PATTERNS –Rasmus Søndergaard Johannsen
7 May – 6 June 2021 at Sp2, Schillerpromenade 2, 12049 Berlin

Patterns 2020, Cast copper, epoxy resin, patent leather, 9 x 15 cm 

The Russian Constructivist patterns that served as references for the present series PATTERNS were originally developed for clothing that was a manifestation of post-revolutionary socialist ideology – the destabilization of the hierarchies, in society as much as between art, craft, and industrial production.
    The socialist ideology in which the original patterns were embedded is formally interpreted here. The sculptures are composed of segments – every segment has its very own role within the configuration, which in turn is defined by all its fragments and their interplay with each other equally. In this way, the sculptures turn into metaphors for societal structures as envisioned by the Constructivists, an egalitarian system of “reciprocally connected parts [that] hold an equilibrium”.
Text by Anna Goetz

Patterns 2020, Copper, acrylic glass, 15 x 15 cm 

RASMUS SØNDERGAARD JOHANNSEN (*1982 Brovst, Denmark) is a Danish conceptual artist and sculptor, living and working in Berlin. Søndergaard Johannsen studied from 2008-2014 at Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main with Peter Fischli and Simon Starling, having spent one year at Cooper Union School of Art in New York with Walid Raad and Sharon Hayes. Recent artist residencies include ISCP, New York in 2019 and the JCE Biennial Residency in 2018. His works have, in recent years, been shown at Kunstverein Göttingen (2020), Kunsthalle Darmstadt (2019), COB Gallery in London and fffriedrich in Frankfurt am Main (2018), as well as at KW Institute for Contemporary Art 3 1/2 in Berlin (2015). This year, Søndergaard Johannsen has upcoming shows in Tainan, Taiwan (duo with Mette Juul) and in Copenhagen, Denmark (solo).

The exhibition is realised with support from the Danish Arts Foundation.