ARTISTS SET FIRE TO DANISH MUSEUM

Staff Report

ÅRHUS, DENMARK, 17 JANUARY 2007 —ARoS, the Danish art museum has lent its exterior glass walls to a spectacular video installation by the artist duo Pio Diaz and Thyra Hilden. At 17:00 (5 pm) every night until 31 January 2007, ARoS will be set on fire by a gigantic projection of fire.

ARoS on Fire is part of Diaz and Hilden ’s international exhibition City on Fire, which, throughout 2007, will include the artistic "burnings" of the Coliseum in Rome and the Louvre in Paris.

ARoS on Fire: Burning the Roots of Western Culture
Photo:Thyra Hilden
Photo courtesy of ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum

With the slogan "Burning the roots of Western culture" City on Fire seeks to create a cultural dialogue about the destructive forces inherent in Western civilization. Using video projections of fire on cultural institutions and monuments, the project encourages the spectator to reflect on the cultural roots of the Western world. According to the organizers, the video projections are symbolic burnings of these cultural roots, a purifying process of our past and our cultural inheritance that inspires self-reflection on our history and our destructive present. Using the element fire, Diaz and Hilden draw attention to the destruction the Western world is causing at political hot spots around the world—a destructive behaviour that will eventually turn against us.

With the specific burning of ARoS, Diaz and Hilden aim to force the public to reflect upon fire and its most destructive form, war.

ARoS on Fire: Burning the Roots of Western Culture
Photo: Ole Hein Pedersen
Photo courtesy of ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum

Thyra Hilden (b. 1972, Denmark ) and Pio Diaz (b. 1974, Argentina ) have both had several exhibitions in Denmark and abroad. Thyra Hilden works primarily with photography and film, and her pieces often focus on psychological and existential questions. Pio Diaz’ artistic works primarily consist of political interventions taking place in public space. In 2005 Hilden and Diaz launched their joint artistic project City on Fire by projecting a virtual fire on the façade of the Danish Institute in Rome.

ARoS on Fire: Burning the Roots of Western Culture
17 - 31 January 2007
17:00 (5 pm) - 22:00 (10 pm)
On Wednesdays the museum closes at 22:00 (10 pm), and on these evenings it will be possible to watch the installation from inside the museum.
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum
Aros Allé 2
DK-8000 Århus C
Denmark
Tel: (45) 87 30 66 00

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