responds to politics and everyday life using a range of media including silk-screen, drawing, video, sculpture, and performance. His work has been exhibited at venues including SFMOMA, MoMA PS1, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He resides in New York and Copenhagen. MFA 2008
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Routines (Sønder Boulevard), 2008
Single-channel video, color, sound; 6 min.
Installation view with eponymous poster series in background (above); video still (below)
Photo: Kristine Lynnerup
Courtesy the artist and Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, Texas
Mads Lynnerup's project Routines (Sønder Boulevard) documents the recurring routines of individuals living in the neighborhood near a central street in Copenhagen, Denmark. For over four weeks the artist observed the various daily routines of the area's residents, took notes and began making drawings of his observations. The resulting series of ten posters is on view in this exhibition. For example, one of the posters depicts a pencil drawing of two women on a cigarette break outside of a shop, and the text below describes how they take at least one break together every day. During the project's original exhibition, posters were also installed in various locations around Sønder Boulevard. Lynnerup complements the poster series with an eponymous video, which is screened at Anthology Film Archives as part of the exhibition video program.
Tree, 2008
Installation with plywood benches and tree, newspapers, video displayed on monitors, peanut and water dispensers
Fisher Landau Center for Art, New York
Mads Lynnerup's Tree (2008) is conceived in a similar spirit, although the project intervenes more directly into the larger community, tapping into DIY movements and grassroots organization strategies. With Tree, the artist set out to bridge the gap between the Fischer Landau Center for Art, where the work was presented, and the surrounding Queens neighborhood. The Tree structure, positioned in the art center's courtyard, was tall enough to draw attention from passersby. Envisioned as a meeting spot, the work was outfitted with local newspapers in various languages, modular benches, as well as snacks and water for sustenance. Gathering the water supply for Tree served as an advertising device and fostered local connections: Lynnerup traveled door-to-door, requesting donations of tap water from members of the community and personally inviting them to visit the project. The piece thus enacted a reciprocal exchange: neighbors gave water as a gift to the artist, while his Tree provided a resource and meeting ground for the community.
