Fire boat Tripitaka, Copenhagen, July 2016

“Awilda on a drift” was a performance and exhibition by Laura Põld & Johna Hansen. In the course of the performance boiled eggs were prepared and served to the boat guests. The collaborative piece was developed during a two-week residency together on the fireboat Tripitaka where Johna was living throughout the year at that time. Johna Hansen and Laura Põld spent time on the boat eating, reading, talking, sleeping and working with wood and clay. The story of Awilda the Scandinavian pirate was one of those that they found at the small library on the boat. The adventures of the rebellious woman and other bits of literature on sailing found their way to their thinking. Why eggs? The given food is said to be one of the safest foods to be eaten without the fear of being poisoned at sea.

Tallinn Art Hall Gallery, Estonia
April 8 – May  8, 2016

“Sense of Place” consisted of site-specific installations designed for Tallinn Art Hall Gallery by artists Johna Hansen (DK), Laura Põld and Katrine Gram Sloth (DK) .

“The group exhibition “Sense of Space” at Tallinn Art Hall Gallery by three young female artists from Northern Europe was like junctures carefully compiled in a construction that played with notions such as place and out of place, time and timelessness. All three artists constantly change the place they live, moving from one residency to another. At some point they have become randomly entangled with each other and so the current exhibition seemed a bit chaotic at first glance. Nevertheless, all three artists cooperate primarily to invite viewers to shift their perceptual boundaries. They have each staged memories of arrival in places that are difficult to define, and in fact there would be no benefit in defining them because Laura Põld from Estonia, Katrine Gram Sloth from Denmark and Johna Hansen from Sweden would rather guide the viewer behind the scenes than directly to the enjoyment of beautiful landscapes.” – Maris Karjatse, Kunst.ee (2/2016)

Photos by Karel Koplimets and Kristiina Hansen

Tartu Art Museum, Estonia
January 14 – March 20, 2016

Solo exhibition at Tartu Art Museum, Estonia, curated by Peeter Talvistu

“The ground floor of Tartmus with its four exhibition rooms has been transformed into an environment that I can only describe as a space shared by nature and art. Tree trunks erected between the floor and ceiling are surrounded by ceramic objects created by the artist using her original technique, folded curtains and canvases covered with patterns in various hues of beige, grey, green and orange familiar to those who know her style. The journey starting from the bookshop takes viewers down a boardwalk, somewhat similar to those built over wetlands, to the end of the space and the path, leaving them surrounded by white salt and faced with a video screen showing landscape views. The journey is accompanied by a sound composition by Juhan Vihterpal consisting of distant sounds and voices that evoke in the visitor a vague idea of a parallel reality.

Laura Põld floats somewhere in between the familiar and the strange, nature and culture, a position that is perhaps most interestingly conveyed by another, earlier exhibition of hers, “Das Ende der Landschaft, das Ende der Stadt” (Prigglitz, Lower Austria, 2013), or rather the title itself – the end of landscape, the end of the city. Põld is a double agent in both worlds – an artist in nature and a force of nature in the art gallery. Her works are an example of the fact that there is no real contrast here – culture is simply nature at a higher level of complexity.” – Piret Karro, Kunst.ee, 1/2016

Photos by Anu Vahtra