In this historical encounter between Danish contemporary art and French craftsmanship, the four Danish artists Bjørn Nørgaard, Tal R, Kirstine Roepstorff, and Alexander Tovborg have worked for more than six years in close collaboration with the weavers at Les Manufactures de Beauvais et des Gobelins in Paris and Beauvais, as well as with private ateliers in the French town of Aubusson.

In this exceptional meeting between art and craft, the artists, each with their very different expressions, had free rein to interpret their assigned themes. The weavers, in turn, followed centuries-old craft traditions in translating the artists’ motifs into gobelin tapestries.

The exhibition title Liberté & Tradition thus expresses the interplay between free and constrained art that unfolded in this Danish-French project. At the same time, the title refers to the strategic focus of the Manufactures nationales – Sèvres & Mobilier national: to preserve France’s national craft traditions while simultaneously allowing contemporary artists to renew French craftsmanship in fields such as ceramics, weaving, and furniture — here exemplified through the encounter between four Danish contemporary artists and the traditions of gobelin tapestry.

Kilde: Le Bicolore – Maison du Danemark