Miriam Kongstad: Dawn Comes After Darkness at Møstings

Today, the body is often seen as something to be optimised and controlled in the pursuit of a long and successful life. Yet bodies are driven by both vulnerability and strength at once. Our physical and mental health are closely interconnected and influenced by everything around us, from climate, people and societal structures to diet, materials and aesthetics. The body is in a constant state of transformation: it ages, falls ill, is affected by its surroundings and changes in character. This forms the artistic point of departure for Miriam Kongstad.

After dusk comes dawn, after darkness comes light, and in pain we seek relief. The title Dawn Comes After Darkness reflects a cyclical approach to the body and health. The body's intuitive pursuit of balance and the restoration of equilibrium is known as homeostasis. In the human body, functions such as temperature, blood pressure and fluid balance are automatically regulated by the nervous system and hormones. For Kongstad, however, the body is far more than a mechanical, stable system. Her work revolves around the experience of being a body – inhabiting it, carrying it and losing control over it. It explores the intersections between pleasure and pain, and the countless conflicting yet coexisting emotions and processes we contain.

In Dawn Comes After Darkness, materials take centre stage. They are charged with meaning and symbolism. With surgical precision and poetic force, Kongstad examines how physical materials affect our bodies and minds. Their materiality both attracts and unsettles, appearing fascinating and forceful, soft and cool, creating an aesthetic and tactile sensory experience.

Read more about the exhibition here

Møstings

Andebakkesti 5, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark