When Everything You Touch Bursts into Flames: Olivia Rode Hvass at 00.00 Gallery

By Diana (Dayun) Ryu

^{Published on September 3rd, 2024}

Upon descending into the basement of an old office building where 00.00 gallery is located, a flash of childlike curiosity comes over me. My eyes dart from one corner to the other; my nose briefly enlarges as I sniff the air expecting a musky aroma evoked by the faint cloud-like mildew painting staining the gallery walls. Works spill off the walls adorned with bundles of dried wheat straw, familiar found objects are patched together like magic figurines exuding an air of queer animism, and a kaleidoscope of butterflies lay frozen in their flutter. This is Copenhagen-based artist Olivia Rode Hvass’s first solo exhibition in Seoul, South Korea: Sticks on Fire, Hands in Bloom, a modern-day folklore spinning the threads of realism and mysticism composing a world on fire.

1. Sticks on Fire, Hands in Bloom, solo exhibition by Olivia Rode Hvass consisting of painted walls, burned plastic butterflies, work gloves, jewelry, street broom, sticks and flora collected in Gangwond-do province. Photo by Dohyun Park.

The exhibition, born from a foundation of fortuitous encounters and friendship between the Copenhagen and Seoul art scenes, marks a significant milestone for the gallery as it hosts its first international artist. Hvass, who is steadily building recognition in Danish contemporary art, unveils a collection of new and recent works for their debut abroad. Having demonstrated a holistic approach to site-specific installations in the past, Hvass transforms the gallery into an immersive scenography where storytelling unfolds through fantastical illustrations on paper, tapestry, and sculpture.

Sticks on Fire, Hands in Bloom is a modern-day folklore spinning the threads of realism and mysticism composing a world on fire.

Much like following a trail of crumbs in a Grimm’s fairy tale, where narratives are a little twisted and cast in the shadows but ever-teeming with life, the displayed works appear as trail blazes in a spring forest yet to bloom. The arrangement of wooden sticks foraged in the Gangwon province and additional embellishment using industrially produced objects are particularly reminiscent of such directional markers. In this fictive landscape crafted by Hvass, “protagonists” include foil-formed stick figures, burnt branches balanced on teeny-tiny wooden clogs or wearing gloves, and a circle of smiley-faced cartoon characters etched into wood. The personification of inanimate artistic materials is not an exploration of the ontological hierarchy between the natural and artificial, or the human and non-human. Rather, it arises organically from Hvass’s deep recognition of the interconnectivity between environmental and social changes that continuously inform the trajectory of our shared existence on Earth.

These protagonists challenge aspects of our reality that we unquestioningly perceive as “normal.” In particular, they weave together sensibilities often overlooked in the fabric of capitalist societies, threading them through the overarching theme of burning. In Burnout Man / PUSH! PUSH! PUSH! PUSH! (2023), for instance, the phrase “burn out” is embroidered onto a piece of fabric forming a scrappy t-shirt worn by the figurine made of straws. The term “burnout” was initially used in aerospace engineering to describe the phase when a rocket’s fuel is entirely consumed. It was later adapted to characterize the psychological and physical exhaustion experienced by individuals, particularly in high-stress professions like healthcare and social work until it was more widely adopted—symptomatic of a toxic work culture that capitalizes on infinite productivity and isolated individuality.

The protagonists challenge aspects of our reality that we unquestioningly perceive as “normal.”

3. Olivia Rode Hvass, PUSH! PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!, 2023, Ecoprint on fabric, hay, fabric scrap, jewelry, wood. Photo by Dohyun Park. Image courtesy of the artist.

Another central motif in the exhibition is hands, whose work is generative and damaging at once. The incorporation of gloves that were worn during the production of the artworks directly presents the many hands involved in the creation of (hi)stories. The hands are also linked to Hvass’s primary choice of artistic media: the TC2 loom, a labor-intensive machine whose significance lies in its modernization of traditional weaving and craftsmanship in art. The “hands,” both manual and technological, are extensions of the weaving body that spin memories of labor and temporal corporealities. Yet, amid a world shaped by an atomizing governance of violence and domination, the hands begin to burn things down—as in the witch trials that took place during Denmark’s shift from paganism to Christianity and in more recent occurrences like the labor strikes by social and healthcare workers – the “warm hands” – during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such hands that burn appear repeatedly throughout the exhibition, as in the mixed media drawing Sticks on fire, hands in bloom (2023) and in the carved and burned wood piece De varme hænder (Hot hands!) 2 (2023).

Yet, burning can be read as a restorative act of preparing the ground for new beginnings. As Flying T-shirt (Grief is where the flowers bloom) (2023) declares in wispy pencil lines, “GRIEF IS WHERE THE FLOWER BLOOMS.” The phrase pays tribute to an artwork with the same statement by FCNN (Feminist Collective No Name), a multidisciplinary artist collective operating to provide BIPOC cultural workers with legal and other forms of support through community-based resistance between Copenhagen, Beirut, Berlin, and New York. Hvass juxtaposes the process of grieving – a release of burning pain in the chest – with the act of burning; the duality of which harkens the Japanese saying, “flowers grow even in a world of grief and pain.”

Burning can be read as a restorative act of preparing the ground for new beginnings.

Instead of placing destruction and construction in a dichotomous relationship, Hvass merges the two qualities in an intricate equilibrium that sustains a cyclical return of hope, and this is where The Cleaner (2023) enters the scene. The cleaner, created with two wooden sticks and an assortment of silvery found objects, is a caricature of a scarecrow. The heart-shaped keychain, chains, and plastic flowers –cheap and tacky trinkets that trigger a pang in the chest– are evocative of childhood friendship bracelets. Despite its cartoonish facade and feeble-looking structure, this anthropomorphized assemblage exudes an air of otherworldly piety dramatized by the directional spotlighting. The yoke on its stretched arms implicates the weight of the physical and emotional labor modern-day society carries on its shoulders. The sculpture stands as a witty and performative iconography of Hvass’s yearning for how things could be; it is an act of extending their hands in raging love and care. When everything has fallen to the ground, space for alternative forms of life and collectivity may be imagined and realized.

3. Olivia Rode Hvass, The Cleaner, 2023, Sticks, yoke, bucket, stones, jewelry, burned wood, custom-made shoes - jute, blanket, jester-bells - leaves, painted washboard. Photo by Dohyun Park. Image courtesy of the artist.

And so it goes, as I make my final round around the space, I begin my part as an entranced reader in continuing Hvass’s story. There are so many fires I remember. Growing up, I would go on hikes and visit temples where I learned to take a stick of incense, light it on fire, and bow before an energy that struck a profound connection between the self and the world. I remember feeling an acute sense of solemnity as candles were lit in the spring of 2014, mourning for deaths—incomprehensible, utterly unjustified deaths in the wake of the Sewol Ferry disaster. Born from our collective rage, individual flames lit up the night, warming up and immortalizing the memories of those who had passed. I also recall sitting in a darkened classroom watching cities on fire. We analyzed, interpreted, and theorized the series of injustices and horrors that fueled various activist movements throughout the 20th century when things just had to be burned down. Things had to be burned down — against dictatorship, racism, colonialism, the gender binary, capitalism and the many other forms of oppression designed to divide generations of communities and terrorize futures to come.

Born from our collective rage, individual flames lit up the night, warming up and immortalizing the memories of those who had passed.

Our shared present is permeated with fires both big and small, violent and beautiful. It is up to us to decide how we retell and progress from these moments. As Hvass conveys in this exhibition, fire is a symbol of regeneration as much as destruction; it is a form of love so long as we can shape it as such. Attracted to this flame of new possibilities are butterflies – tattered and molten but ever-alive – whose works begin in the aftermath where what remains become soil to be tilled and seeds to be sowed. From the ashes of societal upheaval, new awareness and change can spring forth. Hvass observes the rebirths that occur from the remnants of the flames, drawing a parallel to societal and environmental rebellion and consciousness.

The protagonists in Hvass’s fable may have emerged from historical and social contexts specific to Denmark, but they resonate beyond geographic borders and cultural specificities. Infused with moments of humor, directness, and stoicism, the familiarity of the visual symbolisms and material choices serve as a reminder that these stories are neither isolated nor fragmented. As Robin Wall Kimmerer shares in Braiding Sweetgrass (2013) of the indigenous teachings about fire where, in its destruction, regrowth and regeneration are possible, I resound her words that “[we] were given the responsibility to use fire to make things beautiful and productive—it [is] our art and our science.” May sparks fly as our hands meet and tend to the inextinguishable flame within each of us, kindling the many fires that will hold space for life and spirit.

May sparks fly as our hands meet and tend to the inextinguishable flame within each of us, kindling the many fires that will hold space for life and spirit.

