Honeymoon

Baloji, IAN BREAKWELL, Michelle Cheong, Ian Helliwell, Melanie Manchot, Lindsey Mendick, Nova Milne, Leah Shore, Katja TÖnnisSen

Viborg Kunsthal

18.09–29.11.2020

A happy ending?

A new beginning?

First comes the proposal, then the wedding and finally, so the story goes, comes the honeymoon. Originating in early-19th-century upper-class Great Britain, ‘honeymoon’ describes the custom of a newlywed couple going on a holiday together that marks the transition between unmarried and married. The word itself, however, dates back to the 5th century, to describe the month after a wedding when a newlywed couple drank the honey-based alcoholic drink mead during their first moon (or month) of marriage. While ‘honeymoon’ has a positive connotation today, it was first used as a term to warn newlyweds about the decline of love, with the first weeks of marriage as being the sweetest ones.

What happens when the newly minted couple sail off into the sunset? This exhibition invites you into the very tipping point between the most idealistic stage of committed love and the pending realities of ‘until death do us part’.

18.09–29.11.2020

Viborg Kunsthal
Riddergade 8, 8800 Viborg, Denmark
www.viborgkunsthal.viborg.dk

Images top - bottom: 

Design for »Honeymoon« by Keep It, Love It, Call It George

Lindsey Mendick, »Having a Ball« 2020. Ceramic photographed for postcard. Courtesy the artist.

»Honeymoon« (install views with works by Katja Tönnissen) 2020. Courtesy the artist.

Baloji »Peau de Chagrin/Bleu de Nuit« (video still) 2018. Video. 09:49 min. Courtesy Sudu Connexion and Baloji

Leah Shore »I LOVE YOU SO MUCH« (video still) 2014. Video. 03:41 min. Courtesy the artist.

»Honeymoon« (install views with works by Katja Tönnissen) 2020. Courtesy the artist.

Ian Helliwell »Our Honeymoon« (video still) 1997. Digital file transferred from 8mm. 01:00 min.  Courtesy Light Cone (Paris) & Ian Helliwell.

Michelle Cheong »The Wedding Avenger« (poster) 2011. Video. 16:22 min. Courtesy the artist.

nova Milne »Videodromes For The Alone: Love Cats« (video still) 1991/2007. Archived VHS rotoscoped with HDV and animation. 02:18 min. Courtesy the artists.

Melanie Manchot »Kiss« (video still) 2009. Video. 10:17 min. Courtesy Galeri M, Bochum; Parafin, London and the artist.

Ian Breakwell »In The Home« (video still) 1980. 10:00 min. SD Digital file transferred from 16mm. Courtesy LUX, London.

»Honeymoon« (install view with work by Katja Tönnissen) 2020. Viborg Kunsthal.

»Honeymoon« (install view) 2020. Viborg Kunsthal.