6/9 – 20/10 2024
mandag-fredag kl. 10.00-19.30
i toldkammeret – fri entré
This exhibition results from an experimental workshop suggested by Samara Sallam as an extension of her art practice. Sallam’s critical view of the art world and art teaching led to extensive research into layers of consciousness, language, and art-making, and developing methods based on their interconnectedness. The workshop, “Making and Unmaking of Worlds,” was an implementation and testing of these methods.
In the early stages, the artist invited twenty young adults to a short workshop focused on language and storytelling as forces that can build and deconstruct our physical worlds. This emphasized the idea that active imagination is a form of resistance in the current moment of history, and consciously engaging in it is a necessary act that balances the horror of reality and the sensitivity of the self.
In a longer workshop with five young adults, Sallam structured the experience into three phases. Initially, she provided a practical and theoretical introduction to consciousness and layers of awareness using hypnotic and linguistic techniques, with exercises focusing on the relationship between language and somatic experiences. After long conversations and exercises, everyone formulated a profound question directed at their deep self.
About the artist
Samara Sallam
Palestinian born in Damascus. Has trained as a journalist, visual artist, and hypnotherapist. Through multi-layered narratives, Sallam investigates the intersections of language, body, and psyche within social, cultural, and political contexts. Currently working on alternative methods of teaching art and art-making based on the interconnectedness of language, culture, and the deep self.
Sallam holds an MFA from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and a BA from Funen Art Academy. Furthermore, Sallam has studied visual arts at L’école Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Algeria and Media at Damascus University in Syria.
In the second phase, participants experienced a group hypnotic mind session, designed with storytelling and hypnosis knowledge, guiding them into the subconscious space to let the self answer the personal question. The stories experienced during hypnosis served as fuel to analyze the self, and then analyze how the subconscious communicates via abstraction and symbolism.
In the third phase, participants worked with their personal stories to find political and social reflections hidden within, bringing these realizations into the physical world through a collective ceramic sculpture shown in Transit Platform at Toldkammeret in Helsingør.
The sculpture, decided by the workshop participants, reflects different stories and symbolism shared within the group. The layers of ceramic pieces are stacked to form a spine-like structure, with relief images and buckets filled with water, reflecting the language of the subconscious. Clay, water, and visual imagery were present elements throughout the workshop, with clay representing our bodies and the present conscious, and water carrying endless possibilities of subconscious stories, seeping into everything, the clay itself, the air, and our bodies. The stories reflect anxieties around family, society, climate, war, self-knowing, loneliness, pain, and being in the world.
The semi-open structure of the workshop and the generosity of the participants turned this experiment into a soft, warm room for connections to grow between participants and the artist, resulting in a group sculpture and many valuable conversations.
Workshop Participants
Camilla Ahrendt
Molly Nevermann
Margrethe Sørensen
Lotte Halberg
Mira Bella Brandt-Sørensen
Johanna Børresen
Fernisering
Fredag 6. september 2024 kl. 17.00
Der vil være snacks, drinks og taler og efterfølgende mulighed for fællesspisning i Toldkammeret.
(Fri entré)
Frokost og fællesspisning alle hverdage
