Sky Gazing

Sky Gazing explores the ways artists have considered and been inspired by the vast spaces and events of the universe and its impacts on art and nature here on Earth.

Including works by celebrated contemporary artists Douglas Gordon (b.1966), Angelica Mesiti (b.1976), Roni Horn (b.1955), Søren Thilo Funder (b.1979) and more, Sky Gazing also presents Danish and European masters, whose works broaden our understanding of man’s eternal fascination with sky gazing from the observational to the abstract.

Read all texts from the exhibition here

The sky is hidden, symbolic and sacred in works from Dutch still life, Danish Romanticism, and Italian journey paintings, reminding us that the sky holds significance in many cultures.

Sky Gazing also includes important modernist works by Wassily Kandinsky (b.1866-1944), Alexander Calder (b.1898-1976), and Ib Geertsen (b.1919-2009) who each explore the sky through symbols and distillations, and it introduces Danish audiences to the beautiful spirit works of Australian indigenous artist Naminapu Maymuru-White (b.1952) whose larrakitj (memorial poles, ed.) tell the story of the Milky Way, The River and the ‘everytime’ place of souls who travel between the sky and earth.

British artist Tacita Dean (b.1965) records the duration of the 1999 eclipse, allowing animals and landscape to tell the tale of this mysterious event which periodically interrupts normality. Her one-hour film installation captures the failing light and the second dawn – a birth, a Genesis, a resurrection – which transforms the senses.

Visitors will also experience the immersive cosmos created by renowned Scottish artist, Katie Paterson (b.1981), who invents a galaxy from a dazzling disco ball of photographed eclipses. This is brought together with her prepared piano piece Earth-Moon-Earth (Moonlight Sonata Reflected from the Surface of the Moon) 2007 in which the moon ‘plays’ Beethoven’s composition via satellite bounce.

During the installation of the exhibition, the Tasmanian artist Lucienne Rickard (b. 1981) performed her epic extinction drawing and erasure act to bring attention to loss of species and the crisis we now face in the age of the Anthropocene.

From hope and heaven to dread and loss, the Sky Gazing journey is a grand contemplation of shifting sensibilities and stark truths told through the imagination and observations of artists across time.

Sky Gazing is organized by curator and writer Juliana Engberg.

Engberg has been Artistic Director of several Biennales - Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney - and has created and curated exhibitions for numerous galleries, museums and projects: For the Venice Biennale and Glasgow International among others. She was the Programme Director of Aarhus 2017: European Capital of Culture.

New Carlsberg Foundation

Knud Højgaard Foundation

Oak Carpets

Detached Foundation

Hizkia

Aarhus Stiftstidendes Foundation

C.A.C. The Foundation

Tasmanian Government

Credit cover image:

Katie Paterson, Totality, 2016 & Earth-Moon-Earth (Moonlight Sonata Reflected from the Surface of the Moon), 2007. Installation photo: Sky Gazing, ARoS 2024, Anders Sune Berg.