“Nursing home for Cosmonauts”

Nursing home for Cosmonauts is the first solo exhibition of Sailstorfer’s work in Denmark and constitutes the last of a series of three exhibitions at Kunsthal 44 Møen, whereby international artists are invited to relate to the place and Møn. It is the Kunsthal’s ambition to help build and promote the community and develop the cultural identity of the region, as a changeable process that constantly evolves in meeting with other cultures.

The exhibition includes a new series of ceramic architectural models, modeled and glazed from clay. Each ceramic stands on carefully designed plinths, conducive to an overall sculptural landscape. Formally, the ceramics recall brutalist post war architecture. However, accompanied by humorous and politically charged titles, Sailstorfer transforms the models into shells that give an impetus for various interpretations. The ceramics are installed on a carpet created from German police uniforms. The uniforms are transformed from their original function and the act of entering the carpet facilitates a change of address between viewer and police. Walking on the carpet becomes an anarchic act, recalling rebellious punk-rock attitudes.

Extending outside the Kunsthal’s space, the exhibition also includes a new series of large aircraft tanks, functioning as furnaces to produce heat. Fired with wood, the former tanks no longer serve as storage but become a source of energy, which dissolves slowly in the outdoor environment. Also exhibited outside, ‘Vollmond’ consists of 29 honey melons resting on metal hooks. Like the heat from the furnaces, the smell of the rotting melons will dissolve in the surroundings.

Traenen (2015) is a recent video work that romantically and humorously tackles concepts of destruction. While the tanks emit smoke upwards into the sky, the ‘raindrops’ in ‘Traenen’ fall down in tears onto an unassuming house below. Three drops fall repeatedly to deliver a multitude of destructive blows, until only a rubble heap remains. Sailstorder’s post-production editing, in which he removes the ropes that support the drops, imparts a sense of wonder and spectacle to the documentary recording.

Michael Sailstorfer was born in Velden, Germany, in 1979. He currently lives and works in Berlin. From 1999 until 2005, he studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, and received his MA in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College, London in 2004. His work has been displayed in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the world, including Michael Sailstorfer. Silver Cloud, Studio Michael Sailstorfer, Berlin; It might as well be spring, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, Minn.; B-Seite, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin; Every piece is a new problem, CAC Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati; Forst, Vattenfall Contemporary, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; Tornado, Public Art Fund New York, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Central Park, New York City; Raum und Zeit, S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent; Forst, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover; 10 000 Steine, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main; Und sie bewegt sich doch!, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich.

SUPPORTED BY:

Augustinus Fonden
Knud Højgaards Fond
15. Juni Fonden
Statens Kunstfond
Vordingborg Kommune