In nature, the flower has one simple purpose: reproduction. With bright petals and beautiful scents, they lure insects to their pollen-filled centers to claim the plant's fertilization and survival. Over millions of years, flowering plants have evolved into about 400,000 species, producing flowers of various shapes and colors, all competing with each other for the attention of butterflies, ants and bees, among others. But the insects are far from alone in their attraction to the flower or the blooming. In the history of art, the fascination and use of the motif extend far and wide, from, among other things, symbolic painting on Egyptian handicrafts, to repetitive background patterns in medieval tapestries, to a frequent motif in 17th-century genre painting and as an eco-crisis motif in contemporary art.

"Say it with flowers"
It is no secret that classically speaking, there are many hidden messages for the recipient in the composition of a bouquet of flowers, and in the exhibition BLOOM we have gathered a number of contemporary artists whose works more or less formally work with the flower or blooming as a motif - whether it is through transformation, as form, concrete material or as an expression of power, desire or decay. In many ways, the exhibition can be said to remind one of the many 'impossible' bouquets of the 17th century - beautiful and meticulously painted portraits of bouquets that have never or would never be found in reality. This is because the individual flowers of the bouquet have neither biologically nor geographically been able to bloom at the same time or place at any time in history. BLOOM thus puts together an 'impossible' bouquet as a kind of model for a speculative landscape or a microtopia, where the individual and unusual flowers and plants engage in a symbolic, affective, and visual exchange with each other.

The exhibition presents works by Anna Aagard Jensen (DK), Sophie Varin (FR), Uwe Henneken (DE), Sif Itona Westerberg (DK), Studio Thinkinghand (DK/AUS), Rune Bosse (DK) and Manuel Canu (IT ).