Aalsundby-Nørreborg

2019

Video, map, lightbox

Exhibition in Turbinegalleriet (Kunsthal NORD)

curator: Jesper Olsen

Aalborg, DK

What if two towns divided by a strait were more like two continents separated by an ocean? Aalsundby-Nørreborg project takes a point of departure in two distinct, yet functionally inseparable Danish towns: Aalborg and Nørresundby. Despite forming one city-organism nowadays, there remain tensions and prejudices from times, when the relationship was predominantly rivalrous. The ensuing “us and them” mentality is in the crosshairs of my works.

By means of utopian thinking, I aim to disrupt and unearth the contingency of the mechanisms of stereotyping. To this end, multi-scalar re-imagining and re-mixing of the natural geography of the Limfjord strait, as well as of the material and immaterial culture of the two cities, are used to create new utopian visions of imaginary cities. In a playful manner, they invite the spectators to ponder questions about identity, otherness, objectivity, and borders.