The Australian concept Sculpture by the Sea, developed by Founding Director David Handley, moved to Aarhus in 2009 as an initiative by Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, with significant support from Jens Erik Sørensen, Director of ARoS Art Museum.
This third edition of Sculpture by the Sea in Aarhus Bay presents around 60 sculptures across the area from Tangkrogen to Ballehage. The event is produced by the City of Aarhus in collaboration with ARoS Art Museum.
Ismar Čirkinagić was invited to participate by the jury for this edition, consisting of Henrik B. Andersen, sculptor and professor at Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts; Axel Arnott, Chief Curator, Sculpture by the Sea Aarhus; Marie Nipper, Chief Curator at ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum; Dr. Michael Hill, Head of Art Theory & History at National Art School, Sydney; and Jesper Rasmussen, artist and rector of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
The production of Ismar Čirkinagić’s artwork was made possible with generous support from DSG – Danish Safety Glass, who sponsored the glass production, and Ferro, who sponsored the glass colour materials.
The inspiration for the sculpture came from the war novel Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte. The colour scale of the work — ranging from light pink at the base, gradually fading and reappearing in the upper part as turquoise — is drawn from Malaparte’s descriptions of the skin of Jewish victims suffocated in transport wagons during deportations to Nazi death camps in the Second World War. The author describes how the bodies shifted in colour between light pink and turquoise. The transition between these two colours symbolises the subtle moment in which life leaves the earthly material form of the body.
The exhibition is free to the public and can be seen from June 1 to June 30, 2013, at any hour. For more information, visit sculpturebythesea.dk.