Olivia Rode Hvass’s solo exhibition, Sticks on Fire, Hands in Bloom, at 00.00 Gallery in Seoul, South Korea, was on view between November 10 to 26, 2023.

Olivia Rode Hvass (b.1995, DK) is a Copenhagen based artist with a BA from the Jutland Academy of Fine Arts (2021) and a masterclass in TC2 weaving with Professor Corrie van Eijk-Doktor, Drachten NL. Hvass’ works in a crossfield between textile, drawing, installation and sculptural work, with craftsmanship and storytelling as a red thread. The exhibition at 00.00 will be Hvass' international debut. Hvass has previously exhibited at various Danish platforms and institutions such as Kunsthal Aarhus, Kunsthal 6100, Kunsthal NORD, Sydhavn Station, Ladder Space, and Archway Nightlands Connector. In 2024, Hvass will exhibit at Skovgaard Museet (DK), Tranen (DK) and Rønnebæksholm (DK).

Diana (Dayun) Ryu is a curator, writer and translator based in Seoul, South Korea. She is primarily interested in experimenting with exhibitions and language, collaborating with emerging artists, scholars, and creative technologists. Notable projects include translating Legacy Russell’s “Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto” (Mediabus, 2022) and co-curating the online exhibition series “Hinterland” (PACK, 2022, 2023). Her writings spotlighting diverse projects of emerging artists among the Korean and international art scenes can be found on AQNB, Visla magazine, Seoul Museum of Art - Coral, Busan Biennale 2022 - Journal, among others.

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When Everything You Touch Bursts into Flames: Olivia Rode Hvass at 00.00 Gallery

Sticks on Fire, Hands in Bloom is a modern-day folklore spinning the threads of realism and mysticism composing a world on fire.

The protagonists challenge aspects of our reality that we unquestioningly perceive as “normal.”

Burning can be read as a restorative act of preparing the ground for new beginnings.

Born from our collective rage, individual flames lit up the night, warming up and immortalizing the memories of those who had passed.

May sparks fly as our hands meet and tend to the inextinguishable flame within each of us, kindling the many fires that will hold space for life and spirit.

︎︎︎Previous Next︎

E-Issue 08 –– SELSummer/Fall 2024

E-08++ Summer/Fall 2024

About ––

Interviews ––

Open Call ––

Newsletter ––

Chronological Archive ––

E-Issue 01 –– AUH/DXB Summer 2020

E-01++ Fall/Winter 2020-21

🎙️GAD Talk Series –– Season 1 2020

E-Issue 02 –– NYC Spring 2021

E-02++ Spring/Summer 2021

E-Issue 03 ––TYO Fall 2021

E-03++ Fall/Winter 2021-22

E-Issue 04 –– IST Spring 2022

E-04++ Spring/Summer 2022

E-Issue 05 –– VCE Fall 2022

E-05++ Fall/Winter 2022-23

E-Issue 06 –– DXB/SHJSpring 2023

E-Issue 07 –– AUHWinter 2023-24

E-07++ Winter/Spring 2024

🔍 Legal

When Everything You Touch Bursts into Flames: Olivia Rode Hvass at 00.00 Gallery

Sticks on Fire, Hands in Bloom is a modern-day folklore spinning the threads of realism and mysticism composing a world on fire.

The protagonists challenge aspects of our reality that we unquestioningly perceive as “normal.”

Burning can be read as a restorative act of preparing the ground for new beginnings.

Born from our collective rage, individual flames lit up the night, warming up and immortalizing the memories of those who had passed.

May sparks fly as our hands meet and tend to the inextinguishable flame within each of us, kindling the many fires that will hold space for life and spirit.

︎︎︎Previous Next︎

E-Issue 08 –– SEL
Summer/Fall 2024

E-08++
Summer/Fall 2024

E-Issue 01 –– AUH/DXB
Summer 2020

E-01++
Fall/Winter 2020-21

E-Issue 02 –– NYC
Spring 2021

E-02++
Spring/Summer 2021

E-Issue 03 ––TYO
Fall 2021

E-03++
Fall/Winter 2021-22

E-Issue 04 –– IST
Spring 2022

E-04++
Spring/Summer 2022

E-Issue 05 –– VCE
Fall 2022

E-05++
Fall/Winter 2022-23

E-Issue 06 –– DXB/SHJ
Spring 2023

E-Issue 07 –– AUH
Winter 2023-24

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Winter/Spring 2024