Dura Mater
English (Danish below):
The Dura Mater series is based on an extensive archive of photographic material from Lysholt Hansen’s performance for camera practice, encompassing test prints, contact sheets, and digital or silver gelatine prints of performative studies, sketches, documentation and finished works. The series was begun spontaneously in 2016 as a collaboration between Lysholt Hansen and her then 2-3-year-old daughter, who painted and drew on the archive material. In the course of 2017 her daughter lost interest, and the series ended in 2018 with one last image. In all there are 470 photographic objects.
Dura Mater presents the series in its entirety for the first time, and accompanies it with texts by invited authors who offer possible readings and new perspectives.
Performance theorist Peggy Phelan and artist Mel Day discuss co-presence and co-creation in relation to particular images in the series.
Cultural theorist Tina Kinsella writes about photography, loss and the mother-child relationship in Freud, Barthes and Bracha L Ettinger.
Cultural theorist Irina Aristarkhova explores the critique of representation and the mother’s pleasures in relation to Dura Mater, and also incorprates Lysholt Hansen’s performance texts.
Nanna Lysholt Hansen also contributes with a performative text in which she appropriates material from a conversation with the author Kirsten Thorup about mothering and artistic practice, as well as fragments from Thorup’s, Inger Christensen’s and Luce Irigaray’s works.
Also presented is a selection of poems from Kirsten Thorup’s debut collection Inside – Outside (1967), which reflects some of the themes discussed. The poems are translated into English for the first time.
Danish:
Billedserien Dura Mater udspringer fra et omfattende arkiv af fotografisk materiale fra Lysholt Hansens performance for kamera praksis, som inkluderer test prints, kontaktark og digitale eller sølv-gelatine print af performative undersøgelser, skitser, dokumentation og færdige værker. Serien blev påbegyndt spontant i 2016 som et samarbejde mellem Lysholt Hansen og hendes datter, der tegnede og malede direkte på arkivmaterialet. I løbet af 2017 mistede hun interessen, og serien blev afsluttet i 2018 med et sidste billede. I alt blev det til 470 fotografiske objekter.
Dura Mater præsenterer for første gang serien i sin helhed og ledsages af tekstbidrag med inviterede forfattere, der på forskellig vis giver mulige læsninger og nye perspektiver.
Performanceteoretiker Peggy Phelan og kunstner Mel Day diskuterer sam-vær and samskabelse, bl.a. med udgangspunkt i bestemte billeder i serien.
Kulturteoretiker Tina Kinsella skriver om fotografi, tab og mor-barn-relationen i henholdsvis Freud, Barthes og Bracha L. Ettinger.
Kulturteoretiker Irina Aristarkhova undersøger repræsentationskritik og morens nydelse ift. Dura Mater serien, med inddragelse af Lysholt Hansens performancetekster.
Nanna Lysholt Hansen bidrager selv med en performancetekst, der sammenskriver en samtale med forfatter Kirsten Thorup om mødring og kunstnerisk praksis med fragmenter fra forfatterskaber af Thorup, Inger Christensen og Luce Irigaray.
Et uddrag af digte fra Kirsten Thorups debut samling Indeni – udenfor (1967) præsenteres også i bogen og spejler nogle af de diskuterede temaer.
304 pages, 24 x 28 cm, RSS Press, 2025
470 full colour images
Texts in English and Danish
English (Danish below):
The Dura Mater series is based on an extensive archive of photographic material from Lysholt Hansen’s performance for camera practice, encompassing test prints, contact sheets, and digital or silver gelatine prints of performative studies, sketches, documentation and finished works. The series was begun spontaneously in 2016 as a collaboration between Lysholt Hansen and her then 2-3-year-old daughter, who painted and drew on the archive material. In the course of 2017 her daughter lost interest, and the series ended in 2018 with one last image. In all there are 470 photographic objects.
Dura Mater presents the series in its entirety for the first time, and accompanies it with texts by invited authors who offer possible readings and new perspectives.
Performance theorist Peggy Phelan and artist Mel Day discuss co-presence and co-creation in relation to particular images in the series.
Cultural theorist Tina Kinsella writes about photography, loss and the mother-child relationship in Freud, Barthes and Bracha L Ettinger.
Cultural theorist Irina Aristarkhova explores the critique of representation and the mother’s pleasures in relation to Dura Mater, and also incorprates Lysholt Hansen’s performance texts.
Nanna Lysholt Hansen also contributes with a performative text in which she appropriates material from a conversation with the author Kirsten Thorup about mothering and artistic practice, as well as fragments from Thorup’s, Inger Christensen’s and Luce Irigaray’s works.
Also presented is a selection of poems from Kirsten Thorup’s debut collection Inside – Outside (1967), which reflects some of the themes discussed. The poems are translated into English for the first time.
Danish:
Billedserien Dura Mater udspringer fra et omfattende arkiv af fotografisk materiale fra Lysholt Hansens performance for kamera praksis, som inkluderer test prints, kontaktark og digitale eller sølv-gelatine print af performative undersøgelser, skitser, dokumentation og færdige værker. Serien blev påbegyndt spontant i 2016 som et samarbejde mellem Lysholt Hansen og hendes datter, der tegnede og malede direkte på arkivmaterialet. I løbet af 2017 mistede hun interessen, og serien blev afsluttet i 2018 med et sidste billede. I alt blev det til 470 fotografiske objekter.
