exhibition the clay landscape had become a light, crusty surface in the dried-out tank.

Hangar
Kunstnernes Hus, Århus, september 1994

Knap 900 okseknogler hænger i metalwirer i udstillingsrummets loft og danner det ydre, rumlige volumen af en flyvemaskine.Forlægget er en Douglas DC-3, der siden trediverne har været benyttet som passager- og fragt- og millitærfly overalt i verden – en af historiens mest udbredte flytyper og stadig i anvendelse den dag i dag.Knogleformationen af DC-3’eren er dimensioneret så den fylder det meste af rummet, fra vingespids til vingespids og fra snude til hale. Den svæver cirka en meter over gulvet, fastlåst mellem rummets lodrette træsøjler.

Hver enkelt knogles ophængningspunkt svarer til et bestemt punkt på en DC-3’ers rumlige overflade således at ophængningen bevæger sig i de korrekte aerodynamiske kurver, følger vingernes krumning osv. Til gengæld er den enkelte knogle vilkårligt valgt med hensyn til størrelse og form, og dens orientering i rummet er ligeledes tilfældig.
Den omstændighed at man kan se gennem flykroppens knoglevæg til knoglerne i den modsatte side, medfører at flyvemaskinens rumlige, plastiske virkning er afhængig af hvor i udstillingsrummet man befinder sig. Betragtet fra et hvilket som helst synspunkt vil visse dele af ophængningen have karakter af et kaotisk, fladt gardin af knogler, samtidig med at andre dele opfattes som en velordnet tre-dimensionel beskrivelse af en flyvemaskine. Bevæger man sig rundt om flyveren skifter fokus hele tiden mellem hvilke dele der er kaotisk flade og hvilke der er rumligt genkendelige, og det er ikke muligt fra nogen enkeltposition i rummet at se den samlede flyvemaskine rumligt udfoldet på én gang.
På gulvet under flyvemaskinens højre vinge ligger tre batterier med ialt 12 sorte trykflasker der hver indeholder cirka 10.000 liter komprimeret atmosfærisk luft. Trykflaskerne er forsynet med ventiler der er indstillet så der konstant siver en lille mængde luft ud af flaskerne, hvad der i hele udstillingsrummet høres som en svag, hvislende lyd. Da flaskerne ikke bærer etiket eller anden inskription, kan publikum umiddelbart ikke identificere den udsivende luftart, medmindre man er bekendt med den særlige farvekode der anvendes på gasflasker af denne art. Den samlede beholdning på ca. 120.000 liter atmosfærisk luft svarer til den mængde der undslipper trykflaskerne i den tre uger lange udstillingsperiode.

Hangar
Kunstnernes Hus, Århus, Denmark. september 1994

Some 900 cattle bones attached to metal wires suspended from the ceiling of the exhibition room form the external contour of an aeroplane.The aeroplane is modelled on the Douglas DC-3, which since the 1930s has been used as a passenger and cargo carrier all over the world, for both civilian but particularly millitary purposes – one of the most succesful aeroplanes in aviation history, the DC-3 is still in service today. The DC-3 is an archetype, the embodiment of virtually classic aviation design, and an aeroplane familiar from innumerable documentary and feature films.In the installation, the bone formation of the DC-3 is dimensioned so that from wing tip to wing tip and from nose to tail it fills most of the room. It hovers about a metre above the floor locked between the room’s vertical wooden columns.
The point of suspension of every single bone corresponds to a particular point in the space on the surface of a DC-3. The suspension thus moves in the correct aerodynamic curves, tracing the contour of the wings and other features. However, each individual bone was randomly selected with regard to size and shape, and the orientation of the bones in space is likewise arbitrary.

The fact that the bone DC-3 is to some extend transparent, the spectator being able to see through the fuselage to the bones on the opposite side, means that the spatial fluidity of the aircraft is dependent upon where in the room one stands. Whichever angle they are viewed from, some parts of the suspension wil have the appearance of a chaotic, flat curtain of bones, while at the same time other parts are perceived as a well-ordered, three-dimensional definition of an aeroplane. Moving around the installation, the focus continuously changes between the two, and it is impossible from any single position in the room to form a 3D picture of the complete aeroplane.

Positioned on the floor under the right-hand wing of the aircraft are three banks of black compressed-air cylinders. There are 12 cylinders in all, each containing around 10,000 litres of compressed air. During the course of the exhibition, each cylinder in turn is made to release a small but constant flow of air by means of an adjustable valve.The escaping air is audible throughout the exhibition room as a low, high-frequency whistling sound which is easily recognised as originating from the cylinders. As the cylinders carry no label or other form of inscription, visitors cannot immediately identify the nature of the escaping gas unless they are familiar with the special colour code used on cylinders of this type. The total content of the cylinders, around 120,000 litres, corresponds to the three-week duration of the exhibition.