Artists: Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard & Zayne Armstrong
Exhibition title: Bronzed, Brassed and Coppered
Venue: Sundy, London, UK
Date: July 23 – August 13, 2022
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Sundy, London
Sundy is pleased to present Bronzed, brassed and coppered., an installation by artist duo Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard & Zayne Armstrong.
The installation consists of three inflatable kinetic sculptures that are visible from the gallery windows for three weeks during the summer. At different times of the day they will be activated and engaging in athletic activities – sometimes succeeding sometimes failing at it.
One of the main references for this body of work is British modernist sculptor Henry Moore who placed many of his bronze sculptures in public spaces, especially housing estates, all throughout Britain between the 1940s and 60s. One can be found not far from the gallery at Brandon Estate, near Kennington Park.
Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard & Zayne Armstrong’s sculptures are in many ways the opposite of Moore’s work: soft, light and foldable, they are engaging in activities that are associated with personal improvement of the body and the mind while Moore’s sculptures are mostly reclining, allowed to rest, to simply be.
The works are also a reflection on contemporary labour politics where terms like freedom and flexibility are often presented as advantages while leaving the workers in increasingly precarious and vulnerable positions. The inflatables make fun of this flexibility, as they are tethered to a source of power to which anyone could pull the plug at any moment.
Aasgaard & Armstrong’s practice focuses on scenographic approaches to sculpture and storytelling around the forming and breakdown of communities. Most of their artworks come into being as props for their serial video project “Days”, an ongoing project that deals with the absurdity of the soap genre to portray the daily lives of a group of precarious workers. The exhibited sculptures were originally part of a set of “Days” and have now taken on the endless task of working out and bettering themselves while the gallery is closed for the summer break.
Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard (b. 1991 in Kristiansand, Norway)
Zayne Armstrong (b. 1986 in California)
both live and work in Oslo and Berlin.
Recent exhibitions and screenings: “garageN”, 2022, graw böckler, Berlin (DE); “Zum schönen Knie I & II”, 2022, Doom Spa, Ernst Reuter Platz, Berlin (DE); “Radical Film at the Dawn of a New Society”, 2021, Radical Film Network Meeting, Berlin (DE) “Days”, 2020, Fotogalleriet, Oslo (NO); “Work Sessions––On&For Production”, 2019, Nordland kunst- og filmskole, Kabelvåg (NO); “What is Radical Film?”, Radical Film Network Meeting, 2019, Silent Green, Berlin (DE).
