Almost not spoken yet – a solo exhibition by Hesselholdt & Mejlvang at Horsens Art Museum

Exhibition period: April 5 – September 21, 2025

With the exhibition Almost not spoken yet, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang create a sensual and poetic installation, where visual, tactile and auditory elements are woven together.

The exhibition focuses on the many threads that connect us, in a search to identify an embracing “We” across continents, cultures, generations and divergent views of life. The audience is invited to reflect on our common global history and cohesion, how our world is shaped through migration and exchanges of materials, artisanal and visual expressions, mutual influences of ideas, food, ways of life.

Almost not spoken yet speaks a language that transcends the vocabulary of division that characterizes our time and insists on humanity, care and presence. A key focus of the exhibition is the origin and diversity of the materials and the careful, time-consuming processing.
Textiles that the artists have collected from countries around the world for decades, many with signs of use, are a recurring element in the exhibition. Flag-like objects are decorated in delicate embroidery with motifs and phrases taken from news media, travels, books, tattoos – echoes of reality that are pressing in. The textiles are often mounted on rods, carefully crafted in varying types of wood and designs. Behind each piece of fabric lies a story about its previous use or creation, whether it is a gift, an heirloom or a souvenir.

Another connecting point is ceramic containers, jars, vases, bowls in different types of clay, which borrow their design language from many parts of the world. Ceramics bring to mind food storage, family, sharing a meal, nourishment. Human coexistence through the ages. The sculptures are arranged in a circle, as if they were participating in a negotiation meeting, immersed in silent communication.

The exhibition is generously supported by the Augustinus Foundation, the Danish National Art Foundation, Insero Horsens,  Knud Højgaards Foundation,  L. Zeutens Memorial Grant and the Danish State Workshops for Art.

About Hesselholdt & Mejlvang
Hesselholdt & Mejlvang are a Danish artist duo who began working as a collective in 1999. Their practice is focused on site-specific, large-scale installations that investigate concepts of collective identity, and how these inform and are affected by socio-political structures. Rooted in extensive research as an integral modus operandi, their work often incorporates performance and active use of the public space. Site-specificity plays an important role, whether manifested outdoors or in a venue like an LED truck, an embassy, a remote forest, a newspaper, as a tattoo or inside an art institution.

Opening
The exhibition opens on. April 5, when the museum has free admission from 11:00-16:00.
Everyone is welcome to participate.

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