COMMISSIONS 

SUPERFLEX’s Play Contract in Billund, Denmark⁠

Play Contract is SUPERFLEX's most recent permanent project, made to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the Capital of Children in Billund

Most public art is made by adults, without taking children’s perspectives into account. With Play Contract, the balance of power is tipped, and children have helped design a playful space featuring five sculptures surrounded by adapted landscape. The visitors’ behavior in this space is governed by a contract that asks grown-ups to submit to the conditions of children’s play.⁠
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A group of 121 children in Billund, Denmark was given the task to investigate and design models which could promote play across generations. In close collaboration with KWY.studio, SUPERFLEX gathered these models and synthesized them into a final design, which was then constructed in pink marble. The sculptures are made of approximately 300 stones, each with a unique shape. These stones were left raw and unpolished, displaying all the marks left by the various tools that were used to cut them. Each stone tells its own story; they look like they come from a deep past or a deep future. ⁠
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Informed by the children’s thoughts about play, a contract was prepared and carved into the sculptures. Within the area of the sculptures, the grown-ups must agree to embrace their sense of the absurd and to abide by children’s sense of time. There, clocks have no power and deadlines are meaningless. Adults strive to control the world around them, but play involves allowing for surprises and giving up control. Play Contract is an invention for children and grown-ups to meet and re-think the idea of play. 

Play Contract, by SUPERFLEX with KWY.studio and 121 children from Billund. Commissioned by CoC Playful Minds. ⁠The sculptures are a gift from KIRKBI to all citizens of Billund and visitors to commemorate the Capital of Children’s 10th anniversary in 2021. ⁠

Address: Billund Sculpture Park, Jensens Vej and Skolevej.

Play Contract, 2021. Photo: Torben Eskerod

 

COMMISSIONS 

SUPERFLEX' work 'Like A Force Of Nature' is now up as a permanent installation in Wynwood, Miami

 
SUPERFLEX' work 'Like A Force Of Nature' is now up as a permanent installation in Wynwood, Miami.⁠⠀
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Like A Force Of Nature / Mexican Pesos in Miami ⁠⠀
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For centuries currency has been a denominator of national identity. In itself without value but sanctioned by a state-like institution, it becomes a tool for exchange and speculation. Designs of currency highlight cultural and national pride in form of events, artefacts or individuals. While coins are produced in metals and alloys, the paper notes are equipped with an additional component: Color. ⁠⠀
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The colour schemes add a more subtle part of the story, one that represents a common spirit. Combined, the banknotes serve both as an idealised portrait and a placeholder for value. ⁠⠀
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Around 300 BCE Indian mathematicians discovered a recurring sequence of numbers in Sanskrit poetry. Later introduced to Western Europe by the Italian mathematician Fibonacci, it is known today as the Fibonacci numbers. ⁠⠀
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The sequence is descriptive of a mathematical relation of numbers that also appears naturally in all kinds of growth in nature; from patterns of sunflower seeds through leafs of tree branches to fish skin colorations. It seems as it is nature’s blueprint for expansion. ⁠⠀
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With Like a Force of Nature, SUPERFLEX merges these two phenomenons into a format of contradiction. The color palette is formed by the Mexican Pesos and a Fibonacci based pattern. The flickering appearance underlines the overwhelming experience of our current economic systems as natural as volcanos or tsunamis, almost like a force of nature. ⁠⠀
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Like A Force of Nature in Miami is created in collaboration with Esrawe Studio and Rasmus Koch Studio for Grupo ARCA.
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Photo: César Béjar ⠀
 
 
 
 
Photo: César Béjar ⠀
 
 
 
Photo: César Béjar 

COMMISSIONS 

Tove Storch outdoor installation at Jyllands-Posten's headquarter

''In front of the new headquarters of the newspaper Jyllands-Posten at Aarhus Harbor, Denmark Tove Storch was commissioned to make an outdoor installation. ⁠The work is ready and open to the public - so a great outdoor experience these days.'' - Nils Stærk ⁠ ⁠⠀

Location: Jyllands-Posten's headquarters at the port in Aarhus, Denmark, 2020 ⁠⠀
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Details: Outdoor installation of 550 unique ceramic sculptures by Tove Storch⁠, Various dimensions⁠⠀

COMMISSIONS 

Superflex - One Two Three Swing! - Dora Observatory, South Korea

Superflex - One Two Three Swing! - Dora Observatory, South Korea. 

'SUPERFLEX is pleased to announce a two-year exhibition of their large-scale installation One Two Three Swing! at the Dora Observatory in South Korea, opening on May 20th. One Two Three Swing! was originally commissioned by Hyundai for TATE Modern in 2017 and was conceived as a recurring project, appearing in new locations all over the world. Comprised of modular, three-seat swing sets conjoined by a zig-zagging orange line, One Two Three Swing! challenges contemporary social and political stasis by inviting visitors to activate the transformative potential of collective movement.

