3-26 November
In the exhibition Who Owns the Air?, artists Ayesha Ghaoul and David Noro explore the complex politics of housing, seeing the 'home' as an elusive fantasy and a struggle for socio-political forces. The 'home' is more than just a place to live; it represents security, identity and stability. Furthermore, in an era of increasing real estate speculation, gentrification and forced displacement, the house has become both a commodity and a luxury. Ghaoul and Noro dabble in the visual representation of a home in the context of real estate marketing.
"In one way we want to talk about the poetic depiction of the home and in another we want to be realistic. Housing is many things and bears so many different connotations around the world, it seems crucial to talk both about the fantasy of the 'house' and the reality you face when pursuing a place in the world."
The exhibition explores these apparent inconsistencies, prompting viewers to look at the concept of the home as an intensely political terrain. Fragile facades made of porcelain and glass, cracked and scratched when fired, expose the human ordeal created by an uncertainty from stability in flux Juxtaposing delicate porcelain houses with industrial steel racks, Ghaoul and Noro create a dialogue between the tenderness of human ambition and the uncompromising machinery of profit-driven progress- a metaphor for the intangible and transient nature of ownership in volatile markets.
The poem "Echoes in the Air" by Carmel Alabbasi (b. 1985), commissioned for the exhibition, is a poem about the concept of "owning the air", reflecting the terrible reality of war-torn areas, where the house often turns into ruins and families are left with nothing but air. Here the concept of property becomes blurred, as "property that is now 'just air" contrasts with the ephemeral and fragile nature of material possessions.
"Who owns the air?" This question invites us to analyse the broader socio-political context in which home is a commodity, a place of belonging, and ultimately a human right.
David Noro(b. 1993, DK/ITA) is a visual artist based in Oslo, Norway and Copenhagen, Denmark. He has studied Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam(2014-2018), and is currently attending the MFA-programme in Fine Arts at Oslo National Academy of the Arts(2023-25). Noro is a painter who also works with collage, drawing, textile and sculpture. Based on a personal archive of words, texts, songs and conversations, Noro relays fragments from the everyday which are poetically enshrined in his artistic practice.
Recent solo exhibitions include: 'Always Already', Galleria Richter, Rome(2024), 'When the night mocks you', Ptt Gallery, Taipei(2022), 'Recent, Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, Amsterdam(2022) and 'To Disappear into the reeds like a burrowing toad', Beers, London(2021). Other shows include: 'Freedom without Borders', Cobra Museum, Amsterdam(2023), 'Koloristerne', Den Frie, Copenhagen(2023), 'Narrative Minds', Asia Art Center, Taipei, (2022) and 'Outbreak', Museum De Pont, Tilburg(2021).
Ayesha Ghaoul(b. 1994, UK/DZ) is a visual artist based in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has studied Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie (2014-2018) and Conceptual and Contextual Practices at the MFA Program of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (2020-23). Ghaoul works drawing, sculpture and installation ano explores themes such as time-traveling, memory and mapping practices.
Recent exhibitions include: 'Fountains without water', W139, Amsterdam(2023), 'Argang', Augustina/Mostings Hus, Denmark(2023), 'Afgang', Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen(2023), 'Act II: The Observatory', Ombrella Exhibition Platform, Copenhagen(2021), 'Efterarsudstillingen', Den Frie, Copenhagen(2021) and was a resident at 'Frans Masereel Centrum', Belgium(2021).
Carmel Alabbasi(b. 1985, Gaza) is a Palestinian visual artist who explores concepts of absence and disappearance, illuminating the intricate interplay between spaces, bodies, and objects entangled within the complex web of colonial and patriarchal heritage.
The exhibition is kindly and generously supported by: Statens Varksteder for Kunst, Statens Kunstfond, Culture Moves Europe, Gottfred og Gerda Eickhoffs Fond and Grosserer L. F. Foghts Fond.
