Seated at her sewing table with embroidery in hand, Astrid Gjesing’s performance Notes on Loneliness explores loneliness as a shared condition—one we are all born into, live with, and must try to understand. At a time when many communities have dissolved and responsibility for loneliness is often left to the individual, Gjesing invites us to a shared conversation about loneliness, the personal, and the shared. With handkerchiefs, text, needle and thread, Notes on Loneliness is a work that continues to take on new forms and languages. The audience is invited to take a seat at Gjesing’s table and participate in the creation of the work.

Notes on Loneliness asks whether one can take on loneliness and what that implies. One’s own other? The other? An act of faith and/or will directed towards others? Compassion? Giving and receiving? Language as a connector? An opportunity for action and exchange. Is there a longing for loneliness in humans and at the same time a longing for community, people, and life? Is it about not fighting loneliness, but about combining loneliness and community, where they are not opposites, but prerequisites for each other?

Practical information
The performance is free to experience. The audience is invited to take a seat at Astrid Gjesing’s table and participate in the creation of the work. If you prefer to experience the work as a spectator, you can also just watch as the work unfolds. Conversations will be in Danish, but everyone, regardless of language skills, can experience the work.

Astrid Gjesing
Astrid Gjesing (b. 1952) is a visual artist and poet. Her works unfold through many different materials such as paper, stone, neon, textiles, and sound. She draws inspiration from language, nature, and the familiar, and often involves other people or groups in her works. She has performed, published, and exhibited at venues including the National Gallery of Denmark, S, Fabrikken for Kunst og Design, Museum Ovartaci, Kvindemuseet (KØN), KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad, and Sophienholm Arthall. She also has larger installations on permanent display in public spaces at Assistens Kirkegaard, Rådmandsgade School, Former Psychiatric Hospital Park, The Nationalpark Skjern Å, and Dan Church Social warming room, among others.

Kaååråålines Verses
The exhibition Kaååråålines Vers (Kaååråålines Verses) is the Roskilde Museum of Contemporary Art’s autumn exhibition, displayed in Kurhuset, located in the former Sankt Hans Hospital, where the artist Karoline Ebbesen lived from the mid-1880s until her death in 1936. During her long hospitalization, Ebbesen produced works in textiles, embroidery, collage, drawing, and text, and developed her own font and alphabet. The exhibition presents Ebbesen’s works alongside new large-scale installations by Danish and international artists, all with direct references to Ebbesen.

“But loneliness does not disappear; it may change its face, and if it loses its name, we also lose insight into one of the governing forces in our lives.” Astrid Gjesing