Kørners fallen soldiers

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Kørner’s fallen soldiers come to HEART

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Herning’s new art museum HEART has added three John Kørner paintings from the war in Afghanistan to its collection: Brian, Christian, and Benjamin. Those are the names of three of the artist John Kørner’s infamous and acclaimed paintings from Afghanistan; paintings that can soon be experienced at HEART – Herning Museum of Contemporary Art. Benjamin was donated by John Kørner himself as a gift to the museum, whereas the museum has been able to acquire the two other paintings from the Afghanistan series thanks to a donation from the Ny Carlsberg Foundation.

Fallen soldiers

John Kørner has committed himself to painting a painting for each fallen Danish solider in Afghanistan and is now, sadly, behind on his work because of the most recent deaths among the soldiers. For now the series comprises 21 paintings. Each painting bears the name of a fallen soldier, but other than that the paintings do not reflect the individual stories.

The idea behind the painting is not exclusively to honour the individual soldiers, but also to focus attention on the fact that Denmark is at war, explains John Kørner, who graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1998.

The objective of the paintings is to raise awareness of how we in Denmark are losing Danish soldiers in battle. Something that has not happened for many years before now. “In our everyday lives we forget that Denmark is an invading force, a nation at war, and Kørner’s paintings help remind us of that fact,” says museum director Holger Reenberg.

World-class architecture

HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art opens its doors to the general public for the first time on 09.09.09 in an all-new house for the arts designed by the world-famous architect Steven Holl. The ground-breaking museum building was inspired by Herning’s history as a textile town.

Moulded out of white concrete, HEART has a crinkly, crumpled surface like fabric. The roof structure comprises five shells reminiscent of shirtsleeves cut lengthwise. A “concrete tent” is a term used affectionately by museum inspector Holger Reenberg to describe the museum, which is situated right across from the former art museum in Herning, surrounded by the magnificent geometric gardens, architecture by Utzon, and Ingvar Cronhammer’s sculpture Elia. HEART, the new name of the museum, is a contraction of the words “Herning” and “art”.

Separate Kørner exhibition

John Kørner recently visited the finished new museum for the first time and was excited to see it. ”It is impressively beautiful,” was the opinion he offered while providing advice on where the paintings should be hung.

Within the next few years HEART will stage a solo exhibition of Kørner’s work. For the time being HEART will open to the general public on 09.09.09, allowing audiences to see Kørner’s paintings alongside the official opening exhibition of works by the Italian artist Jannis Kounellis.

Photos of John Kørner and his paintings are available for download at www.heartmus.dk/presse

For further information, please contact:

Lene Elsner, head of communication, tel. +45 9628 1704, le@heartmus.dk

Karen Bering, communication officer, tel. +45 9628 1705, kb@heartmus.dk

Tips

09.09.2010

HEART celebrates its 1st birthday

Free admittance all day

Museum Hours

Tuesday - Sunday: 10-17

Thursday: 10-22

Monday: Closed

Admission & Tickets