The Danish Heart:
‘The Danish Heart’ is a site-specific intervention located in the Gardini entrance area of the Venice Biennale. The artwork consists of a signpost showing symbols and text in the motif of an ‘international style’ warning sign. The symbols of a double lightning bolt and a heart are a direct reference to a defibrillator, the medical equipment used to re-start the heart in an extreme emergency. The premise therefore, is a desire to ‘re-start’ the hearts of the Danish people and the work is a comment on a country whose population has become in conflict with itself in terms of values, attitudes and beliefs. There is a sense of urgency conveyed in its message; it offers an imperative to the people of Denmark to be restored, to once again become an open society with open borders, and values based on trust and equality. The work confronts the idea that Denmark needs help in order to be able to re-live, re-think and re- define itself so that it can again become a country whose foundation rests on openness and concern for others. As such, the work invites the international community to enliven and re-awaken the Danish heart through emergency intervention in the form of artistic discourse and collaboration. The artwork is a collaboration between artists Jacob B. Larsen, Sanne Moe and Lars Vilhelmsen and was initially documented inside the Danish Pavilion as an unofficially disturbances during the 2011 Venice Biennale. It has since been installed on a pole in the entrance area to the Gardini Pavillions, where it remains today. The Danish Heart has been set up in July 2011 The Danish heart is to be published in the Danish artproject torpedo18 december 2011. Karen Ay, UK
Karen Ay, UK