ANA is a cross-aesthetic space for artistic experimentation, knowledge sharing and critical discussion at Ydre Nørrebro in Copenhagen. ANA is dedicated to the notion of art as a public sphere and as a collective tool for reflection that can create forms and images making us see and sense, ask questions and think about the world and everyday life in new ways. With and through art ANA focuses on sharing knowledge, testing ideas and presenting alternative imaginary horizons and models of action.
ANA was established in 2009 and has a background in the activist artist collective YNKB (Ydre Nørrebro Culture Bureau). ANA’s programme has four strands: ANA Local, ANA Air, ANA Children and ANA Forum. These draw back to the Danish sculptor Astrid Noack’s everyday life and artistic work in the studio in the period 1936-1950, where social and professional exchanges with neighbors and artists from near and far were part of daily life. ANA’s cross-aesthetic programme connects the history of the room with a desire to jointly develop the space, which as a result of gentrification, is left isolated, cut off from its former existence as part of a lively backyard environment with workshops and small industry.
Today, ANA stands on the shoulders of the many artists and actors who have contributed to supporting and developing the space over the years. ANA’s institutional modus operandi is rooted in a principle of repetition and slowness. To allow artists to proceessually develop projects over several years and to gain knowledge of the space and the surrounding rapidly gentrified area – which used to be a typical working class neighbourhood – we emphasise inviting artists on several rounds so that over time they can continue their research and conversations. Our desire is to keep things moving, to prioritise process over outcome and to act as an open, caring and inclusive art space.
In the coming years, we will further emphasise values around slowness, ‘commoning’ and collective (un)learning. A set of values that moves against the productivity- and efficiency-oriented structures that characterize the surrounding capitalist society and the art institution. We want to gradually slow down the pace and focus on offering artists generous time for reflection and the opportunity to experiment and research in a context where knowledge sharing, negotiation and critical dialogue are at the center.
COLLABORATION PARTNERS:
PASS – Center for Practice-based Art Studies, University of Copenhagen
roda – soft water on hard stone (Katarina Stenbeck & Carla Zaccagnini)
SUPPORTED BY:
Overretssagfører L. Zeuthens Mindelegat
Det ligger der endnu. Billedhuggeratelieret i Rådmandsgade 34 på Ydre Nørrebro i København. Her boede og arbejdede billedhuggeren Astrid Noack (1888-1954) under meget primitive forhold i baghuset i perioden 1936-1950. Herfra kæmpede hun sin vej op gennem tidens mandsdominerende kunstverden, og skabte nogle af sine betydeligste værker.
I 2010 blev Fonden Rådmandsgade 34 dannet med det formål, nænsomt at restaurere atelieret. I September 2016 påbegyndtes, som det første vigtige skridt i Fondens arbejde, restaureringen af den del af baggården som Astrid Noack boede og havde atelier i. Restaureringen er realiseret med støtte fra Ny Carlsbergfondet og varetages af arkitekt Erik Brandt Dam.
Astrid Noack (1888-1954) er en af det tyvende århundredes betydeligste danske kunstnere, og som billedhugger var hun inspireret af den franske tradition, gennem sin lærer på Maison Watteau, Charles Despiau, som er karakteriseret ved nøjsomhed og knaphed i midlerne og med forbillede i den arkaiske skulptur. Figurerne står i rummet og med små bevægelser skabes forskydninger, der giver skulpturen liv. Skulpturerne er bygget op indefra, hvorfra forskydningerne forplantes ud mod overfladen og videre ud i rummet.
Astrid Noacks Atelier er en forening, som du kan blive medlem af. Medlemmer og bestyrelsen består af alle mulige folk; kunstnere, kunsthistorikere, kulturarbejdere og andre, der har en interesse i ANAs aktiviteter og i arbejdet med at bevare den gamle historiske bygning.
Foreningens overordnede formål er dels at arbejde for en bevarelse og genanvendelse af Astrid Noacks Atelier i Rådmandsgade 34 og dels løbende at (videre)udvikle stedet til en levende platform for kunstneriske eksperimenter, kritisk diskussion og vidensdeling.