History

Hygge/Unhygge

Collaboration with Nell Whitney

Hygge — “an art of creating intimacy”

This piece was comprised of drawing elements with graphite and ink on vellum and paper. Projected onto the wall drawings was a film made by Nell Whitney. This film, which was shot and produced in Denmark, consisted of imagery of hygge and unhygge…the contrast of the moments in our lives.

The venue was filter 4, in Basel, Switzerland. filter4 is a former slow filter system on the Bruderholz, which was built by the architects Vischer & Fueter in the years 1903-1905. A large part of Basel’s households were supplied with drinking water from here. The facility is 1600 m² in size and consists of two chambers of 800 m² each. The facility was closed in 2006 because the city of Basel uses less water. The chambers are thick cement walls, and the floor is sand for the filtration of the water.

This place, one which provided water to thousands, yet was unconventional and challenging for the presentation of art, was a fitting one for the exhibition of this work its theme of comfort and discomfort, inside/outside, and trauma and relief.