Introducing Kristine Mandsberg as the topic of conversation in today’s Arts & crafts blog post.
As we see a shift from frictionless experiences to a landscape laced with multisensorial experiences Kristine’s curious, surreal and playful installations have sparked our creativity and left us feeling incredibly inspired.
“I want people to get an insight into what sensuousness can be, how to experience through one’s hands and body, and experience how we use our body both consciously and unconsciously when we experience our surroundings.”
Kristine Mandsberg
Play
Kristine has always worked with the idea of playfulness, both conceptually and visually. She explains that she does this because she wants people to feel an instinctive attraction to her work, so they have an openness to what they are about to explore.
Play can often be seen as something for children, but for Kristine, it is much more about evoking a curiosity that lies within all human beings. Something that we are all born with, as a way to discover the world and basically learn about life through play, by activating multiple senses and our body as a whole.
“My work often has a playful and changeable element to it, as I want my work to be perceived inclusive and accessible, to evoke curiosity and to make viewers engaged in the experience.”
Kristine Mandsberg
Experience
Kristine strongly believes that if we can stimulate curiosity in humans, it is easier to get us involved and engaged in basically anything.
“To learn, to be creative and if this is stored not only in your brain but also physically in your body, it will be an experience that you can built on and relate to in other situations. In my work I therefor always try to evoke a more overall experience. A feeling or a state of mind, always having something touchable, changeable or playful.”
Kristine Mandsberg
Kristine also mentioned she prefers to work on a scale that somehow relates to the human body. She continues to say that scale is an important concept to consider as it automatically makes you use your body more actively when having to discover the work and leave a physical 1:1 experience.
We delve into three of Kristine’s most recent projects;
BLOB NO. 1-9
’BLOB’ consists of a series of nine studies into the fluidity and shape of organic textile forms. Set against matching PVC foam boards, the nine works feature various organic configurations and colours, translating the concept of a physical squeeze or a hug into a static ornament. Built up from foam underlay with a nylon jersey covering, each piece is finished with a ‘flocking’ technique that creates a velvet-like appearance and texture. The unique combination of materials and techniques instinctively promotes discovery and physical interaction between the audience and the work, using sensuous aesthetic triggers that encourage a deeper physical connection.’
Materials: Foam, pvc board, nylon jersey, flock fibres.
Watch a detailed video by Benjamin Lund on this installation: here
Photographer: Anders Sune Berg
9 X Shapes
A continuation of tactile and sensorial craft 9 X Shapes is a collection of colourful wall hangings made with flock fibre, cardboard, foam, pvc foamboard, dyed wool fabric and mesh.
CUBE Stools made for Copenhagen Contemporary.
Materials: Wood from Dinesen and the top is coated and printed foam.
Photographer Space: Michael Rygaard
The CUBE Stool consists of two simple shapes made from two contrasting materials: wood and foam, to enhance the contrast between the hard and soft, the smooth and the textured and the heavy and light. The two simple shapes fit together like bricks, and can easily be taken apart and thereby the stool becomes two abstract shapes with no function, but merely materials, surfaces and colour to play around with.
