Anima Animus is Emma Woffenden and her partner Tord Boontje's first collaborative exhibition. Anima Animus, explores the creative dialogue between the couple, who sometimes work in tandem yet always remain distinct from one another.
Tord Boontje is an internationalle acclaimed designer. Emma Woffenden is an artist and originally trained as a glassmaker. Boontje and Woffenden have discussed, collaborated and disagreed for sixteen years. They share similarities in the materials they use, concepts they explore and their approach to process. Despite this, this exhibition illustrates they both clearly express opposing points of view towards the same subjects.
The show presents a selection of the artists’ earlier work, which they created individually, and new, collaborative installations. Emma Woffenden’s work can be defined as hard-edged, controlled and almost excruciatingly intimate and personal. Tord Boontje’s work seems to be sentimental, dreamy and has a global resonance. Their work is a confusion of gender stereotypes. Nevertheless, they do share a sense of humour, which cuts through the sometimes-heavy subject matter.
The exhibition also premieres their latest collaboration, "Cross-Dressing", a photographic project, an intervention and effort to feminize their local landscape. In their fluent installation, Woffenden and Boontje have created a special, multi-sensorial, dynamic experience that includes design, sculpture, photography and scenography.
In addition to furniture, installations and sculpture, the exhibition will also show two contrasting films and a selection of the couple’s award-winning Transglass series. Transglass was set up by Boontje and Woffenden in 1996-97. The first impetus was the need to make something out of nothing, or something that cost nothing. Emma Woffenden had a glass-making studio and had the skills to create glass objects of high quality. Tord Boontje arrived with an interest and vision to cut up bottles and create products. Cutting bottles was not a new phenomenon, but it attracted so much media interest because it was a recycled product that achieved an elegance and sophistication not normally associated with recycling. People loved it; it won awards and was exhibited in museum and galleries around the world. MOMA, Corning and the V&A all have it in their collections.
Emma Woffenden has shown work in the first “Young Glass” competition and exhibition at Glasmuseet in 1987 and she was also among the 20 artists who exhibited in the “20 Years On” exhibition to mark the opening of the new museum wing in 2006.
The exhibition has been sponsored by The Mondriaan Foundations, The Netherlands.
A 71 page catalogue has been published in connection with the exhibition, richly illustrated with beautiful, colour images of works, fabrics and installations by the two artists. Texts in Danish and English. Read more here.
Images can be downloaded here
For further information, please contact Dagmar Brendstrup, Executive Director, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft, dab@glasmuseet.dk, or Pia Strandbyggard Frandsen, PR and Communications, psf@glasmuseet.dk.
Exhibition period: 2nd October 2009 - 14th March 2010
Open daily 10am-5pm, from 1st November 10am-4pm (closed Monday)
