Punch Bowl Portal, 2018. Installation view. Photo: David Stjernholm
Punch Bowl Portal, 2018. Aluminium, sugarwater, wool, stainless steel. 44 x 228 x 108 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Punch Bowl Portal, 2018. Aluminium, sugarwater, wool, stainless steel. 44 x 228 x 108 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Punch Bowl Portal, 2018 (Detail). Photo: David Stjernholm
Punch Bowl Portal, 2018. Installation view. Photo: David Stjernholm
How thirst does the work, then the eyes, 2018. Porcelain, lead, stainless steel, wool. 150 x 148 x 141 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
How thirst does the work, then the eyes, 2018 (Detail). Photo: David Stjernholm
(left:) Philtre (1), 2018. Nickel silver and wool. 13 x 11 x 11 cm. (right:) Philtre (2), 2018. Nickel silver and wool. 11 x 11 x 11 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Faux pas, 2018. Porcelain and lipstick. 30 x 15 x 7 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Punch Bowl Portal, 2018. Installation view. Photo: David Stjernholm
Nest, 2018. Aluminium, lead, flies (Lucilia Caesar). 30 x 15 x 7 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Nest, 2018 (Detail). Photo: David Stjernholm
Moonlighter, 2018. Nickel silver. 30 x 15 x 7 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Soothsayer, 2018. Nickel silver and caramel. 30 x 15 x 7 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Ghostdriver, 2018. Aluminium. 30 x 15 x 7 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Punch Bowl Portal, 2018. Installation view. Photo: David Stjernholm
In the pleasure of your company, part I, 2018. Aluminium. 67,5 x 67,5 x 4,5 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
In the pleasure of your company, part II, 2018. Aluminium. 67,5 x 67,5 x 4,5 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
In the pleasure of your company, part II, 2018. Aluminium. 67,5 x 67,5 x 4,5 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Punch Bowl Portal, 2018. Installation view. Photo: David Stjernholm
(left:) Philtre (3), 2018. Nickel silver and wool. 13 x 11 x 11 cm. (right:) Philtre (4), 2018. Nickel silver and wool. 14 x 11 x 11 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Advanced Night Repair, 2018. Nickel silver, stainless steel. 10 x 10 x 55 cm. Photo: David Stjernholm
Advanced Night Repair, 2018 (Detail). Photo: David Stjernholm

Punch Bowl Portal, 2018
Solo exhibition, Gether Contemporary, Copenhagen, DK

Exhibition text by Nanna Stjernholm Jepsen (English version below):

Punch Bowl Portal

Et elegant kar, fyldt med en klar, ubestemmelig væske, trækker mig ind i udstillingen. På væggene overfor hinanden hænger to runde, let konkave aluminiumsspejle. Deres ujævne spejlinger indfanger mig i rummet sammen med skulpturerne. Længere tilbage i udstillingen hænger en øse i hvidt porcelæn, hvis inderside er belagt med et lag af bly. Den frister mig til at øse fra karret og drikke af de højpolerede kopper, støbt i nysølv, som står placeret rundt omkring. Jeg forestiller mig det kolde metal mod mine læber, gætter på smagen af karrets indhold, på væskens påvirkning af min krop. 

Nysølv kan med sit meget høje indhold af nikkel, ligesom bly, trænge gennem huden og ved langvarig kontakt påvirke og forgifte menneskekroppen. I daglig omgang med metallerne, vil de langsomt ophobe sig i kroppen og resultere i en utilsigtet forgiftning. Punch Bowl Portal kredser om forgiftningen. Den forgiftning vores omgivelser, materialer såvel som mennesker, kan tilføre os. Ligesom i fortællingen om den romerske digter og filosof Lucretius (ca. 99-55 f.v.t.) og hans elskede Lucilia, som Christine Overvad Hansen subtilt har ladet sive ned i udstillingen. I begæret efter at forstærke Lucretius’ kærlighed til sig, gav hun ham en kærlighedseliksir – men hun fik ikke fremstillet den korrekt og Lucilias eliksir gjorde i stedet Lucretius vanvittig. Et vanvid, der drev ham til selvmord. 

