Make Yourself At Home - hospitality in a changing world

Today's times of constant and increased movement and displacement of people - voluntary and involuntary - correlate with the shrinking readiness of countries to welcome and host foreigners. The exhibition Make Yourself at Home will look at how contemporary artists working on the global arena interpret, transform, use and deal with this heightened rejection in the context of migration.

A selection of 9 artists, in whose practice this issue resonates, is invited to produce individual as well as collaborative works that examine the current status of hospitality through various lenses. All artists will deal with hospitality on different levels; be it institutional, national, individual or within the intellectual space.

Invited artists:
Philip Aguirre y Otegui (BE), A-kassen (DK), Kader Attia (AL/FR), Kenneth A. Balfelt (DK), Olaf Breuning (CH/USA), Mie Mørkeberg (DK), Otobong Nkanga (NG/BE/FR), George Osodi (NG/UK), and Pascale Marthine Tayou (CM/BE)

The exhibition will look at the philosophical, creative, social, political, sexual and gender power structures determining patterns of human migrations and mobility in the light of transnational conflicts and colonial heritage.

The focus is laid on the connection of the artist's practices with the idea of sharing and giving. the intention is to provide a perspective from the point of view of the artwork as a situational refuge.

Make Yourself at Home will investigate how hospitable we are towards each other also on a global sphere, and how hospitality affects human perceptions and relationships on a local level.

The exhibition will travel to at least one other venue in Europe and one in Africa. We believe that the curatorial approach; the reflection on hospitality on institutional, national and individual levels would generate an enriching debate and hopefully produce new knowledge.

The exhibition is part of the intercultural festival My World Images taking place in Copenhagen in September 2010.

Read interview from the magazine Cultures no. 4 about the exhibition (in Danish) cultures-artikel-uddrag, read Cultures no. 4 here