The energy of collective power will be directed by the particular significance of the site, which is located at the top of Mount Dora in South Korea, overlooking the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Designed specifically for this location, the seats on the swings are presented in the various colours of South Korean currency bills. The year 2019 also marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Denmark and South Korea, making the installation of One Two Three Swing! at Dora Observatory particularly significant. 

Weaving between, within, and beyond public spaces and institutions around the world, One Two Three Swing! explores the revolutionary potential of joining together collectively, even through the most innocent and everyday actions.  

SUPERFLEX is collaborating with the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to install One Two Three Swing! in  North Korea.

One Two Three Swing! was developed in close collaboration with KWY.studio; structural engineering by Betar; technical design and production by Nupergo; Rasmus Koch studio. One Two Three Swing! would not have been possible without the unconditional support of Real DMZ Project, The Embassy of Denmark in Korea, The Danish Culture Agency, The New Carlsberg Foundation, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Paju City and Gwangju Biennale Foundation. ' SUPERFLEX

The work will be up from 20.05.2019 - 19.05.2021

For more information please click here

COMMISSIONS 

Carlos Amorales - BAMPHA, US has commissioned the work Ghost Demonstration by Carlos Amorales for their Art Wall

 
In this new commission for the BAMPFA Art Wall, entitled Ghost Demonstration, Amorales draws from the multiple histories of mural art in Mexico, the political demonstrations that occurred in Berkeley in the 1960s (as well as more recent events), and protests in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. In order to make this monumental mural, the artist used stencils of slogans from Berkeley protest posters as well as fragments from songs by British anarcho-punk bands from the eighties who disavowed Thatcher-era neoliberal policies. These stencils were held up by assistants, whose silhouetted figures are imprinted along the wall. The ghostly outlines of the human figure point to historically significant moments in various times and diverse cultures, while reinforcing the importance of remaining socially and politically engaged in the present, as many of the slogans resonate with the current cultural climate.

Born and raised in Mexico City, where he now lives and works, Carlos Amorales studied in Amsterdam for many years and has had numerous residencies across Europe and the United States. As a result of this broad international experience, his interests bridge multiple cultural spheres, and the artist often seeks to interweave aspects of these disparate realms of influence while also highlighting their distinctive vocabularies. Indeed, language and the challenges of communication are abiding interests in his work. Often utilizing sounds, gestures, or symbols, Amorales points to the potential for art to embody new forms of transmission. He works with diverse media—ranging from animation, video, and drawing to large-scale installation and performance—to explore the complex terrain extending between image, sign, and cognition. The act of translation is often at the root of Amorales’s work: musical instruments can transform into animate characters, human figures become ghostly silhouettes, and narratives reassemble into unintelligible actions.

COMMISSIONS 

Superflex - Dive In at Desert X as part of the project Deep Sea Minding, CA, US

SUPERFLEX is participating in the Desert X biennale 2019 edition with the site-specific film installation Dive-In. Opening on February 9th and running until 21st April 2019 in the Coachella valley in Southern California.

Dive-In is an architectural installation functiong as a drive-in cinema while awaiting to become infrastructure for fish. The pink cinema will project scenes of marine life interacting with the same coral-like structures.
Dive-In is the first large scale artistic result of the ongoing three-year research project Deep Sea Minding, lead by SUPERFLEX and commisioned by TBA21 Academy.

Read more about Desert X: https://www.desertx.org

COMMISSIONS 

Superflex - Galeries Lafayette, Paris, FR has commissioned the work 'Aprés Vous, Le Déluge'

 
SUPERFLEX at Galeries Lafayette. Après Vous, Le Déluge is an art installation by SUPERFLEX made specifically for the new building of Galeries Lafayette in Champs Elysées, Paris.
The work consists of an sculptural blue dashed line fixed on the walls of the building’s atrium. While constructed with solid and tangible sculptures, the discontinued line becomes an indicator of an invisible yet probable limit: the estimated height of sea level rise within the next century as a consequence of climate change. The suggested height has been established according to the predictions of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
 
The location of the sculptures in the atrium of Galeries Lafayette has a direct impact on the work’s meaning and interpretation. Firstly, the geographic location of the work is significant: it is located in the French capital, host of the 2015 international climate conference where the Paris Agreement was signed with the unprecedented support of 196 states. On the other hand, the work re-contextualises and destabilises the familiar and pleasant space of the department store by inciting a discussion of climate discussion. In this way, Après Vous, Le Déluge provides visitors with an abstract but visual representation of what might happen to their immediate environment in case the worse climate change projections finally materialise. It is an invitation to consider the palpable consequences of climate change to our everyday lives, presenting an image of water readily seeping into the well-known scenarios of our quotidian reality.

The title Après Vous, Le Déluge paraphrases the quote of King of France Louis XV: «Après moi, le déluge» while playing with its multiple interpretations. On one hand, an abstract prophetic claim of chaos; on the other, a statement of indifference. The phrase also points at our individual and collective behaviours, and the way we can impact change.

With Après Vous, Le Déluge, SUPERFLEX passes on a message coming directly from the Ocean. By physically showing the likely adverse consequences of our collective conduct, the artwork emphasises that we have no choice but to radically transform the way we live together.