En række ansigtsløse masker hænger på væggen, kun mundens sprække antyder et genkendeligt træk. Ligesom de andre objekter, er maskerne støbt i aluminium, bly og nysølv og som en kropsskal søger de uforløst at tage del i en krop. Men deres fysiske udformning har forskudt sig fra menneskets proportioner og efterlader mig snarere med en klaustrofobisk fornemmelse, ved tanken om at skulle lade mig blænde i maskens snævre rum. 

Hvert objekt i udstillingen rummer på sin vis fortællingen om en forgiftet krop og om utilsigtede møder mellem kroppe og metallernes anderledes liv. For som en maske, kan metaller også tage bolig i vores krop og blive en del af vores organisme – blive del af et større kredsløb af celleformationer, gendannelser og udvekslinger med andre materialer som vi konstant eksisterer i. Punch Bowl Portal udfolder en materialeundersøgende fortælling, der strækker sig fra relationelle udvekslinger mellem kroppe og objekter til at dvæle ved forgiftede relationer og det utilsigtede onde vi kan tilføre hinanden.

Krop og skulptur såvel som materialer og performativ gestik smelter ofte sammen i Christine Overvad Hansens praksis. Her udviskes grænsen for hvor skulpturen starter og hvor en krop tager dens plads. Christine Overvad Hansens værker er i stedet opfyldt af et sensibelt nærvær og kropsligt engagement, hvor objekt kan blive til subjekt og min krop kan blive til din. 

Nanna Stjernholm Jepsen 

Punch Bowl Portal

An elegant tub, filled with a clear, undefineable fluid, draws me into the exhibition. On the walls opposite each other hangs two round, slightly concave aluminum mirrors. Their uneven mirrorings capture me in space along with the sculptures. Further into the exhibition is a large serving spoon of white porcelain, the inside of which is coated with a layer of lead. It tempts me to pour from the tub and drink of the polished cups, cast in nickel silver, which are placed around the space. I imagine the cold metal against my lips, guessing the taste of the tub’s content, the fluid’s influence on my body.

Nickel silver can with its very high content of nickel, like lead, penetrate through the skin and with prolonged contact, affect and poison the human body. Through daily contact, the metals will slowly accumulate in the body and result in unintentional poisoning. Punch Bowl Portal revolves around poisoning. The poisoning our surroundings, materials as well as humans can cause us. Just like in the tale of Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (about 99-55 BC) and his beloved Lucilia, which Christine Overvad Hansen subtilly hints to in the exhibition. In desire to reinforce Lucretius’s love, she gave him a love potion – but she did not produce it correctly and Lucillia’s potion instead made Lucretius insane. A madness which drove him to suicide.

 A number of faceless masks hang on the wall, only a slight opening where the mouth is suggests a recognizable feature. Like the other objects, the masks are cast in aluminum, lead and nickel silver and, as a bodily shell, they unredeemed seek to be part of a body. But their physical design has shifted from human proportions, and rather leaves me with a claustrophobic feeling, at the thought of being blinded by the narrow confines of the mask.

Each object in the exhibition, in turn, contains the narrative of a poisoned body and about unintended meetings between bodies and the foreign lives of metals. For like a mask, metals can also take residence in our body and become part of our organism – become part of a larger circuit of cell formations, regenerations and exchanges with other materials inwhich we constantly exist. Punch Bowl Portal unfolds a story of material investigation, ranging from relational exchanges between bodies and objects to dwelling on poisoned relationships and the unintended evil that we can cause each other.

Body and sculpture as well as materials and performative gestures often fuse in Christine Overvad Hansen’s practice. Here the boundary of where the sculpture starts and where a body takes its place expels. Christine Overvad Hansen’s works are instead fulfilled by a sensible presence and bodily commitment, where objects can become subjects and my body can become yours.

Nanna Stjernholm Jepsen