With THE LESSER STONE the visual artist Cathrine Raben Davidsen invites the public into a sensory installation that explores relations among alchemy, contrasting pairs and new ways of looking at the world.
A four-metre long collage unfolds a ‘mind map’ of the artist’s sources of inspiration on the surface of a meeting table. There are various writings, natural phenomena and symbols from the world of alchemy. The symbols recur on the walls and bear witness to the artist’s interest in alchemy and it´s doctrines. Today alchemy is understood as a chemical science that operates in an area spanning physics, philosophy and mysticism. Ceramic vessels that imitate laboratory flasks are placed at various levels in the space and refer to the alchemists’ experiments with mixing different elements in the hope of creating gold – which is why they were often seen as magicians. The meeting-room by no means consists of gold, but of an installation, which, like the alchemists, works with the mixing of contrasts, where science and magic are allowed to co-exist. With its bright colours and ingenious mysticism, Cathrine Raben Davidsen’s installation thus invites us to reflect upon new ways of viewing the world and its multiple possible constellations.
Cathrine Raben Davidsen trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and academies of art in Italy and The Netherlands. Her works are rooted in our own time while at the same time they reach both forward and back in time and create connections between personal, historical and universal systems. Rather than taking an interest in traditional hierarchies in art, crafts and design, she is preoccupied with diversity and transformations, on the basis of which she explores what it means to be human – and how the definition of being human is in constant flux.
Montanasalen is a special conceptual space at GL STRAND where successive artists are invited to relate to the framework of the meeting-room by installing of an artistic decoration.
Danish version
Billedkunstner Cathrine Raben Davidsen inviterer os med DEN MINDSTE STEN ind i en sanselig installation, der udforsker sammenhænge mellem alkymi, modsætningspar og nye måder at anskue verden på.
En fire meter lang collage udfolder et mindmap over kunstnerens inspirationskilder på mødebordets overflade. Her er forskellige skrifter, naturfænomener og symboler fra alkymiens verden. Symbolerne går igen på væggene og vidner om kunstnerens interesse for alkymien og dens lære. I dag forstås alkymi som en kemisk videnskab, der opererer i et felt mellem fysik, filosofi og mystik. Keramiske krukker, som imiterer laboratoriske kolber, er placeret på varierende niveauer i rummet og refererer til alkymisternes eksperimenter med at blande forskellige elementer i håbet om at skabe guld – hvorfor de ofte blev set som magikere. Møderummet består ingenlunde af guld men af en installation, der, lig alkymisterne, arbejder med sammensmeltning af modsætninger, og hvor videnskab og magi får lov til at sameksistere. Med lyse farver og sirlig mystik inviterer Cathrine Raben Davidsens installation således til refleksion over nye måder at anskue verden og dens mange mulige sammensætninger på.
Cathrine Raben Davidsen er uddannet fra Kunstakademiet i København og fra kunstakademier i Italien og Holland. Hendes værker er funderet i vores egen tid samtidig med, at de rækker både frem og tilbage i tiden og skaber forbindelser mellem personlige, historiske og universelle systemer. Frem for at interessere sig for traditionelle hierarkier inden for kunst, håndværk og design er hun optaget af mangfoldighed og transformationer, hvorfra hun undersøger, hvad det vil sige at være menneske – og hvordan definitionen af det at være menneske er i konstant fluks.
Montanasalen er et særligt konceptrum i GL STRAND, hvor skiftende kunstnere inviteres til at forholde sig til møderummets særegne ramme gennem en kunstnerisk udsmykning.
Kunstforeningen Gl Strand
Gl. Strand 48
DK – 1202 København K
