2012 UTGITT AV NORSKE TEKSTILKUNSTNERE ... - SOFT galleri

puBliC ChallengeS
Public art projects can present a number of challenges. Even
with long experience the process is never completely problemfree.
May Bente Aronsen talks about the process surrounding
decorative assignments. How she analyses the use of the space,
examines the light and assesses what type of material is to be
used – and lastly she talks about the economic challenges.
MONicA HOLMEN
The qualiTieS OF The SpaCe
‘I examine all the qualities of the space where the work is to be
positioned,’ is how Aronsen begins to answer the question of
how she sets about starting a public project.
‘When I start a project, an important aspect is also my discussions
with art consultants, users, architects and commissioners,
so that a dialogue is established.’
She continues:
‘For me, it is important to analyse how the space is used –
where do those using it pass, how much time to they spend
there? Furthermore, I examine the light – both the artificial and
the natural – and the colours in the space.’
‘Take the work at Union of Education Norway, for example, where
a textile hangs along the 20-metre-long wall. There I’ve chosen a
colour for the felt that is in keeping with the cement wall – the felt
is white on one side and red on the back, which means it takes on
colour from the red and acquires a pinkish glow.’
The kinds of material to be used are also something that has
to be considered. Felt often features in Aronsen’s projects, and
that is not completely coincidental.
‘Felt is highly suitable for decorative projects, especially when it
comes to fire requirements and fire regulations.’
Despite the fact that she is extremely familiar with this material,
it nevertheless poses certain challenges. Especially when
the works increase in size.
‘When you are doing large-scale textile works, you must always
take the force of gravity extremely seriously: You must consider
when the stretching-forces enter into the picture. For a
textile work to be in balance when hung, each lamella must be
in balance and equal on both sides.’
Over time, though, she has found certain solutions.
‘There have to be vertical lines from the top of the work downwards,
and all the time I have to think about how much a centimetre
of felt can cope with, how much can it bear when there
are 200 lamellas next to each other? It’s all highly technical, but
gradually you learn how just how much felt can put up with.
The arT OF diSappearing
A recurring theme in public projects seems to be the problem of
autonomy versus decoration. For Aronsen, however, this is not
an issue to which she devotes much energy.
‘I’m not all that preoccupied with ensuring that what I supply
has to be a work of art in a Kantian sense.’
She explains that she rather seeks to incorporate a kind of disappearance
aspect in her projects.
soft 2012 | 51
‘I want my works to be perceived as a natural part of the space
without disappearing completely. At the same time, I am concerned
that what I supply is not too insistently present in the
space – I like my works to have a disappearance aspect.’
‘If I’m working on a large textile work, I find it exciting if from
certain angles one can look straight through it, that it “dissolves”.
At the same time, if we are dealing with a space where
people pass by, then it’s a good idea if something happens along
the way, that the work is perceived differently from different locations
in the space,’ she explains.
A number of Aronsen’s works are transparent in such a way that
the surrounding space can be discerned in the work. This is one
way of dealing with eventual challenges linked to positioning
and integration.
‘In public projects you are seldom able to hang something in
the middle of the space,’ she explains, going on by saying:
‘It’s still possible even so to let the works hang a bit out from
the wall, so that you have the feeling that there is space behind
them. Via lighting I can ensure that the work is perceived as being
more transparent, but that also requires it being given more
room in an interior. This makes it feel much airier and intensify
the transparent effect.’
This naturally has consequences for how one experiences the
work, what the public’s perception of the work is. And that is another
important aspect of Aronsen’s many works. Behind them
there is an element of almost mathematical design.
‘I couldn’t have done several of the works without a 3D program
on the computer. I’d otherwise have had to do models in some
other material – clay or something similar – and that would have
been a lengthy and cumbersome process,’ Aronsen explains.
A number of her works consist of lamellas or similar vertical
components that are ‘overlapped’ by circular shapes. Depending
on the angle they are viewed from, the perception of them will alter,
in the same way as the perception of the work will determine
how ‘visible’ a work is in the space where it is positioned.
‘It’s not completely logical what happens when you cut in such
a doughnut shape – in fact it’s completely impossible to see in
advance. When you are going to have many such shapes one
after the other, it’s impossible to get them to look right without
a 3D program.’
The consequence of this is that she cannot take care of the entire
production and has to buy services from external suppliers,
such as the designing of a project in a 3D program.
SuBSupplierS
At the moment, she is working on a project for Nordland Hospital,
Bodø, together with artist Anders Lian. The work is to be
a sizeable globe that is to hang from the ceiling in the vestibule.
As a visualisation of breathing it will be three metres in diameter
when folded, and five metres when it ‘blows’ itself up into
an oval shape. And this is where the challenge with subsuppliers
came in.
‘Right now we’re doing the detailed planning and sending out
tenders for all the tiny pieces that have to be produced.’
‘A large-scale project, in other words?’
‘Yes, it’s a fearfully complex project that is meant to end up