Art, Culture

12\11\2015
Written by Kadri Muuk



KRISTIAN HORNSLETH – CREATIVE MADNESS OR COUNTER-CULTURAL GENIUS?

Kristian Hornsleth – here’s a name that’s no stranger to controversy and wild speculation. Described as “a counter-cultural artistic enfant terrible”, he is a conceptual artist from Denmark, active on the art scene since the late nineties.

If you haven’t heard of him yet, it’s definitely not for his lack of trying. On a quest to make art, he was once escorted out of the country by Ugandan police after 340 villagers had legally changed their last names to “Hornsleth” after the artist, in exchange for live stock. A strange turn of fate, Hornsleth was approached by the controversial dictator Joseph Kony, who thought the artist was building a new liberation army and wanted to assist in the scheme.

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Kristian is not afraid to be provocative in his endeavors, even if the methods are ethically questionable. He has explained: ”I like meandering between what is legally and what is ethically possible in society. The African village project was about human domination, and exploitation.”1

Pretty severe, right? Kristian’s pride and joy is fortunately less controversial. A defining moment in the artist’s career, the piece is called the Deep Storage Project. The date November 30th 2013 is crucial to the story, because that’s when four years of effort, preparation and gathering samples paid off and the project became a full circle. That’s when the project sunk to the bottom of the ocean. And that’s not a euphemism. The Deep Storage Project featured a star-shaped steel structure, eight meters in height, containing the blood samples of 5.000 willing participants and donors. Oh, and it’s submerged at the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. 11.000 meters below sea level, the DNA samples are conserved for an eternity. Similar sister sculptures are placed on land in order to deeply root the myth of the underwater sculpture further.

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“I’m asking a simple age-old question,” Kristian says. “Who wants to live forever? Because, in simple terms, the project offers exactly that opportunity. Each donor, or investor, is rewarded with a certificate, stating they believed this might be a chance at immortality, a second chance at life. And that’s the statement I’m making. I want to brand eternity as an art piece.”2

Levels of underwater pressure are unimaginable at that depth, so chances are the DNA samples are affected by it. But in order to keep the sculpture spotless on the outside, Kristian used electropolished stainless steel for its construction, guaranteeing the piece’s longevity since the material is anti-rust and -erosion. The nano-engineered outer coating prevents the growth of organic materials, keeping the surface nice and shiny for future generations to come.

“I’m obsessed with the idea of conceptually linking art lovers to the art work forever. You put the needle into your finger and leave the blood drops and hairs with the project. But later, you will look at your project certificate and think, ‘Gee, a part of me is down there in the dark deep sea, and who knows if they remake me one day? What then?’”3

A critical social commentary or pure artistic madness? What do you think? Go check out Kristian Hornsleth’s portfolio and dive into his eccentric world of art, manifesting in painting, sculpture and various other media.

 

(via The Telegraph)