"Threads" is an exhibition featuring five installations created by five Faroese contemporary artists. The artists are Randi Samsonsen, Jóhan Martin Christiansen, Maibritt Marjunardóttir, Ragnhild Hjalmarsdóttir Højgaard, and Alda Mohr Eyðunardóttir. In their own spaces and with their unique approaches, they present artworks that explore the concept of the thread—both thematically and materially. The result is an exhibition with a diverse range of expressions and works that address various socio-political issues.

Threads and fabrics are an integral part of our daily lives. We are wrapped in cloth when we are born; we cover healing wounds with fabric; we share bedsheets when we sleep together. Our bodies are in constant contact with threads of various kinds, and we all have an unconscious familiarity with threads as a material. Threads are never neutral. In the Faroe Islands, we have a strong knitting tradition and a historical connection to wool and yarn. Wool is laden with emotions and deep knowledge of Faroese cultural heritage. The works in the exhibition have Faroese tradition as their foundation, yet they are expressed in a contemporary manner that departs from what we know as Faroese craftsmanship.

The exhibition conveys that today we are part of the global community, with access to worldwide materials and technology. We are also influenced by the same trends and debates that are taking place in the countries around us. How can socio-political issues be depicted through knots, braids, and tangles? And why is it fitting to discuss sensitive topics through fabric? How a thread is made, what qualities it possesses, and what it has been used for all contribute to the nuanced meanings of the individual works in the exhibition.

There is an openness in a thread. It is filled with possibilities before it is given a shape or function. Tangibly, it is a strand that can be used to mend, tie, and bind, but it can also enclose or tame. More abstractly, threads can connect us. A thread can create tension in language, as in the phrase "hanging by a thread." Concepts such as "granny knots" and "emotional tangles" are among those that fill the rooms in the exhibition, which is both concrete and abstract.

Read more about the individual art works and artists <<