The word anxious is woven into the tapestry at Solbjerg Plads – but why?
Artist Mette Clausen has hidden "anxious" in her tapestry. The artwork is called "Selfmachine (pattern in resistance)". (Photo: Mette Koors)
A three by seven meters long piece of tapestry hangs in the cantina at CBS and it questions capitalism and the way it works. Because it is, in fact, capitalism that creates anxiety and stress in a world which just screams for more and more?
News / Film | 22. Nov 2017
Artist, Mette Clausen, asks a concrete question with her tapestry, which you might have already seen in the cantina at Solbjerg Plads. The artwork is a part of a group exhibition with the title ‘About Work’ at Danske Grafikeres Hus and the National Gallery of Denmark.
Because is it just the individual who is to blame for stress, anxiety, and depression, or is it capitalism?
“I think that it’s a great issue that has made the problem for the individual, when a person suffers from stress. When we as humans can’t take it anymore, then it becomes your problem. Then it’s you, who’s sick, you who’s not flexible, you who can’t take it, and can’t stand the pace. But this is not true. It is the system around us, we are to blame. It wants more and more. We need to produce more and more. And that is not human,” says Mette Clausen.
She has written some specific, almost hidden, messages into the tapestry. If you can’t find them, then check this:
“The word ‘anxious’ appears on par with the words ‘over’ and ‘under’, which refer to the movement of the threads in relation to each other. And I consider weaving as a sort of writing,” says Mette Clausen.
Mette Clausen has written the texts in the tapestry herself. But the parts about capitalism she has got inspiration for from multiple places. Especially the text: “Six Theses on Anxiety and Why It is Effectively Preventing Militancy, and One Possible Strategy for Overcoming It’ by Institute for Precarious Consciouness.
“When people look at the tapestry, I hope that they will reflect on the fact that we live in a capitalist society, and think about what it does to us. That anxiety, stress, and depression are connected to a greater, more complicated, powerful structure,” says Mette Clausen and asks more questions:
“Is it okay to weep at the office? Can tears be productive? Can straight As? These questions may seem foolish. However, I think it is important to observe what kind of society we are all a part of and are producing.”
It is CBS Art Committee and CBS ART Club who curate the exhibition.
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