umbrella
west coast exhibitions

The exhibition explores what happens when an object that has historically existed only in relation to something else is released from its function and emerges as a work in its own right. 

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The ceiling rosette is designed to draw attention to something other than itself. It marks the centre of a room, frames the suspension of a chandelier and reinforces the architecture, while its own presence almost always remains in the background. By detaching the rosette from this role, we explore how an object changes when it is no longer defined by the function or relationship for which it was originally created. 

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Flensted Mouritzen and Brandhøj Fensholt both work experimentally and through a material-based approach to form, material and the meaning of objects. Through investigations of materials, processes and context, we challenge established notions of value, function and hierarchy. In this exhibition, our practices come together in a shared exploration of the ceiling rosette as a sculptural form. 

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For centuries, the rosette has functioned both as ornament and as an architectural detail – initially as a fireproofing element around chandeliers and later as a finishing detail around electrical fixtures. Its circular, floral form can be traced back to the sun symbols of antiquity. The rosette carries a symbolic reference to the custom of hanging a rose from the ceiling as a sign that what was spoken of would remain confidential. Etymologically, the name rosette derives from the French diminutive rosette, meaning “little rose.” Across changing architectural styles it has been made in wood, plaster, metal and, more recently, plastic. It reflects the development of craftsmanship, shifting material hierarchies and a cultural history in which an object's symbolism, status and function have changed as it has moved from grand interiors into the ordinary home. 

In the exhibition, we move the rosette away from the ceiling and into a new space. It loses its function and instead becomes the subject of a sculptural investigation. Through works in materials including scagliola, glass, ceramics, wood, cork and plastic, the rosette is explored through different scales, materials and processes. Some works remain close to the historical form, while others dissolve or transform it. What they share is an exploration of the rosette as a form with a meaning of its own, rather than as an element that points towards something else. 

The exhibition takes the ceiling rosette as its point of departure, but ultimately revolves around something more fundamental: how our surroundings are organised through relationships between what supports and what is supported, what is visible and what is overlooked.

By allowing an architectural element to step forward as the protagonist, the exhibition opens up a sensory investigation of the hierarchies that shape our gaze – and of how meaning can emerge when what normally remains in the background is given a life of its own.