The second edition of the Imaginary Collection in Copenhagen, and ongoing collaboration between 2112 and von Bartha, showcases a selection of works by ten artists; Caroline Achaintre, Christian Andersson, Emilia Bergmark, Terry Haggerty, Mike Meiré, Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Francisco Sierra, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Bernar Venet and Claudia Wieser.

Proposed as an anti-theme to this exhibition, More than a thousand words embraces the diversity of the collection, presenting each work as if an unrelated chapter in an anthology of short fiction. As a concise form of storytelling, short fiction (or shorts), ranges from just a few words up to a thousand. 

Whilst brevity is its form, focus and impact are its method. From the word go, shorts throw us straight into the thick of it, zooming us into compelling depths of observation. In their wordery too, they often conjure up rich, highly-sensory imagery. 

Whether a picture is worth, or a short is compiled* of a thousand words*, each singular work conveys complex and often multiple ideas. Yet what is more important is where we take the works as readers, or viewers. At this moment, your encounter with the work, your imagination can take them beyond their own words, frames or forms. 

Cast your mind to Claude Monet’s depictions of water lilies. From that brief moment captured in the painting, our imaginations are expanded—taking us beyond the canvas and to the surrounding landscape and the ephemeral changes in light evolving from that fleeting moment. Then cast your mind to Georgia O’Keefe’s large-scale flower paintings of the 1950s. Their magnified detailing closely cropped on the canvas immerses us in something beyond our physical selves, expanding also our optical realms. In this, too, subjects and forms may oscillate between representation and abstraction—in which lines can become horizons, and horizons lines. 

But art, unlike shorts, typically does not observe the arc of narrative—from the beginning, middle to end. There is often no clear linearity, order, or way to read an artwork. It is as if only the final words of the artwork’s story is revealed to us in its most visible layers of colour, surface and form—as if part of the story is left undisclosed.

Yet as Neil deGrasse Tyson, the contemporary astrophysicist and science presenter, concludes “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.”¹ However, there is something profuse and compelling about gaps and ambiguities, including the unfathomable genius of how an artwork has evolved or been created. Beyond the frame or final form, these gaps give our imaginations liberty to roam. 

Thus, this exhibition is in no way my Imaginary Collection. Rather Yours. Yours, as you encounter each work as a single chapter. Yours, as you experience the gaps and ambiguities. Yours as you take the works beyond their frame or form into your own imagination. With You they take on a new life, a new journey. Yours, as they expand more than a thousand words.

Welcome to the public opening on Friday, May 2, 5-7 pm. 
Invitation open to all.
Address: 2112, Holbergsgade 20, 1057, Copenhagen

Opening hours:
Tuesday - Friday 12-17,
Saturday 12-15
and by appointment
https://www.2112.dk

¹ deGrasse Tyson, Neil (2017). Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, W. W. Norton & Company, New York/London, p. 13.