Elina Brotherus’ solo show Seabound opens Saturday

Martin Asbæk Gallery is delighted to present Seabound, a solo exhibition by Finnish artist Elina Brotherus. Commissioned by the Tangen Collection in Norway, the works on view are generously on loan from Kunstsilo. This marks the first presentation of the Seabound series in Denmark and coincides with Brotherus’ major solo exhibition at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg.

Elina Brotherus’ practice oscillates between the autobiographical and the art historical. In recent years, she has revisited Fluxus event scores and other performance-based instructions from the 1950s to the 1970s, transforming them into visual narratives. In her publication of the same title, Brotherus introduces SEABOUND by reflecting on the origin of its name, which she calls a misunderstanding: “Or a mistranslation, to be exact.”

Much of the series draws inspiration from Norwegian performance artist Kurt Johannessen, known for his small books filled with “øvingar” – short, poetic exercises. While working in Norway, Brotherus carried these instructions with her, one of which read: Havbunnen to netter på rad. The artist recalls: ”Seabound, I thought, two nights in a row. How beautiful. That’s me! I was in the outer archipelago and was drawn to the sea all the time, day and night.”

It was only later that she discovered her poetic interpretation was off. Bunnen, which she had mistaken for the Swedish bunden (meaning “bound”), in Norwegian actually means “bottom.” Johannessen was referring to the seabed, not a romantic yearning for the sea. But by then, the moment had passed – and the image had been made: Brotherus, in a red coat, captured on the second night, gazing out over the open water.