Solo Exhibition at Vestjyllands Kunstpavillon
Bleak Harvest
Text by Tina Anette Madsen
Anna Bak’s solo exhibition in Vestjyllands Kunstpavillon has the title “Bleak Harvest” (Danish: Dyster Høst). It illustrates a fictional story about an agricultural community, about their tenacious work to optimise the profit of their crops, and their despair and remorse after the harvest has gone all wrong.
Although the focal point for the exhibition is fictitious, it draws strong references to realistic problematics, such as the negative consequences of genetically modified crops, an industrialized agricultural society and a world that since the 1970’erne yearly has had an over-consumption of natural resources compared to what our planet can re in a year.
The starting point for Anna Bak’s exhibition is based in inspiration from her own upbringing on a pig farm in West Jutland in the early 90’s. The efficiency and industrialization of agriculture during the 90’s had big consequences; in 1985 there were 40.000 full-time farmers, by 1996 this number was reduced to 28.000, and by 2024 it is believed there is around 7.500 full-time farmers in Denmark.
The exhibition relates specifically to the area around Vestjyllands Kunstpavillon, as a great part of the region around Videbæk consists of cultivated agricultural land. Moreover, it is not accidental either that the exhibition period falls at the end of August – September, as this is high season for harvesting of the year’s crop.
Bak does not want to point a moral finger towards anyone specific, which is why she has chosen to use aesthetic from classical horror films, new-settler society, and mythical folklore, leaving it open for the viewer to read the exhibition and see the parallels to our current situation. The exhibition manages to create a claustrophobic state of dystopia, at the same time as it contains sensual and poetic and elements, with tactile undertones. These ‘extremes’ create a trembling atmosphere that characterize the entire exhibition.
The elements in the exhibition range widely from textile collages to bronze sculptures, ceramic works and linoleum cuts. In this context the ‘noble’ elevated metal – bronze – is used to create sculptures such as spoiled and rotten apples, corn, withered plants. Wood and aluminium create sensuous deformed ‘tools’ which stands sharp against the orange field fire painted on the backwall. Lying ‘gently’ on bales of hay, rest distorted poppy seeds, bait and sprouts. Recognizable elements as old used harrows and field poles, take on new meaning when they are transformed and are included as load-bearing structures in a pedestal that carries the wondrous, twisted bronze sculptures. Characteristic for the exhibition is, that it can be seen as story with a theme, where the viewer can tell their own tale and imagine what happens in this connection.
Photo credit: Jacob Friis-Holm Nielsen / Anna Bak
Henning Larsens vej 3, Videbæk, DK
The exhibition is curated by Tina Anette Madsen under the umbrella of VK Contemporary Art.
Exhibition period: 31.08. - 29.09. 2024
The exhibition is supported Statens Kunstfond, The Obelske Familiefond and the Ny Carlsberg Fondet.