ARTISTS
Hesselholdt & Mejlvang: Flesh Tint Project
Cultural critique with flesh-tinted flags flying over Aalborg.
Flesh Tint Project is Hesselholdt & Mejlvang鈥檚 largest scale presentation to date in Denmark. This sensational project consists of extensive exhibitions in both Kunsthal NORD and KUNSTEN, flag installations in the old boiler and turbine halls in Nordkraft and an almost 1.5-kilometre-long stretch of street, festooned with flesh-tinted flags and bunting.
In teir previous works, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang have expressed a critique of nationalism and identity. They have dealt with concepts such as cultural sense of identity, the nation as an imagined community and 鈥渢he other鈥�, sometimes using black flags and ideological icons. But this is the first time that their controversial art has penetrated such an extensive urban space as Aalborg.
The main thrust of Flesh Tint Project is the 鈥渇lesh colour鈥� as sold in paint shops. In visual terms, it is the colour of Northern European 鈥減igs鈥�, mainly associated with Northern Europeans and the Aryan race. By using 鈥渢he white man鈥檚鈥� skin colour and flesh-coloured flags as part of their project, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang are thematising national symbolism and challenging culturally specific models of 鈥淯s鈥� and 鈥淭hem鈥�.
With their extensive use of ideological symbols and a disproportionate, seductive finish, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang deploy a strategy, which the Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Zizek calls 鈥渙veridentification鈥�, an avant-garde artistic strategy, which makes use of exaggeration to expose power symbols. The extreme predominance of flags and 鈥渇lesh tone鈥� will conjure up doubt in the viewer, who is compelled to think and make up their own mind: 鈥淪urely they can鈥檛 be serious?!鈥�
With Flesh Tint Project, the two artists also challenge familiar constructs such as Danish-ness, gender and the home as a bastion of security. Visitors can see all this at the exhibitions in Kunsthal NORD and in KUNSTEN鈥檚 temporary exhibition space at Aalborg Railway Station.
In Kunsthal NORD, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang have distorted their complex use of power symbols, combining them with a dream-like atmosphere complemented by a series of sculptural works, which respond to the rough and ready aesthetic of the venue. The objects belong mainly to the domestic universe: e.g. an embroidered pillowcase, a painted teddy bear, birthday flags in formations, worn sheets, an ordinary flagpole and a summerhouse, the windows and doors of which have been blocked off with peepholes that offer a view of a grotesque scenario portrayed in liver-like hues.
Cultural critique with flesh-tinted flags flying over Aalborg.
Flesh Tint Project is Hesselholdt & Mejlvang鈥檚 largest scale presentation to date in Denmark. This sensational project consists of extensive exhibitions in both Kunsthal NORD and KUNSTEN, flag installations in the old boiler and turbine halls in Nordkraft and an almost 1.5-kilometre-long stretch of street, festooned with flesh-tinted flags and bunting.
In teir previous works, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang have expressed a critique of nationalism and identity. They have dealt with concepts such as cultural sense of identity, the nation as an imagined community and 鈥渢he other鈥�, sometimes using black flags and ideological icons. But this is the first time that their controversial art has penetrated such an extensive urban space as Aalborg.
The main thrust of Flesh Tint Project is the 鈥渇lesh colour鈥� as sold in paint shops. In visual terms, it is the colour of Northern European 鈥減igs鈥�, mainly associated with Northern Europeans and the Aryan race. By using 鈥渢he white man鈥檚鈥� skin colour and flesh-coloured flags as part of their project, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang are thematising national symbolism and challenging culturally specific models of 鈥淯s鈥� and 鈥淭hem鈥�.
With their extensive use of ideological symbols and a disproportionate, seductive finish, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang deploy a strategy, which the Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Zizek calls 鈥渙veridentification鈥�, an avant-garde artistic strategy, which makes use of exaggeration to expose power symbols. The extreme predominance of flags and 鈥渇lesh tone鈥� will conjure up doubt in the viewer, who is compelled to think and make up their own mind: 鈥淪urely they can鈥檛 be serious?!鈥�
With Flesh Tint Project, the two artists also challenge familiar constructs such as Danish-ness, gender and the home as a bastion of security. Visitors can see all this at the exhibitions in Kunsthal NORD and in KUNSTEN鈥檚 temporary exhibition space at Aalborg Railway Station.
In Kunsthal NORD, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang have distorted their complex use of power symbols, combining them with a dream-like atmosphere complemented by a series of sculptural works, which respond to the rough and ready aesthetic of the venue. The objects belong mainly to the domestic universe: e.g. an embroidered pillowcase, a painted teddy bear, birthday flags in formations, worn sheets, an ordinary flagpole and a summerhouse, the windows and doors of which have been blocked off with peepholes that offer a view of a grotesque scenario portrayed in liver-like hues.
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