Genfortryllelse af byrummet og naturen
- værker af Michael Singer

Udstillingen er skabt af den berømte skulptør, havekunstner og arkitekt Michael Singer, der har skabt skulpturer, havekunst og arkitektur, som er bygget på kunstnerisk forarbejdede økologiske principper. Hans store projekter er udført i et bredt samarbejde med eksperter inden for ”grøn teknologi”, naturbevaring og beslægtede fagområder.

Arkitekten og billedhuggeren Michael Singer (født 1945) er – i både USA og udlandet – blevet meget berømt for sin havekunst, arkitektur, design, byplanlægning og sine skulpturer, som på en original og kunstnerisk overbevisende måde tager økologiske hensyn og dermed har været med til at forbedre miljøet i byrummet og ude i naturen. Han har, som den kendte kunstkritiker Andrew Blum har udtrykt det ”opened new possibilities for public art through developing site-specific sculptures. His pieces have become models for successful urban and ecological renewal.”

Singers projekter nedbryder hverken naturen eller bymiljøet, men tilføjer det nye kvaliteter og forsøger - så vidt muligt - at genoprette steder, som den teknologiske udvikling og miljøforureningen har ødelagt. I store boligkomplekser, hvor der kun er beton, stål og sten har han skabt haveanlæg i ofte stor skala. Haverne er placeret snart inde i bygningerne, snart uden for.

Hans haver kan bedst karakteriseres som “Gardens of Paradise” med slyngplanter, mos, blomster, fugle og skulpturer. Gennem dem skaber han inspirerende og poetiske steder, hvor naturprocesserne kan folde sig frit ud og etablere et grønt paradis i et koldt og anonymt miljø. Han siger selv, at han “took a zone, made it smell, made it wet, and made it grow – and gave life that you don’t get in places like an airport.”

Singer har modtaget mange hæderspriser bl.a. fra The National Endowment for the Arts og fra John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Også flere af hans store projekter – f.eks. “the master-plan for Troja Island Basin” i Prag - er støttet af de store fonde, i dette tilfælde Rockefeller Foundation, medens andre af hans projekter – bl.a. dem, som han har skabt i Holland – i arkitekturtidsskrifter er blevet fremhævet som “leading examples of aesthetically outstanding regenerative environmentally sustainable projects.”

Udstillingen er bygget specielt til Utzon Centret og inddrager dets egenart og omgivelser, og er kurateret af Michel Singer Studio, arkitekt Malene Abildgaard og dr. phil. Else Marie Bukdahl, tidligere rektor for Det Kgl. Danske Kunstakademis Billedkunstskoler. I forbindelse med udstillingen blev der afholdt et seminar d. 6 og 7. juni 2011, hvor Michael Singer sammen med sin internationalt berømte samarbejdspartner, filosoffen Richard Shusterman fra USA diskuterede udstillingens overordnede temaer sammen med danske arkitekter, forskere og studerende samt laver workshops. Udstillingenfik derved et bredt forsknings- og formidlingsmæssigt perspektiv og kan inspirere til fortsat samarbejde mellem Danmark og Michael Singers og Richard Shustermans store internationale netværk.

Kilde: Else Marie Bukdahl

Udstillingen kunne ses fra den 8. juni - 30. oktober 2011

Se artikel fra Weekendavisen den 5. august 2011: "Troldmanden fra Oz" af Lisbeth Bonde

Konference

6.-7. juni i Utzon Center

I forbindelse med Michael Singer udstillingen afholder Utzon Center i samarbejde med Aalborg Universitet en international konference med titlen "NEW ALLIANCES - BODY, NATURE AND SOCIAL RELATIONS".

Se programmet for konferencen her: .pdf (887.7 KB)

Udstillingen er støttet af: OAK Foundation, Aalborg Kommune, Utzon Fonden, Velux Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, Knud Højgaards Fond, Dreyers Fond og Frimodt-Heineke Fonden.

