The eighth edition of the Beaufort Triennial brings 18 new works of art to the Belgian coast line, among them Monobloc Moments by Finnish artist Sara Bjarland. A short film documenting the process of making the work is released for the opening of the triennial on the 26th of March.
The short film, beautifully filmed by John Treffer and edited and directed by Taatske Pieterson explores Bjarland’s process and gives a larger context to the work:
“I like the idea of translating something that is very cheap and worthless in a way, like a plastic chair or a dead plant, into a material that has a heavy historical weight, a kind of eternal material. So this idea of something cheap and throwaway will become something that lasts forever instead.”
The film is supported by The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux, with special thanks to Beaufort Triennial 24, Bronze Foundry Flassh and Bronze Studio Buyse.
Visit Monobloc Moments
Monobloc Moments
by Sara Bjarland for Beaufort Triennial 2024
Material and dimensions:
Bronze
600 cm height, 220 cm diameter
Location and accessibility:
Roundabout at Manitobahelling, De Haan – Wenduine
Tramway stop Wenduine Manitoba (47m) Timetable and information
The work is visible from a paved footpath
Prefer to visit by bike or as part of a longer walking route? Visit the Beaufort24 website to see the beautiful routes they have planned.
The Triennial By the Sea runs from the 27th of March until the 3rd of November 2024 with works of art spread over the 67 kilometres of the Belgian coast.
About the Artist
Sara Bjarland (b.1981, Helsinki) is a Finnish artist based in Amsterdam. She graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art in London in 2007 and in 2012-2013 she participated in the studio programme at Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Ghent. Recent exhibitions include ‘What My Hands Know’ at Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam (2023), ‘Deposits’ at Sculptor Gallery in Helsinki (2022), ‘with Love’, curated by Maria Ragnestam, Museum Anna Nordlander in Skellefteå, ‘Constant Eruptions’ at Hopstreet Gallery, Brussels (2020) and “Crumple, fail, faint, fall’ at Galleri Sinne, Helsinki (2020), ‘Uncertainty and Ground Conditions’ at DASH, Kortrijk (2019). In 2020 she received the William Thuring award from the Finnish Arts Association and in 2019 she was one of the five short listed artists for Below Zero Prize for Finnish artists (initiated by the Finnish Institute in London). Her work has been acquired by Kiasma Museum for Contemporary Art (Helsinki), The Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation (Helsinki) and several private collections in Belgium, Finland and The Netherlands.
For her sculptures, installations, photos and videos, Sara Bjarland collects discarded objects or litter from waste heaps. She searches the streets in garbage containers and container parks and takes the broken, faded and stained items she finds under her care and back to her studio. Used mops, old ventilation pipes and textiles from worn-out furniture are exposed, turned inside out or take on new shapes.
Her making process is intuitive and takes into account the sculptural and aesthetic qualities of the various objects. She investigates how these worthless materials can serve as meaning carriers for a new life as a work of art. Sometimes she appropriates the objects she finds and changes them in such a way that a parasol, sponge or sunshade evoke new associations. Sometimes she casts the weathered chairs, abandoned cacti or worn car tires in classic materials such as ceramic or bronze. By multiplying the number of objects in her work, she simultaneously shows the magnitude of an ecological problem and asks questions about the many things we think we need so much one day, and the the next day stack it on the ever-growing waste mountain.
Sara Bjarland creates a contemporary landscape in which boundaries fade and forms an intermediate area where every lifeless object is transformed into a mobile organism. She subtly pays attention to inanimate and living things and gives new appreciation to what has been thrown away, broken and banished. With her work she overturns the strict division between life and death, between the natural and the artificial, beauty and tragedy.
Visit Sara Bjarland’s website to learn more about her work.
Cover image: Monobloc Moments by Sara Bjarland, Photo by Westtoer ©annsophiedeldycke