Almost not spoken yet

– a solo exhibition by Hesselholdt & Mejlvang at Horsens Art Museum

Exhibition period: April 5 – September 21, 2025

With Almost not spoken yet, the artist duo Hesselholdt & Mejlvang present a sensual and poetic total installation, where visual, tactile and auditory elements are woven together into a larger experience.

The exhibition examines the connections that bind us together across continents, cultures and generations, and it focuses on the common “We” in a world that focuses on fragmentation. The audience is invited to reflect on our global history and cohesion as well as the exchanges of materials, crafts, visual expressions, ideas, food culture and ways of life that have shaped our common existence over time.

Almost not spoken yet insists on a language that transcends the vocabulary of division and instead emphasizes humanity, care and presence. Central to the exhibition is the origin of the materials and the time-consuming, careful processing that lies behind each individual work.

Textiles play a consistent role in the exhibition. Over the years, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang have collected fabrics from countries around the world – textiles with clear signs of use, which carry stories and traces of past lives. Flag-like objects, decorated with intricately embroidered motifs and phrases taken from news media, travels and books, function as echoes from reality. Several of the textiles are mounted on flagpoles made of varying types of wood and shapes – each with its own story of origin and meaning.

Ceramics
Another central element in the exhibition are ceramic containers – jars, vases and bowls in different types of clay. These objects borrow their design language from many parts of the world and bring to mind the storage of food, family life and community around a meal. The sculptures are arranged in a circle – as if they were participating in a silent negotiation, a silent dialogue about coexistence through the ages. The ceramic containers also bear sentences that the audience is invited to read and reflect on.

The Sound of the World
Throughout the exhibition space, a diverse soundscape undulates – a collage of voices, animal sounds, the rustle of nature, church bells and street noise, recorded by the artists and composed with found sound bites. The soundscape creates an intrusive, sensual layer that invites the audience to experience the works through changing moods and impressions.

Between the many elements of the exhibition lies an underlying awareness of our shared responsibility for the world we share. The future trembles just below the surface – an uncertain and fragile dimension in a time when our planet seems to be moving ever faster towards the unpredictable. Almost not spoken yet calls for reflection, community and a deeper understanding of the threads that connect us all.

The exhibition is generously supported by: The Danish Arts Foundation, The Augustinus Foundation, The Knud Højgaard Foundation, The Attorney L. Zeuthen’s Memorial Grant, Insero Horsens and The Danish Art Workshops.

Hesselholdt & Mejlvang is a Danish artist collective that has worked together since 1999. In their practice, they examine concepts such as gender, power and collective identity and how these interact with and influence socio-political structures. Hesselholdt & Mejlvang’s work is rooted in extensive research and they often incorporate performance, flags, installations and active use of public space in their projects. Site-specificity plays an important role, regardless of whether it manifests itself outdoors in a remote forest, on an LED truck, an embassy, ​​a newspaper, as a tattoo or in an art institution.

Read more about them here: https://www.hesselholdt-mejlvang.dk

Opening
The exhibition opens. April 5, 2025, with free admission to the museum from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The exhibition opening will be at 2:00 p.m., with speeches. A glass of bubbles or soda will be served afterwards.
Everyone is welcome to attend. The artists will be present.

For further information, please contact museum curator Emilie Hartmann Kuang at: ehku@horsens.dk.