Collaboration with artist Louise Haugaard Jørgensen and Esbjerg Kunstmuseum.

Sending off a message in a bottle may feel a bit similar to making art. In both cases, you don’t know who the recipient will be, the circumstances of how they will find what you’re sending off, and how they will understand what you’re communicating.

In Flaskepost til fremtiden (= “Message in a Bottle for the Future”) Louise Haugaard Jørgensen and I worked with the theme of messages in bottles.

Together with 3 classes (3rd and 4th grade) from Auraskolen in Esbjerg we made 3 large, collective – message-in-a-bottle works. (Out of security and environmental concerns we didn’t actually use glass bottles, but rather containers made from wood and cork.) We helped the children make a series of works on paper with different themes that drew on the imaginative: fictive animals, future inventions, and questions to whoever might find the works. All of these were put in the wooden containers.

At the end of this process, we sailed out of Ho Bugts from Esbjerg with all 3 classes to launch the finished works. Photographs from our trip are shown here on this page.

All 3 works have since been found – the first in Hjerting in Denmark, the second in Espevær in Norway, and the third by Eiderstedt in Germany. The findings have received local press coverage, and the finders from Eiderstedt are planning to exhibit the work they found at the maritime museum Depot Freihaven.

Auraskolen also had a visit from one the finders, Flemming, who talked to the children about finding the work, which was shown at the school.

Article scans from local press coverage is included at the bottom of this page.

What is a “huskunstnerprojekt” (= “resident artist project”)?

It’s an art project that’s partially funded by Statens Kunstfond/The Danish Arts Foundation through an initiative called “huskunstnerordningen” (=”the resident artist arrangement”). The point of this initiative is (loosely translated from the official website): To give children and teenagers in the age of 0-19 an understanding and experience in artistic processes through a meeting with a professional, active artist.

Article from Husumer Nachrichten (click here for larger version).

Article from JydskeVestkysten (click here for larger version).