Amerikansk ambassadør besøger Utzon Center

Den amerikanske ambassadør Laurie S. Fulton benyttede forleden lejligheden til at besøge Utzon Center i Aalborg for at se den amerikanske kunstner og designer Michael Singers fantastisk flotte internationale udstilling, der varer helt frem til den 31. oktober.

Udstillingen har fået en flot international omtale, bl.a. skriver FAPE i Washington:

Largest Comprehensive Exhibit To Date of Michael Singer's Art, Architecture and Public Projects at Denmark's Prestigious Utzon Center June-November

Michael Singer: Re- enchantment of Nature and Urban Space June 7, 2011 – October 31, 2011 Utzon Center, Aarlborg Denmark

On June 7th, 2011 the Utzon Center in Aalborg, Denmark, will open a large and impressive exhibition of sculptures, collages on paper, garden art and architectural projects by the internationally renowned artist and designer Michael Singer. For the past four decades, Singer has made a significant and forceful impact on the art world by addressing the integration of community needs, sustainable building principles, land-use planning, environmental responsibility, and aesthetic design. His work has been instrumental in transforming public art, architecture, landscape and planning projects into successful models for urban and ecological renewal.

The current exhibit, Re- enchantment of Nature and Urban Space, presents an unparalleled opportunity to study the development of Singer’s artistic process – from his art world successes, as seen in his countless exhibitions including his 1984 solo exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, to his new, unexpected role as an artist problem-solving in the public realm. The exhibit showcases five magnificent indoor sculptures, several poetic collages on paper and sixteen large photographic panels of Singer’s private and public gardens, houses, food markets, urban waterfronts and wastes facilities and includes a representation of Singer's work for FAPE. Many of these projects result from the collaborative, interdisciplinary efforts of the Michael Singer Studio team. The team, a multifaceted art, design, and planning studio led by the artist, focuses on four core principles; site specificity, ecological regeneration, craft and detail, and an interdisciplinary team approach. These challenges also permeate the Utzon Center’s mission and wide spectrum of work. Architect Jørn Utzon – famous for his design of the Sydney Opera House – sought responsiveness to what he called “Nature’s Principles of Growth” and the ability to be in contact with the times and the surroundings. The Singer exhibition, Re- enchantment of Nature and Urban Space, fulfills and reflects Jørn Utzon’s principles in an especially significant way.

Artikler og anmeldelser

Kunsten.nu, den 30. august 2011.

"Enchanting garden architecture"

With photographs of Michael Singer's beautiful and sustainable garden projects, the exhibition Re-enchantment of nature and urban space at the Utzon Center becomes an enchanting experience.

By Johanne Dueholm

The American, multi-talented Michael Singer masters many mediums, which can also be seen at the exhibition that is comprised of three main elements: sculpture, graphic collages and, not least, overview works with photographs from some of his many garden projects throughout the world. The latter without a doubt makes the exhibition exceptional.

Re-enchantment
Even though one can only view here documentary photographs of Singer's garden projects, you quickly sense that he can do something quite special. Using his principles of only using ecological and sustainable materials, Singer puts forward his suggestions of how art can contribute to re-enchant both nature and public space, whilst improving the environment with his original architecture and garden art.

New environments
Singer lets nature sneak into public spaces in very unexpected places, and these are often where nature is the last thing one would think of - for example in a grey, concrete airport building. But it is not only public spaces that receive a new dimension. You can also see photographs of beautiful natural areas, where his sculptural works have crept in. In this way he is destructive of neither culture nor nature, but works towards a re-enchantment of both by combining the two concepts in new inspiring and recreational environments.

Sensory gardens
Singer's sculptural language is marked by vertical and horizontal lines, which quickly become a recognisable element in his garden projects. In spite of the angular appearance the plants grow quickly blending with the sculptures in such an organic and convincing way, that it almost seems unthinkable that it has not always looked just that way. The appearance is very poetic and makes for a very enchanting and sensory expression in an otherwise often cold and cheerless environment.

