Artist talk: Margrethe Kolstad Brekke - How to Implement Utopia. Lottozero @ Casa Atelier

How to Implement Utopia: For the Bolzano project, the artist built two hang-gliders. The first is displayed in the Studio House, whereas the second is conceived as a flying sculpture and public work of art and will be used throughout the summer at the Garda Flying Paradise Flying School on the Garda lake. The hang-gliders were constructed with the technical assistance of Icaro 2000, a prominent Italian company in this sector and Europe’s leading hang-glider manufacturer. Margrethe Brekke then hand-painted a combination of ornamental motifs on the Dacron fabric of the wings. There are 17 colours, which correspond to the 17 goals in the “2030 Agenda” for Sustainable Development, published by the United Nations in 2016.

The artist uses an abstract language that draws on the influence of both Bruno Munari’s work and Sonia and Robert Delaunay’s simultaneous circles at the dawn of Modernism to become an encrypted manifesto of the modern world. “The 2030 Agenda, poetically transposed by the artist in the colour range of the hang-glider, can be seen as an instrument for reaching an achievable utopian goal by considering utopia as a method rather than an end, and therefore as the foundation of a constructive imagination for society.” Alessandra Tempesti, project curator.

Margrethe Kolstad Brekke (b. Bergen, Norway 1979) studied textile art and visual arts at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design. Often seen as public art projects, her installations highlight compelling issues, such as climate change and the need to shift our energy requirements to renewable sources. Her work has recently appeared in the following exhibitions: Potential Exceeds the Demand, Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, 2019; Elementene, Oppland Kunstsenter, Lillehammer, 2019; Cold Current, Adiacenze, Bologna 2018. In 2019 the artist will present her project The Next Great Accelerator at Flag-no-Flag in Reggio Emilia.