HAIKU TO HØECK
NOVEMBER 10 – JANUARY 13 2019
MORTEN STRÆDE & FREDERIK STJERNFELT
‘Haiku to Høeck’ is a groundbreaking exhibition project and a special homage to one of Denmark’s most famous poets, who will be celebrating his 80th birthday this November. The visual artist Morten Stræde and professor of philosophy Frederik Stjernfelt have both followed Høeck’s uncompromising authorship through the past 30 years; now they have created a collective, sculptural visual and textual installation in Kunsthal NORD’s unrefined post-industrial premises.
The interdisciplinary and experimental exhibit consists of a variety of sculptures and literary texts that all refer to those “heroes” and sources of influence, which have inspired both Klaus Høeck, Morten Stræde and Frederik Stjernfelt through their many years of work. The audience will be presented with works named after world famous artists and theorists, as for instance Søren Kierkegaard, Vladimir Tatlin, Walter de Maria and Yves Klein.
The collective oeuvre of Klaus Høecks is a common characteristic utilised in a broad application of systematics, both grammatic and semantic. His carefully composed collections of poems are often based on the great literature’s table of contents and develops it further; often raw, straight-forward and constructionally complex.
This simultaneously complex, clarified and uncompromising accession regarding the relationship between art and the world influences this exhibit as well, which is a localized anchored tissue consisting of Morten Stræde’s firm sculptures, reliefs and paper creations, along with Frederik Stjernfelt’s physical textual elements which extend themselves across walls and floors.
The exhibit is supported by The Danish Arts Foundation, Knud Højgaard’s Fund, The Beckett Foundation, the 15th July Foundation and the Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fund
Morten Stræde (born 1956) is a trained sculptor from the Royal Danish Academy of Arts in 1985, and he has been a professor there from 1994 – 2003. He is one of the country’s most experienced artists in the cross between traditional art and landscape architecture/urban development. He has created a number of installations, which have been exhibited both in and out of the country. He is also represented in 10 different Danish art museums. He has received numerous awards, including Thorvaldsen Medaljen, Eckersberg Medaljen, the Italian Constantino Nivola award and Statens Kunstfonds lifelong benefit. Last year, in 2017, he received Ny Carlsbergfondets artist award.
Frederik Stjernfelt (born 1957) is a writer and a professor in science theory, history of ideas and semiotics at AAU Copenhagen. He has been associated with Weekendavisen since 1994, and editor of KRITIK from 1993 - 2013, and a member of Det Danske Akademi since 2001. He has written a number of books and received many awards: Lærebogsprisen 2006 along with Vincent F. Hendricks in 2006, Dansk Magisterforenings research price 2010, and Blixenprisen for ‘this years effort for freedom of speech’ along with Jacob Mchangama in 2017. In 2018 Frederik Stjernfelt and Ulrik Langen received a grant from Carlsbergfondet to write a book about the period of freedom to press 1770 – 1773.
Klaus Høeck (born 1938) is a one of the big Danish poets, and he has released more than 30 books over the years. He had his debut in 1966 with the poetry collection Yggdrasil. He has since received numerous literature awards, such as Gyldendals Boglegat (1980), Beatrice-Prisen (1987), Søren Gyldendal Prisen (1989), Emil Aarestrup Medaillen (1989), Johannes Ewald Legatet (1999) and Kritikerprisen (2008).