Text by Nanna Balslev Strøjer, 

Museet for Samtidskunst

Bobler - en kunstrute gennem byen

Bubbles - an art route through the city

28.05-08.08.2021

Museet for Samtidskunst

(Museum of Contemporary Art), Roskilde, Denmark

Ida Retz Wessberg: Vandkunst til Skt. Hans Kilde (Water Sculpture for Sct. Hans’ Well)

Materials: Jesmonite, PU foam, plastic, metal, isomalt, bubble wrap, plastic hoses, water pump and water from Sct. Hans' Well

Location: Byparken, by Saint Sct. Hans’ Well (Sankt Hans Kilde)

‘I am interested in circuits and ventilation systems, and in how I as a sculptor can give form to air. My works often take their starting point in a material or object that contains encapsulated air, and Water Sculpture for Sct. Hans' Well is one example - here, I have among others casted bubble wrap. I see these aspects as deliberate restraints I impose on myself, forcing myself to explore how I can make a sculpture out of an invisible material while at the same calling attention to a material that is not only a major supporting factor in the classic sculptural process – for example in the hardening of plaster or the firing of a kiln – but a vital necessity for all living species. For me, air and ventilation are symbols of our mutual interdependence and of the social and biological circuits of which we are all part. 

Reflecting this, my work is a sculptural circuit that has attached itself to another circuit – the fabled Sct. Hans' Well, which has its wellspring near the Cathedral and runs down through the city park, and which waters reportedly have healing powers. The work consists of three vessels cast out of jesmonite, a Pellegrino water bottle, and hoses directing the water up from the well, through the sculpture and down back into the spring again. Furthermore, the vessels feature castings of painkillers such as Codeine, Bonyl and Paracetemol. I see them as ornaments that enter into a conversation with the history of the place as a holy well and source of healing. I have also cast a sphere out of coloured isomalt. Isomalt is a type of sugar, meaning that the sphere will slowly dissolve in the waters. It adds an element of transience to the work, emphasising the relationship between the visible and the invisible. In my works, I combine classic sculptural materials such as bronze and plaster with various everyday materials and non-art materials. By combining and juxtaposing these different categories of materials, I want to challenge the boundaries between the traditional, exalted materials used throughout art history and everyday consumer goods’.

With a nod to fellow women artists from art history, Ida Retz Wessberg’s sculptural practice takes its point of departure in the relationship between air and substance, between the fleetingly immaterial and the solidly material. Retz Wessberg graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2018.

Thank you: Hans von Hirsch, Christian Vind, Maja Li Härdelin & Super Koi Roskilde