Salon des Refusés

About

A group of folkloric folks who have been ousted from modern Nordic normativity are hanging out in the exhibition. They are all gravitating towards the entrance of a club, waiting for us to leave so that they can come alive. This is a space where humans can’t go – their safe space. A space without us.

These mythological beings, with bodies of the natural materials they animate, wear custom-made garments that express their personalities, as contemporary embodiments of their ancient, actual legends.

These figures are beings of the past, in a contemporary context. Not unlike ourselves, yet completely different. For instance, the powerful earthly deity and single mother of four magical oxen, who drops acid once a year to alleviate the pressures of parenthood. Or a forest elf who is sick and tired of having to cover up the hole in her back, just because the human men can’t stop gawking at it…

The cultural past is often hijacked by right-wing conservatives attempting to distort history to fit into their patriarchal, misogynist, homophobic, cis-centered worldview. Resisting this suffocating grip, Myrup re-reads the sources of the past and brings forth their sensuous, queer and progressive characters.

Originating from oral storytelling, these personages arise from a collective subconscious, representing a wilderness in both reality and thought. Myrup aims to rediscover these ever-changing tales and gain a deeper understanding of our own present time in the process.

The new works in the exhibition Salon des Refusés by Danish artist Rasmus Myrup are a co-production between 1646 and the Gothenburg Biennial and the exhibition is a collaboration with Le Criée, in Rennes, France.