More plants, thank you!
Along the exhibition venue's walls hang the graphic collages in nuances of black and white. This abstract language of form represents the creative processes - both nature's and the artist's. Original sculptures from Singer's gardens stand in the middle of the exhibition space. Here the graphic expression of the collages has become 3-dimensional.

Although the sculptures are in themselves beautiful works, they stand here in an entirely different context to which they were made. Through these works one gains insight into the artist's thoughts and visions. However one could wish a little that the element of enchantment possessed by these garden projects was present in the exhibition space.

Re-enchantment of Utzon
Since the photographs are without a doubt the most interesting part of the exhibition, it would have been more interesting and appropriate if Singer's garden art had sparkled even more in this exhibition - or outside, where Aalborg's harbourside, of which the Utzon Center is a part and which right now is undergoing considerable change or re-enchantment.

Facts

The American artist Michael Singer (1945-) is active in the visual arts, garden art, architecture and town-planning. Through interdisciplinary co-operation he develops sustainable and ecological architecture and garden projects through Michael Singer Studio in USA.

Berlingske Tidende, den 28. juli 2011.

"To garden and not to garden"

The Utzon Center in Aalborg is host to a fine exhibtion of works by the poetic American garden architect Michael Singer, who manages to enchant even very large urban complexes. The exhibition is an important contribution to the current Danish debate on green cities.

By Torben Weirup

Culture
The Utzon Center in Aalborg is host to a fine exhibtion of works by the poetic American garden architect Michael Singer, who manages to enchant even very large urban complexes. The exhibition is an important contribution to the current Danish debate on green cities.

The landscape of northern Jutland is flat and even, but this is not the case regarding the exhibitions held at the Utzon Center, which is beautifully placed beside the Limfjord. On the contrary, it has been somewhat up and down regards what has been shown in this remarkable building by the harbour in Aalborg; however right now we are looking at a peak.

It has always been difficult to mount an architectural exhibition, they can become affected and esoteric, and here it is clear that a regular and sober approach is preferable, where the format does not overshadow the content. In this case the content is a presentation of interesting architect and sculptor Michael Singer, who has worked in particular with landscape structures in connection with large industrial buildings as well as with private residences, urban areas, memorial parks and places of meditation. And all this is something he does with a great poetic touch and fine detail.

The green stance has in the later years received revived importance in architecture and town-planning. Many companies make an effort to provide both a green inside and outside environment, and in the towns an interest has developed for gardens on roofs and house walls, more green areas and a revitalisation of older parks, that for the latter are not always equally practical. The aim is aesthetic and it will blossom together with towns becoming more intense and responsible with regards environment, health and possible climate change. Vegetation in towns can, for example, lessen the consequences of the torrential rains we are currently experiencing.

Enchants the world

Michael Singer has now worked with these problems for a number of years. The exhibition here shows examples of how he has created beautiful and surprising gardens and green areas for large companies, supermarkets, power stations, airports and purification plants in the USA. He likes to work with a wide variety of trees and shrubs and often chooses robust plants, and with these he creates a whole that satisfies demands for reliability without it all ending in utterly nice predictability. He enchants the world. By harboursides and in public spaces he establishes places where lots of people like to be.

The landscape architectural aspect is part of it. In his gardens and parks Michael Singer often places sculptures he has made. No, he doesn't place them. He integrates them. They are a part of the complete work. They are created for the places and the meaning of the place. They are related to certain forms of land art - with a spiritual and poetic atmosphere of reflection that Singer manages to create.

Many of them resemble aged and eroded, architectonic or machine-like structures, which perhaps have at one time had a function (or await regaining it), but now are apparently on the way to disappearing, should the plants and trees get the opportunity to grow unhindered as nature recaptures people territory.

So perhaps Michael Singer's reflective installations are also narratives about both transience and the everlasting?