Art Brussels 2024
Discovery Section
Booth: 6C 25
RAVNIKAR
www.ravnikar.org
www.ravnikargallery.space
Bart Lunenburg
Passage, 2023
Passage is a sculpture derived from the remnants of the Oseberg Tapestry (834 AD). In the tapestry there is a scene wherein a battalion of soldiers has used a battle technique to create a protective roof above their heads by crossing spears diagonally, resembling a house or a form of semi-architecture. The work references Odin’s Hall in Valhalla (the roof was made of crossed spears), and the practice of Viking ship burials, where the tapestry itself was found and unearthed. Constructed from Scandinavian indigenous wood – pine, spruce, ash, oak, walnut, linden – with subtle variations of tone and grain, it has an illusionistic force, and hints at the infinite cycles of architecture and the transition from the living to the afterlife.
Passage, 2023
Sculpture
Pine, spruce, ash, oak, walnut, linden wood
152 x 165 x 41 cm
Price: € 11.000 incl. VAT
Bart Lunenburg
Tumulus, 2023
Tumulus (2023) explores the historical phenomenon of the Viking house burial. In early medieval Scandinavia, houses were considered to have a spirit of their own. When the (wealthy) owner of a Viking longhouse passed away the house was often cremated and/or buried alongside them; turning the house into a burial mound. Often new houses were built next too, or on top of these burial sites. For me this interesting cycle of construction and reconstruction, life and death, and living alongside one’s ancestors is a testimony of a more spirited and fundamental experience of architecture; and touches upon many other themes in my artistic practice.
Photograph
Archival inkjet print on Canson Rag 310 Fine Art Photo Paper
Ash wood frame treated with colourless beeswax with museum glass
102 x 82 cm
Price: € 3.500 incl. VAT
Bart Lunenburg
Relief #05, A House with Two Shadows, 2023
A House with Two Shadows is a series of sculptures that explore the cycle of the construction, demolition and restoration of Medieval architectural heritage; and the influence of city fires throughout history on timber architecture. In the work I look for the influence of historical (and recent) city fires and conflicting conceptions on the renovation of Medieval architectural heritage.
In the series differently scaled layers of the same building are placed, and sometimes ‘woven', on top of each other. The core of the sculptures are often burned, charred and fragile wooden constructions that are encapsulated and protected by a larger, new version of that same house.
In this way, the work plays with the idea of how a house or a site can be a patchwork. One house containing many houses, or many versions of the same construction; succeeding each other through time.
Relief no. 5, from A House with Two Shadows, 2023
Sculpture | Oakwood, charcoal
142 x 92 x 1 cm
Price: € 4.800 incl. VAT
Bart Lunenburg
Cross, 2023
In ‘Warding Window’ and ‘Geest’, Bart Lunenburg explores the windows, doors, roofs, and walls of historical rural architecture. Through sculptures, photographs, and drawings, he delves into themes of power and superstition that linger in the shadows of these architectural elements. His inspiration stems from Anglo-Saxon and Viking farmhouses, with a focus on the transition between interior space and the outside world.
In the series of wall sculptures ‘Warding Window’ (2023), Lunenburg explores the design and characteristics of window shutters found in the Eastern part of The Netherlands. Their colours and compositions referred to the heraldic weapons of the local landowners and served as a symbol of feudal ownership. Lunenburg deconstructed historic shutter designs and rearranged them into new rhythmic compositions, a similar method to making a quilt or a patchwork. The artist discovered that once the farmhouse owner changed — due to marriage, war, or succession — the window shutters were painted over with new colours and designs.
The reliefs from ‘Warding Window’ are installed perpendicular to the wall, revealing both the front and back of the work. This setup creates a speculative field implying new forms of possession, inviting contemplation on the relativity of power, where windows and shutters bear witness to an ongoing struggle for possession.
Cross, 2023
Triptych, double-sided wall sculpture
Installed perpendicular to the wall. Inlaid painted wood.
46 x 32 x 1,2 cm
Price: € 4.500 incl. VAT
Bart Lunenburg
An Eye for the Wind, 2023
An Eye for the Wind, explores the etymological meaning of the word window, which is a loanword from the Scandinavian vindauga; which means wind-eye. The first windows in architecture were not created to allow light through the wall, but to let smoke from the fireplace escape out of the house. Historically the hearth was always the centre of these (farm)houses. The small ventilation holes were often situated very high on the wall, just underneath the ridge beam of the roof. The work activates this former notion of the window in architecture. The hourglass-shaped smoke-hole refers to a Germanic symbol that was often found in historic farmhouses and that was intended to protect the household from external evils and spirits.
Photograph
Archival inkjet print on Canson Rag 310 Fine Art Photo Paper. Oakwood frame treated with colourless beeswax with museum glass
37 x 30 cm
Price: € 1.200 incl. VAT
Bart Lunenburg
Geest Series, 2023
For the series of wooden sculptures Geest (2023), Lunenburg takes inspiration from historical timber construction techniques (‘vakwerkbouw’). The woven membrane of these houses is full of incantations and signs, such as the ‘donderbezem’, intended to protect residents against storms or lightning strikes, diseases, spirits like ‘the Witte Wieven’ and other ghost-like beings. In ’Geest’, Lunenburg plays with the woven quality of this architecture and prompts questions about the tension between protection and exclusion conveyed by these folk symbols.
In Warding Window and Geest, Lunenburg explores the windows, doors, roofs, and walls of historical rural architecture. Through sculptures, photographs, and drawings, he delves into themes of power and superstition that linger in the shadows of these architectural elements. His inspiration stems from Anglo-Saxon and Viking farmhouses, with a focus on the transition between interior space and the outside world.
Sculpture | Oiled ash, oak and walnut wood
62 x 44 x 1 cm
Price: € 2.400 incl. VAT
Bart Lunenburg
Born in 1995, Utrecht, NLLives and works in Utrecht & Amsterdam, NL
Within his multidisciplinary art practice, Bart Lunenburg explores themes related to architecture and its history, urban design, and architectural heritage. The artist approaches buildings and cities as if they have a memory of their own. Lunenburg works with photography and video, as well as with sculpture, drawing, textile, and spatial installations. Usually, these different modes of expression share a similar starting point — he often creates scale models to develop his research.
Bart Lunenburg graduated with honors in photography from the University of the Arts Utrecht (HKU) in 2017. Following this, he pursued studies with a focus on Art History at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) from 2016 to 2018. His work has attracted attention both in the Netherlands and abroad. Recent presentations include Atelier NŌUA (Bodø, Norway); RAVNIKAR (Ljubljana, Slovenia); Kunsthal KAdE (Amersfoort, Netherlands); Museum Catharijneconvent (Utrecht, Netherlands); Buitenplaats Doornburgh (Maarssen, Netherlands); FOTODOK / Casco Art Institute (Utrecht, Netherlands); Garage Rotterdam (Rotterdam, Netherlands); Fotografiska (Stockholm, Sweden); Museum Flehite (Amersfoort, Netherlands); P/////AKT (Amsterdam, Netherlands); Prospects at Art Rotterdam; and Unseen Photography fair.
In 2018, Bart Lunenburg was nominated for the KF Hein Stipendium, and in 2021, he was nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award. His work is included in collections such as AMC, BPD, Bob and Renée Drake, Reyn van der Lugt, Stichting StrandLinks, and various private collections.
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