umbrella
west coast exhibitions
Kate Skjerning
den triadiske ballade
20 april 2024 - 29 september 2024
For the new idea of a yearly outdoor installation, we invited Danish artist Kate Skjerning to develop a series of figures that freely reference the triadic ballet realized by Oskar Schlemmer in the 1920s.
Although primarily a painter, Oskar Schlemmer was appointed head of the theater group at the Bauhaus in 1925, ushering in a period of theatrical experimentation. The Triadic Ballet, created before World War I but not presented as a finished work until after 1922, was intended for three dancers - one woman and two men. Schlemmer designed eighteen costumes for the ballet's twelve choreographies, which were performed on yellow, white and black backdrops. The artist explained that building on triplets transcended the selfishness of the individual and the dualism of the couple and emphasized the collective.
For Kate Skjerning, Schlemmer's idiom, his vocabulary of forms and the underlying ideas are the starting point for creating a new series of sculptures that can be seen as playful sculptural works made of used materials which will define the umbrella outdoor space in relation to the grass areas and the existing trees. In this way, Kate Skjerning, who is known for her textile sculptures, expands her oeuvre with variations which now also appear in the outdoor space and taking aspects of figure shapes, permeability, various textures and light into account.
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The exhibition is supported by Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond and Statens Kunstfond.
Kate Skjerning, den triadiske ballade, Exhibition view 2024, Courtesy the artist, Photo by Jacob Friis-Holm Nielsen