Dura Mater præsenterer for første gang serien i sin helhed og ledsages af tekstbidrag med inviterede forfattere, der på forskellig vis giver mulige læsninger og nye perspektiver.
Performanceteoretiker Peggy Phelan og kunstner Mel Day diskuterer sam-vær and samskabelse, bl.a. med udgangspunkt i bestemte billeder i serien.
Kulturteoretiker Tina Kinsella skriver om fotografi, tab og mor-barn-relationen i henholdsvis Freud, Barthes og Bracha L. Ettinger.
Kulturteoretiker Irina Aristarkhova undersøger repræsentationskritik og morens nydelse ift. Dura Mater serien, med inddragelse af Lysholt Hansens performancetekster.
Nanna Lysholt Hansen bidrager selv med en performancetekst, der sammenskriver en samtale med forfatter Kirsten Thorup om mødring og kunstnerisk praksis med fragmenter fra forfatterskaber af Thorup, Inger Christensen og Luce Irigaray.
Et uddrag af digte fra Kirsten Thorups debut samling Indeni – udenfor (1967) præsenteres også i bogen og spejler nogle af de diskuterede temaer.
304 pages, 24 x 28 cm, RSS Press, 2025
470 full colour images
Texts in English and Danish
English (Danish below):
The Dura Mater series is based on an extensive archive of photographic material from Lysholt Hansen’s performance for camera practice, encompassing test prints, contact sheets, and digital or silver gelatine prints of performative studies, sketches, documentation and finished works. The series was begun spontaneously in 2016 as a collaboration between Lysholt Hansen and her then 2-3-year-old daughter, who painted and drew on the archive material. In the course of 2017 her daughter lost interest, and the series ended in 2018 with one last image. In all there are 470 photographic objects.
Dura Mater presents the series in its entirety for the first time, and accompanies it with texts by invited authors who offer possible readings and new perspectives.
Performance theorist Peggy Phelan and artist Mel Day discuss co-presence and co-creation in relation to particular images in the series.
Cultural theorist Tina Kinsella writes about photography, loss and the mother-child relationship in Freud, Barthes and Bracha L Ettinger.
Cultural theorist Irina Aristarkhova explores the critique of representation and the mother’s pleasures in relation to Dura Mater, and also incorprates Lysholt Hansen’s performance texts.
Nanna Lysholt Hansen also contributes with a performative text in which she appropriates material from a conversation with the author Kirsten Thorup about mothering and artistic practice, as well as fragments from Thorup’s, Inger Christensen’s and Luce Irigaray’s works.
Also presented is a selection of poems from Kirsten Thorup’s debut collection Inside – Outside (1967), which reflects some of the themes discussed. The poems are translated into English for the first time.
Danish:
Billedserien Dura Mater udspringer fra et omfattende arkiv af fotografisk materiale fra Lysholt Hansens performance for kamera praksis, som inkluderer test prints, kontaktark og digitale eller sølv-gelatine print af performative undersøgelser, skitser, dokumentation og færdige værker. Serien blev påbegyndt spontant i 2016 som et samarbejde mellem Lysholt Hansen og hendes datter, der tegnede og malede direkte på arkivmaterialet. I løbet af 2017 mistede hun interessen, og serien blev afsluttet i 2018 med et sidste billede. I alt blev det til 470 fotografiske objekter.
Dura Mater præsenterer for første gang serien i sin helhed og ledsages af tekstbidrag med inviterede forfattere, der på forskellig vis giver mulige læsninger og nye perspektiver.
Performanceteoretiker Peggy Phelan og kunstner Mel Day diskuterer sam-vær and samskabelse, bl.a. med udgangspunkt i bestemte billeder i serien.
Kulturteoretiker Tina Kinsella skriver om fotografi, tab og mor-barn-relationen i henholdsvis Freud, Barthes og Bracha L. Ettinger.
Kulturteoretiker Irina Aristarkhova undersøger repræsentationskritik og morens nydelse ift. Dura Mater serien, med inddragelse af Lysholt Hansens performancetekster.
Nanna Lysholt Hansen bidrager selv med en performancetekst, der sammenskriver en samtale med forfatter Kirsten Thorup om mødring og kunstnerisk praksis med fragmenter fra forfatterskaber af Thorup, Inger Christensen og Luce Irigaray.
Et uddrag af digte fra Kirsten Thorups debut samling Indeni – udenfor (1967) præsenteres også i bogen og spejler nogle af de diskuterede temaer.
304 pages, 24 x 28 cm, RSS Press, 2025
470 full colour images
Texts in English and Danish
Dura Mater – Nanna Lysholt Hansen
304 pages, 24 x 28 cm, RSS Press, 2025
470 full colour images
Texts in English and Danish
Contributions by Peggy Phelan & Mel Day, Kirsten Thorup, Tina Kinsella, Irina Aristarkhova and Nanna Lysholt Hansen.
Published with support from the Danish Arts Foundation, Committee for Visual Art, the Danish Art Foundation, Committee for Literature, the New Carlsberg Foundation, and the Beckett Foundation.