JURY STATEMENT 2019

Jury Statement 2019

Hooray for diversity!

There are many professionals who meet at Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition – visual arts, architecture, handicrafts and design. As part of these disciplines are experienced lush ramifications of media such as painting, photography, performance, sound art, drawing, jewelry, sculpture and installation. In other words, a kaleidoscopic image of creativity and artistic nerve. The composition of this year's jury, which represents both architecture, visual arts, design and curatorial practice, reflects the very fact that the many arts meet at Kunsthal Charlottenborg as spring approaches. There is a really good energy in the professional exchange and discussion about the nature of art and what surrounds it – something that is hopefully felt in the choice of works at this year's exhibition.

Anyone who has tried to choose one thing over another knows that it is not something you just do. Not at all when, as in this year's applicant field, there are a lot of artists to choose from. And they're good. They investigate, experiment, negotiate spaces, challenge themselves and their media. In other words, there is much at stake in their works. In the really successful cases it can be felt, and the good exhibition conveys this dialogue between artist and work, so that the audience can also listen, sense and sense the artistic work, the conceptual intention and the personal presence of art. We hope that as a jury, in the selection of artists, we have managed to translate what we have seen into the many thousands who visit Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition 2019.

Talking about quality may well end up in abstract, intangible discussions. Nevertheless, it has been our clear priority to make a professional but also intuitive assessment of what is good, what is qualitatively in order. We have emphasized that there is a connection between what the artist wants to say and what the rest of us see. In addition, the artist has related to his medium and had an aesthetic, conceptual or analytical reflection on what it can do. Finally, we believe that the work should be widely used and address themes that have resonance in the world we live in. It makes good art.

Although Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition is an exhibition where different artistic disciplines meet and where the participating artists in the application phase have themselves had to decide which category their work belongs to, in our opinion we have stubbornly chosen to ignore just that. We have regarded all works contributions as art and assessed them on that basis. Therefore, the works that are included in this year's Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition have a clear artistic ambition: the artists' works go beyond their own category and draw towards the common space of art and art.

The current exhibition has, as the historical exhibition as Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition requires, a preponderance of younger artists. And there is ample opportunity to orient yourself in the latest hot trends in terms such as audio, video, installation, performance, etc. Breaking news is certainly not a quality in itself, but nonetheless. And no matter how many times the painting as a medium has been tried, it continues to live well. All this year's take on what young art can do in all its diversity, variety and complexity.

As for previous editions of this exhibition, it is liberating for Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition 2019 that this is the artists' exhibition. It's about them, about the works they've sent in, about what they have to say to the world. And the artists are selected by the performers (who make up the majority) of the jury, all of whom have a special sensibility and professional understanding of just that to create. Organizationally, the creation of the Spring Exhibition is supported by the Charlottenborg Foundation's Board of Directors, which consists of artists. You don't see that often anymore, unfortunately.

Art speaks many languages, and we are not all equally good at understanding all dialects. We've chosen an uncanny number of artists – that's a premise – but that doesn't clearly mean that the opt-outs aren't good. The selections reflect the diverse composition of the jury; that's the way it has to be. Fortunately, we have also chosen a lot for – works we each think, contain strong artistic elements and which – not least – also play well together in the exhibition as a whole. A huge thank you to the participating artists for their dedication and great work. And a big call for everyone to try again if they have something on their mind.

Also a big thank you to the Charlottenborg Foundation for the challenge, the trust, the instructive process – and all the associated professional challenges they brought us on the neck. We've been happy with everything.

On behalf of the jury 2019, Anna Bjerger (artist, SE), Tove Storch (artist, DK), Linda Korndal (architect, DK), Irene Griegst (jewellery artist, MA/DK) and Anna Krogh (curator, DK), I wish the audience great pleasure with Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition 2019.

Anna Krogh, curator, Brandts - Museum of Art and Visual Culture