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18/5/2013

A Smile For You

Wanas Foundation, Knislinge

“What is happiness to you?” artist Jeppe Hein’s question is the focus of the exhibition season, which opens on May 19. Like the Brazilian artist Marilá Dardot, he playfully engages visitors in serious works. This year also marks musician Jason Diakité’s debut as an author. His tale of art, trees, and cows is interwoven with the artist Maria Bajt’s sprawling imagery to form both a children’s book and an exhibition in the Art Gallery. Throughout the season Revisit features guided tours with artists who have permanent works in the Park. On display in the black box is Xiltilia, a film by Melanie Smith in collaboration with Rafael Ortega on a surrealist garden in the tropical rainforest.

Wanås is a place in the world where art, nature and history meet. Since 1987, exhibitions have been produced by Swedish and international contemporary artists. This year, the artists make new works on the lake, around the lake and inside. At Wanås focus is on site-specific installations. Today it is one of the world's leading sculpture parks with more than 50 permanent works by some of the most acclaimed artists of our time.

Outside Hein presents seven Modified Social Benches around the lake. He alters the traditional construction and viewers have to try to relate to them. They become active rather than just a place to rest. On the lake is Cage and Mirror (2011). Hein has added a bridge to give visitors the chance to walk out on the water. By using the cage that is simultaneously open and enclosed he creates a room for contemplation where the inside and outside merge. Inside the Art Gallery is transformed into a lively workshop, but there is room for reflection and introspection as well. A text made of branches describes the transformation of the site: Work Shop / Right Here / Right Now. Hein's works become proposals to take part in and experiment further with. The workshop stations surround a new sound installation, a companion piece to the cage outdoors. It is an environment intended to influence your state of mind and to stimulate a sense of well being.

Marilá Dardot (BR) constantly uses language in her art. At Wanås she presents a new work, No silêncio nunca há silêncio (In silence there is never silence). She is inspired by silence, something that has always intrigued her. "When I visited Wanås, I felt a silence in the air, a dense silence full of stories." Ceramic letters form the words, and the sentence is placed on the ground in three languages—Portuguese, English and Swedish, like in Scrabble. The letters become sculptural and at the same time invite viewers to keep on creating new words with those specific letters.

Melanie Smith (UK) in collaboration with Rafael Ortega (MX): On display in the Black Box is Xilitla (2010) a film that centers on the garden Las Pozas de Xilitla. The English writer and patron of the arts Edward James transformed the remote Mexican venue into a Surrealist Eden with architecture and concrete structures. Smith portrays the surroundings through repetitions and reflections.

Jason Diakité (SE) and Maria Bajt (SE) a tale of art, trees and cows is interwoven with intricate imagery to form both a children's book and a colorful exhibition. The third in a series of art books for children, Cows Can Dream is a discovery of art and the park both real and imaginary. Each year, new authors and artists collaborate on a children's book experiment.

Throughout the season Revisit features guided tours with artists who have permanent work in the park.

Press contacts:
Eva Bachmann, Press and Curatorial Assistant: Tel +46 (0)40-66071 press@wanaskonst.se

Image: Marilá Dardot, A Origem da Obra de Arte (The Origin of the Work of Art), 2002/2011

Opening: Sunday, 19 May 11am–5pm

Wanås Konst
Box 67 SE-289 21 Knislinge Sweden
Hours: Daily 8am–7pm

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