Give Us This Day … When Art Goes to Church

KØS: 11 October 2012 – 24 February 2013
The Museum of Religious Art: 9 March – 2 June 2013

With funds provided by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Danish Agency for Culture, KØS launched a research project aimed at examining the opportunities and strategies of contemporary art in the Danish Lutheran Church from 1950 to the present day. Conducted by the curator Lene Bøgh Rønberg, PhD, the study identified and analysed a number of ecclesiastical art projects from the period.

A donation from the Nordea Foundation made it possible to translate the research project into an extensive, nationwide exhibition and education project. The project included an exhibition at KØS showing a wide range of groundbreaking Danish and international church art projects, and it also encompassed temporary art installations in six Danish churches. The exhibition at KØS was curated by curator Lene Bøgh Rønberg, PhD.

The research project was launched with a view to exploring what happens when contemporary art enters the church space. What happens to the art, to the church space, and how do the church’s users perceive the union between art and church?
One of the major highlights at the exhibition at KØS was the German artist Gerhard Richter’s studies for his works in the cathedral of Cologne. The exhibition also showed works by the German artists Sigmar Polke and Imi Knöebel, while the Danish contingent comprised pioneering artists such as Mogens Jørgensen, Svend Wiig Hansen, Carl-Henning Pedersen, Stig Brøgger, Per Kirkeby, and Bjørn Nørgaard as well as more recent projects by John Kørner, Christian Lemmerz, Sophia Kalkau, Ruth Campau and others.

For the second part of the project, six churches in various locations in Denmark each hosted a temporarily installed work of art. The artworks were curated by cultural institutions located in the vicinity of the churches in question, with KØS acting as co-ordinator.

The British artist Tracey Emin created a work for the Copenhagen Cathedral (curator: Christine Buhl Andersen, director at KØS). The German artist Thilo Frank created a work for the Aalborg Cathedral (curator: Gitte Ørskou, director at KUNSTEN in Aalborg), Mads Gamdrup was featured in Odense Cathedral (curator: Anna Krogh, curator, Brandts), Alexander Tovborg in Ribe Cathedral (curator: Bente Bramming, curator at Ribe Kunstmuseum), Lærke Lauta in Heldum Kirke in Lemvig (curator: Gerd Rathje, director of The Museum of Religious Art), and Kaspar Bonnén in Køge Church (curator: Christina Stenka Hellfach, coordinator and curator at KØS). The churches all staged special events in connection with the exhibition.

As part of the project KØS published the book Give Us Today … When Art Goes to Church (2012), 208 pages. In her article Lene Bøgh Rønberg describes and explains the research projects. With contributions from Gerd Rathje, director of The Museum of Religious Art; Elisabeth Dons Christensen, bishop of Ribe; Malene Berg, Night Church priest at the Copenhagen Cathedral; Jørgen Demant, priest at Lyngby Church, and Simon Carter, head of collections at St Paul’s Cathedral. Interviews with members of the Akademiraadet’s committee on ecclesiastical art and the artists Ruth Campau and John Kørner. The book also includes the curators’ texts about the works temporarily installed in the six churches.