How do the dead live on after they have gone? How do we try to preserve our memories? These are the questions asked of us, through the use of ritual, cultural practices, and personal narratives from Cyprus and Denmark, when Moesgaard Museum presents the exhibition The Presence of Absence, from September 23rd.

Memories and rituals are formed by the cultures we each live in, but – the exhibition asks – are there also cultural similarities across borders?

“The artworks have different forms of expression, such as photo, video, painting, sculpture, design and cyanotypes. Many take their point of departure in personal narratives about losing loved ones and stand behind only with the memories. All the works explore ideas about how we can connect to the dead,” says Ditte Lyngkær Pedersen, curator and participating artist.

The exhibition is a result of an interdisciplinary and international collaboration between Denmark and Cyprus, with emphasis on the two European Capitals of Culture Aarhus 2017 and Pafos 2017. It is produced with generous support from The European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017 and Pafos 2017 as well as the Danish Arts Foundation.

“Sharing our year as European Capital of Culture with Pafos provides a great opportunity to show and celebrate the cultural diversity of Europe but also the kinship across cultures. Culture has never been more important, and through this collaboration important connections are made – connections that will sustain and be an important legacy of our year. I am proud that Moesgaard have seized the opportunity and I look forward to the exhibition in which we explore content based on life and death. And with important connections to another 2017 project, The Journey, in the same museum,” says Chief Executive Officer of European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017, Rebecca Matthews.

Through the exhibited objects and art pieces, the audience will be able to explore different perspectives on death under one theme: The Presence of Absence. The perspectives vary according to religious, cultural, historical and political contexts, yet they all shed light on how the living continue to feel connected with the dead.

The audience is asked to reflect on their own connection to the dead; by a presence that is created from absence. All of us shall die and all of us shall experience loss.

A new exhibition at Moesgaard Museum presenting art, anthropology and archaeology, focusing on

the absence of the departed and the presence of the dead, whilst exploring cultural similarities across

borders.

“The aim is to make a montage in which each member of the audience will see connections. We expect that the artworks and the exhibited objects will enhance aspects of one another, that will provide our audience with the opportunity to create new connections, that will lead to insights and intercultural understanding.” explains Ane Bonde Rolsted, visual anthropologist and curator.

The opening on September 23rd will showcase guided tours of the exhibition at 10:30 and 11:30, wherein the artists will be present, and happy to answer questions. In the afternoon, in the museum’s auditorium, there will be free lectures relating to the exhibition. The lectures will be in English.

13.30-14.00: Ars longa, vita brevis by Yiannos Economou (video artist) and Galina Dimova (pianist). They will present two artists, Costas Economou and Nicolas Economou, that, through their long and short lives, have in different ways, related to death within their art. During the presentation Galina Domiva will play excerpts from compositions by Nicolas Economou.

14.15-14.45: Funeral Icons from Cyprus: The image of the dead in Byzantine Art by Dr. Ioannis Eliades (Society of Cypriot Studies & director of the Byzantine Museum in Nicosia). The lecture focuses on the Byzantine heritage within Cyprus.

14.45-15.15: Cyprus in the ancient Greek traditions and Byzantine representations related to the Afterlife by Prof. Charalampos G. Chotzakoglou (Chairman of the Society of Cypriot Studies). The lecture presents archeological findings in Cyprus, that give useful insights into the traditions and rituals surrounding death in the Antique.

The Presence of Absence can be experienced at Moesgaard Museum until January 7th. 2018.

Read more information about the exhibition at moesgaardmuseum.dk

For more information please contact Ane Bonde Rolsted, visual anthropologist and curator [email protected] – cell ph. 22411104.
Or Ditte Lyngkær Pedersen, visual artist and curator
[email protected] – cell ph. 30297240

The Presence of Absence presents works by Camilla Monsrud (DK), Ditte Lyngkær Pedersen (DK), Emil Westman Hertz (DK), Ergenc Korkmazel (CY), Rinos Stefani (CY), Susan Vargas (CY), Yiannos Economou (CY).
Objects in the exhibition are on loan from The Antique Museum, Aarhus University; The Davids Collection, Copenhagen; New Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen; Daniella Mouyiannou (CY), as well as from the Ethnographic Collection, Moesgaard Museum.

The Exhibition is curated by Ane Bonde Rolsted, visual anthropologist; Ditte Lyngkær Pedersen, visual artist and curator, and Catriona Hodge, curatorial assistant. It is a collaboration between Prof. Ton Otto, Moesgaard Museum, Prof. Charalampos Chotzakoglou and Dr. Ioannis Eliades, Society of Cypriot Studies. It is produced with kind support from The European Capitals of Culture Aarhus 2017 and Pafos 2017 and The Danish Arts Foundation.