Mirrored – The Nordic Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Art Biennale

Siri Aurdal, Onda Volante (Flying Wave), 2017; photo © Riccardo Bianchini/Inexhibit

Mirrored – the exhibition of the Nordic Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Art Biennale

At the 57th International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale 2017, the Nordic Countries Pavilion at Giardini presents the exhibition Mirrored.

Curated by Mats Stjernstedt, Mirrored features works by six artists from all three countries represented in the pavilion – Norway, Sweden, and Finland – as well as from the United States.

In my opinion, the centerpiece of the exhibition is the impressive sculptural work Onda Volante (Flying Wave) by Norway’s Siri Aurdal (b. 1937, Oslo).

Composed of a sequence of cut fiberglass reinforced polyester tubes, Onda Volante is a large-scale work that creates an intriguing dialogue with the peculiar architecture of the pavilion, a building which its architect, Sverre Fehn, conceived in the early Sixties “as much landscape and outdoor experience as an enclosed space”, as the pavilion’s curator says.

Resembling a roll of fabric fallen from a sewing shop’s shelf and solidified, the work unfolds into the space creating a form which, just like the pavilion, is both inside and outside, a wavy surface that at the same time encloses and discloses those who enter it.
Such dual nature is also expressed through the material used by Aurval, which makes the sculpture look sometimes shiny and metallic and other times translucent and velvety.

The concept at the center of Flying Waves evolves from that of the seminal works Siri Aurdal created in the late Sixties, such as the Ocean Waves (Havbølger) installation, unfortunately now lost, made in 1969-1972 for a primary school in the Trosterud neighborhood of Oslo.

The other artists represented in the exhibition are Nina Canell (b. 1979, Sweden), Charlotte Johannesson (b. 1943, Sweden), Jumana Manna (b. 1987, USA), Pasi “Sleeping” Myllymäki (b. 1950, Finland), and Mika Taanila (b. 1965, Finland).

The Nordic Pavilion, Venice Art Biennale 2017, exterior view; photo © Inexhibit

Siri Aurdal, Onda Volante (Flying Wave), 2017; photos © Inexhibit

Siri Aurdal, portrait; photo: © Eline Mugaas, courtesy Galleri Riis Oslo / Stockholm

Siri Aurdal, Ocean Waves, 1969-1972, Trosterud primary school, Oslo, unknown photographer

Siri Aurdal, Surroundings, 1969, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo; unknown photographer

Siri Aurdal, Onda Volante (Flying Wave), 2017; photos © Inexhibit