The Space in Between by Millie Behrens, Atmosphere by Malfridur Adalsteinsdottir and One Day the Current Will Slow Down by Matilde Duus

Artist list

Malfridur Adalsteinsdottir, Millie Behrens, Matilde Duus

Mille Behrens
The Space in Between

A jewelry exhibition in silver and wood, exploring themes of growth, love, and repair.
The title reflects a common theme in all of Behrens jewelry, with a finely tuned balance of where the form should end and the exact measurement of the space between. Millie Behrens builds her jewelry piece by piece until a sense of balance is achieved.

Once again, trees and growth are central, where the tension between organic form and construction recurs as a consistent theme. Behrens draws inspiration from nature and is particularly interested in how time leaves its mark on everything around us, such as the furrows left by plows in the earth and the structured growth of branches, where soft lines meet strict geometry.

She is also fascinated by the process in which nature reclaims human-made structures, where trees and forests replace iron and concrete. Silver is her primary material, often combined with other materials such as gold, wood, pearls, and stones.

In recent years, Behrens has worked extensively with wood, and in this exhibition, she presents a selection of these pieces, along with a series in silver. Thematically, the series are linked through a stylized formal language and a focus on the significance of "the space in between."
The exhibition includes brooches, pendants, and bracelets.


Malfridur Adalsteinsdottir
Atmosphere

Málfríður Aðalsteinsdóttir is deeply connected to nature, from the smallest details to the grand, majestic, and beautiful. Using traditional handicrafts, she embroiders drawings that she hopes will evoke reflections in the viewer.

Aðalsteinsdóttir has moved out of Oslo and settled by the fjord, surrounded by the forest. The forest has become important to her, both as a source for inspiration, but also as a source of materials for plant-based dyeing. She roams the forest, mountains, and sea, observing changes in nature. The Icelandic landscape she originates from consists of green valleys, barren and rugged mountain terrain, wide expanses, glaciers, and black sand. Now, she feels that the forest is her element. The boundary between civilization and nature is changing rapidly, and untouched natural areas are shrinking. Human activity requires space and is altering the environment and the living conditions for an increasing number of species. The mighty and beautiful glaciers, which are sources of fresh water for the planet, are shrinking. Wetlands are being drained and excavated, ancient forests are disappearing, and clear-cutting is destroying biodiversity.

Aðalsteinsdóttir combines wool and horsehair in her embroidered drawings. She uses both the natural colors of different sheep breeds and plant-dyed wool, which is then carded before the desired thread is spun. This is how her drawings take shape. Older craft traditions that involve a close connection between the hand and the material, respect for natural resources, and the time-consuming aspect of handmade work are fundamental to her practice. The materials she uses are locally sourced, biodegradable, and can return to nature. In her exhibitions, an atmosphere of nature is created, where both the motifs and materials are derived from the forest.


Matilde Duus
One Day the Current Will Slow Down

In Matilde Duus' recent work, we find an interest in the fluid and the fleeting; in transparent glass that, in liquid form, can flow into small lakes or solidify into droplet shapes, like tears on a cheek. The exhibition addresses themes related to water, the sea, the deep, the current, abundance, flooding, the eye, water in the eye, and lenses overwhelmed by tears. These themes are expressed through materials like glass, bronze, and silk. Through an aesthetically poetic language of form, the exhibition One Day the Current Will Slow Down reflects on nature's resources, which are both vital and life-giving, yet at the same time grim and threatening - especially when viewed in light of the climate crisis we are currently facing. It creates a sort of artificial landscape where flowing and melting processes have been halted. Tears, ice, water -some of the most important elements in our nature.

Matilde's artistic practice includes both wall-based and sculptural works, all of which are articulations of the most fundamental element in her practice: the exploration of the spatial qualities within the two-dimensional. Her preferred material is glass, often combined with other materials such as metal, natural stone, paper, or photographic material.

The exhibition is curated by Henriette Noermark.