Café. Epoxy ressin, cast tin, strips, plastic cups, tea, thermo, plastic spoons, various dimensions.
2018

Open

Marriage

Ditte Gantriis

at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre
December 6 – January 27, 2019

For this year’s final exhibition cycle Kim? has prepared a solo show by Danish artist Ditte Gantriis that will be on view from December 6 – January 27.

 

Kim? Contemporary Art Centre is delighted to present a solo exhibition by Ditte Gantriis which is her first presentation in the Baltics. The artist works across a range of media in order to create immersive installations. On many occasions Ditte Gantriis appropriates widely used symbols and signs, even cliches if you will, to question and repurpose their meaning. Appreciation for artisanry of varying materials grants her work with sleek shapes and is present characteristic of her practice. In th exhibition Open Marriage Ditte Gantriis investigates ways of care for co existing in the time when there’s no time, and in has come a need for immediate solutions to fix what is broken. Relationship, a state of being connected romatically or platonically, is an ongoing negotiation, thus the concept of an open marriage is an invitation to consider relationship as a contract, a compromise reached by making concessions. You give some and you get some but you never have it all. But when do you, really? Gantriis unfolds the idea of a relationship as a lasting symptom rather than a resolution, and seeks variations of means to restore the perished bonds. Unlike previously in Ditte Gantriis’ practice, in Open Marriage each of the works is to be seen as an individual unit that carries its own story and longing. As a unifying thread, in each of them there’s a succession of universal symbols. Zodiac signs, pyramid, water, and egg among others, is a vocabulary referring to the order life and of the Universe, the ultimate source of wisdom. The polysemy of these symbols allows endless possibilities for interpretation, which makes them so appealing when communicating to a superior cosmic power. In a much like New Age manner, these symbols function as charms or problem-solving talismans. The unity of these individual stories can be read as a cluster of self-soothing quests for comfort under confining circumstance. Open Marriage is not a praise nor critique but rather a suggestion to ponder the idea of a relationship and the best of intentions, renunciations, and investments to nurture them.

Water. Plastic jugs, plastic rhinestones, steel, water pump, plinth, 62 cm x 52 ø cm x 90 ø. 2018
Open Marriage. Exhibition view. 2018
Café. Epoxy ressin, cast tin, strips, plastic cups, tea, thermo, plastic spoons, various dimensions.
2018
Open Marriage. Exhibition view. 2018
Water. Plastic jugs, plastic rhinestones, steel, water pump, plinth, 62 cm x 52 ø cm x 90 ø. 2018
Café. Epoxy ressin, cast tin, strips, plastic cups, tea, thermo, plastic spoons, various dimensions.
2018
Pyramid. Pine wood, soil, furniture wheels, bulb, cord 135 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm. 2018
Pyramid. Pine wood, soil, furniture wheels, bulb, cord 135 cm x 100 cm x 100 cm. 2018
Circle of Life. Ash wood tree, 250 cm x 90 ø. 2018
Open Marriage. Exhibition view. 2018
Circle of Life. Ash wood tree, 250 cm x 90 ø. 2018
Circle of Life. Ash wood tree, 250 cm x 90 ø. 2018

Open Marriage
Ditte Gantriis

 

at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Rīga
December 6 – January 27, 2019

 

Photo: Ansis Starks
 

Kim? Contemporary Art Centre

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