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By Louise Witt
What is our perception of beauty? Do we prefer new, perfect and shiny things? Or the old, slightly scratched and perhaps repaired things?
Our collective perception of beauty will change fundamentally in the coming years. This is the prediction of museum director Lasse Andersson, and he is convinced that the trend is towards the latter.
As director of both Kunsten Museum of Modern Art and the Utzon Center in Aalborg, Lasse Andersson offers exhibition space where artists and architects can explore the important topics of our time – right now, especially the future of the planet.
Just recently, somebody dug out a giant Morse code in the trimmed lawn of Kunsten: S. O. S. it said. This was the work of the Danish art duo Hesselholdt and Mejlvang. At a so-called Summer Lounge at the museum, they had brought shovels and dug their message out in the sculpture garden around Alvar Aalto's museum buildings from 1972.
The Utzon Center on the Aalborg Waterfront also recently organized the exhibition "Waste Wonderland". It showed how different Danish designers have taken up the challenge of creating new, attractive designs from residual materials from production companies. For example, discarded pieces of wood with many knots have been turned into a new door design showcasing the discarded knots as the door’s characteristics. People visiting the exhibition could also see ideas for making use of discarded leather with stretch marks.
Today’s focus is to make use of what has already been produced – rather than using virgin materials.
“The fact that we have to take care of the planet affects our ideals of beauty,” states Lasse Andersson.
“We cannot just continue our impulsive consumer behavior, seeing growth as something quantitative, we need to see growth as a qualitative and sustainable concept, and this new ethical gaze will affect our aesthetics: Transformed, mixed, patched and recycled materials will gain a more prominent place in the common perception of what beauty is, because we have to take care of the things close to us and at the same time consider the bigger picture,” he says.
A good example, according to the director, who himself is a trained architect, is the transformation of an industrial building such as Thoravej 29 in Copenhagen. It was originally built to accommodate Kopenhagen Fur, but today it has been transformed into an award-winning office and community building: The idea behind the transformation – created by Pihlmann Architects for the Bikuben Foundation – has mainly been to use materials that were already part of the building, but in a new way. For example, transforming the existing ceiling into stairs, using pieces of the facade as floor material, and shredding the old doors to transform the material into new tables.
“The concept is not to remove and add new materials, but to make use of the building materials on site as much as possible,” says Lasse Andersson addressing the likely future of construction.
This mindset has also entered his private life, Lasse Anderesson says. His family bought a small summer house from the late 1960s in Northern Jutland. However, they have not redecorated it with new furniture, they have largely renovated and decorated it with recycled materials and furniture – one exception being the new VOLA fixtures. As he tore a hole in his suit lately, he also chose to deal with it in a new way and had it repaired – with visible, grey thread.
"Five years ago, I would have thrown it away. Now the stitching supports the fact that I really like the suit. And it shows that I am aware that I should take care of things. That we all should make use of our things for a long time," he says. He reckons he will choose a different color stitching the next time to create a visible storyline.
Lasse Andersson sees a future potential in companies that support products with a long lifespan, the possibility of recycling, repair and upcycling – like when VOLA offers spare parts and maintenance assistance. This also goes for the very first VOLA fittings designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1968.
"We need to feel a desire to own things with a long lifespan. Things that cut through time. I feel connected to VOLA's design because VOLA offers this support," says Lasse Andersson.
However, one aspect leaves him pondering:
If he were to be unfortunate enough to scratch his VOLA fittings one day, the fittings could be polished making the scratch disappear, but would he choose to do that? Or would he and everybody else choose to let the scratches be or maybe cover them with a different color as part of a visible personal storytelling – an example of a new and aesthetically thoughtful era?
