courage

Signe Vad 2023

SOL NEXØ, Bornholm

Placenta material – please have a seat, 2021
100% genbrugsbomuld, halm og velcro

“The good news is that we know how to turn things around -- on climate, on finance, on conflict resolution, on and on.We need disruption to end the destruction. No more baby steps. No more excuses. Look at what will happen to all of us tomorrow – and act.”
- Antonio Guterres, Generalsekretærens 2023-briefing
6. Februar, FNs hovedkvarter, NYC

“Menneskeheden har et valg. Samarbejd eller gå til grunde.
Det er enten en klimasolidaritetspagt eller en kollektiv selvmordspagt””

Antonio Guterres åbningstale af COP27,
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypten, 2022

Udstillingen ”Courage” handler om sandsynligheder, fremtider og årstider. Mest af alt, handler den om mod – det mod der skal til for at holde stand, det mod det kræver, at yde modstand.

I SOL inviteres vi til at træde barfodet ind i et sanselandskab, der med visne blade spredt på gulvet trækker os ud af sommeren, og minder vores kroppe om efteråret, som et mærkbart symbol på den tid vi lever i. Nok er bladene i forfald – ligesom vores civilisation – men der er stadig mulighed for at formulde i skoven, indgå i jordens organiske kredsløb og blive til noget nyt.

I sine bionedbrydelige værker integrerer Signe Vad alternative fremtidsutopier og økofeministiske principper for omsorg. Værkerne knitrer, knaser, lugter og lever i rummet. Sammen med de verbale og visuelle fortællinger fremstår de som regenerative fremtidsfiktioner. Rummets kolde råhed står i kontrast til udstillingens bløde moderkagepuder i varme, blodige farver. Videoværket ”Jeg vil være et godt menneske” (2023) bygger på refleksioner over kunstnerens eget ståsted i verden – erkendelsen af selv at bidrage til destruktionen på jorden og ønsket om at tage del i en altomfattende forandring. I en videokollage ser vi NASAs droneoptagelser i ørkenlandskabet på Mars, kalvende gletschere i Arktis og klimademonstranter i København, der alle smelter sammen i en poetisk, politisk og personlig modstandskamp ledt an af Signe Vad

Videoværket ”Jeg træder altid ind i verden” (2010) er optaget i ét take med en varighed af 17 minutter. Her følger vi kunstnerens ydre transformation i en langsom og stille forvandling, mens hendes krop usynligt agerer slagmark for den kamp, der udspilles mellem immunforsvar og kræftceller.

Kroppens miljø er forbundet med planetens tilstand på mange niveauer. Klimaforandringer er ifølge verdenssundhedsorganisationen WHO menneskehedens største helbredstrussel. Det gør os alle sårbare, men betyder også at der er styrke at hente i fællesskabet. For os, der skriver og læser denne tekst, er de priviligerede og de ressourcestærke. Vi lever som statsborgere i et demokrati og er i besiddelse af ytringsfrihed. Vi har et valg, en stemme og mange flere liv på samvittigheden end blot vores eget, hvis ikke vi aktivt tager del i modstanden

'Humanity has a choice: collaporate or perish.
It is either a Climate Solidarity Pact—or a Collective Suicide Pact.'
— António Guterres, Opening Speech at COP27, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, 2022

The exhibition Courageis about probabilities, futures, and seasons.
Above all, it is about courage—the courage to endure, and the courage required to resist.

In SOL, we are invited to step barefoot into a sensory landscape. With withered leaves scattered across the floor, the installation pulls us out of summer and reminds our bodies of autumn—as a tangible symbol of the times we live in. The leaves may be decaying, much like our civilization, but there is still the possibility to decompose in the forest, to become part of the earth’s organic cycle, and to transform into something new.

In her biodegradable works, Signe Vad integrates alternative future utopias and ecofeminist principles of care. The works rustle, crackle, smell, and live within the space. Combined with verbal and visual narratives, they appear as regenerative fictions of the future. The cold rawness of the space contrasts with the exhibition’s soft placenta cushions in warm, blood-hued tones.

The video work I Want to Be a Good Human(2023) is based on reflections on the artist’s own place in the world—the realization of her own participation in the planet’s destruction, and the desire to take part in a profound transformation. In a video collage, we see NASA’s drone footage of the Martian desert landscape, calving glaciers in the Arctic, and climate protesters in Copenhagen—all blending into a poetic, political, and personal act of resistance, led by Signe Vad.

The video work I Always Step Into the World(2010) is recorded in a single take lasting 17 minutes. We witness the artist’s external transformation through a slow, silent metamorphosis, while her body silently becomes a battlefield for the struggle between immune defenses and cancer cells.

The body's environment is linked to the state of the planet on many levels. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), climate change is the greatest health threat facing humanity. This makes us all vulnerable, but also means there is strength to be found in community. For those of us writing and reading this text, we are among the privileged, the resourceful. We live as citizens in a democracy and possess freedom of speech. We have a choice, a voice, and more lives on our conscience than our own—if we do not actively take part in resistance.