Some people are turned on by rejection – notes on Per Kirkeby’s sculpture at Vesterport, summer 2023
by Jóhan Martin Christiansen
Essay in the exhibition catalogue Bricks — Per Kirkeby, published by ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art, 2023
The air is thick with the smell of urine. In the crevices and mortar joints, too. I swung by the sculptures on Meldahlsgade. Just before I arrived, someone had pissed against one of them. It dries quickly in the sun. I confess to having pissed there myself once. There was a nightclub right opposite. I want the rain to wash my broken heart away.
A feeling of déjà vu. Flip flop. Location received: 55.674994, 12.561501. I walk over to the other sculpture. It is hemmed in by bikes, a bench, and parking signs. The sculpture is half open, at the same time closing in on itself. It is taller than my body. The buildings surrounding it are even taller.
Hotels and travel bureaus. Anonymous offices. There is an odd sense of impermanence, the names of the cafés change frequently. My dentist is on the fourth floor. I try to take in the whole area, to make sense of it, and take a snapshot of one of the sculptures from above.
The whole area is monitored by CCTV. Tourists pass with their wheely bags. I dwell on what the public might think about the sculptures. How they react. Is it with rotten tomatoes or red roses. Perhaps they only react with urine and graffiti. Per got his slab and those bursting to go got theirs. Territorial pissing.
The sculptures remind me of something within myself. They oscillate between public and private. Front and back. Are they hollow or solid behind those red bricks? I am thinking about their weight and what they carry with them. Their historical texture. They are tactile and transient at one and the same time. Standing like two bouncers in front of the passage between them. Two gates imitating each other. Masc4Masc. Their basic structures are identical as are their apertures. They embrace in an awkward dance. As if the sculptures always keep a back door open ready to make a dash. But the door leads into itself. The sculptures are stand-offish. Some people are turned on by rejection.
