For their third Slow Art Day, the art gallery PKULTRA, in Seattle, WA, invited visitors to experience an installation by gallery owner, Paul Kuniholm, titled “Project Urban Penthouse.”
“Project Urban Penthouse” by Paul Kuniholm.
The installation was an empty space above an exhibition venue for the specific purpose of, in Paul Kuniholm’s words, “void intervention: an encapsulation of nothingness for nothingness’ sake.” Said another way, it’s an intentional use of space for nothing.
Kuniholm is a fourth-generation Seattle-based public artist of Swedish descent who works in sculpture, video, mural art, time-based work, as well as digital and binary art (which was the focus of PKULTRA’s Slow Art Day event last year).
Visitors to the gallery were invited to look slowly at Project Urban Penthouse.
To look at “nothing”, in a fast-paced, tech-based, and materialistic culture, is an interesting provocation to the idea that everything must have a purpose.
At its radical core, slow looking, like art in general, is also purposeless in the sense that it’s best when it’s not a transaction, but rather seen as something valuable in and of itself, without recourse to justification.
Thus, we at Slow Art Day HQ like Kuniholm’s provocation and look forward to what interesting exhibit he creates for Slow Art Day 2025.
For their third Slow Art Day, the Frederiksbergmuseerne in Frederiksberg – a neighborhood of Copenhagen, hosted a slow looking event at Bakkehuset (The Hill House). The Bakkehuset was a gathering place for prominent figures in the Danish Golden Age of art, literature, and philosophy including writers like Hans Christian Andersen. Today, it is one of the four Frederiksbergmuseerne and open to the public.
Bakkehuset interior. Photo: Stuart McIntyre.Bakkehuset interior. Photo: Stuart McIntyre.
For Slow Art Day, Bakkehuset aimed to use the calming atmosphere of the historical interior of the house as a starting point for slow looking. They began their event by taking visitors on a tour and inviting them to immerse themselves in the atmosphere, and imagine what it might have been like to live, talk, and hang out in the house 200 years ago.
During the tour, they also introduced mindfulness techniques to help participants slow down and sharpen their attention.
Consistent with their theme of immersion, the tour ended with asking participants to listen to Chopin’s raindrop prelude in the garden room of the house. Amazing. We love the idea of weaving music, mindfulness, and slow looking. And, as we write this, we imagine ourselves sitting in Bakkehuset, listening to Chopin and looking slowly at art.
We are already excited for whatever the Frederiksbergsmuseerne come up with for Slow Art Day in 2025.
– Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. To find out more about Frederiksbergsmuseerne you can visit their Facebook or Instagram.
Cliffe Castle Ballroom by Marie-Louise Roosevelt Pierrepont (no image was provided, but you can view similar works by the same artist).
Mistle Thrush by Liza Dracup
Image credit: Visit BradfordButterfield family stained glass window Image credit: Bradford Museums and GalleriesNapoleon III Image credit: Bradford Museums and Galleries
Castle curators guided Slow Art Day participants on a tour to see the selected works of art and castle features. Others who wanted to look on their own were provided with a map showcasing the location of each of the selected objects, as well as a list of prompts (see the map and prompts below). Lowri Jones, Curator of Collections at Bradford Museums, reported that participants left great feedback about the format.
Love this map. How fun to see our turtle spread across the museum.
We also love the inclusion of architecture, which, of course, makes sense with a castle. Having said that, we encourage other institutions to see if there is a way to incorporate parts of their building, architecture or landscape into their Slow Art Day events.
We look forward to whatever Cliffe Castle Museum and Bradford Museums and Galleries come up with for Slow Art Day 2025.
-Johanna, Ashley, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. Stay up to date with events at Bradford Museums and Galleries via their Facebook, Instagram and X profiles.
Slow Art Day 2024 is coming soon and will be happening all over the world and in every kind of setting – including but not limited to museums, galleries, sculpture parks, colleges and universities, street art, and a small but growing number of churches.
Further, more cities are hosting citywide Slow Art Days – from Bloomington, Illinois to Philadelphia, PA, to Antwerp, Belgium, and for the first time, Rome (more on Rome next week).
Antwerp has a total of 8 museums and churches participating this year.
In fact, the churches participating in Antwerp represent the beginnings of the church wing of the Slow Art Day movement – for which we must give credit to Armand Storck, scriptor for Sint-Pauluskerk (St. Paul’s) in Antwerp, Belgium.
Storck has hosted *six* previous Slow Art Day events and passionately believes that churches are a natural home for Slow Art Day. “Not only are many churches brimming with works of art, but the locations themselves naturally invite reflection. The slow, sensory perception is a way to arrive at the (religious) meaning of a work of art. Time runs almost noticeably slower in our churches than in the world outside,” said Storck.
We at Slow Art Day HQ couldn’t agree more.
And we are happy to report that as a result of Storck’s efforts to evangelize Slow Art Day to other churches, this year there are *four* churches in Antwerp participating, each of which have gone through preparation and training coordinated by an organization called the Tourism Pastoral and Monumental Churches Antwerp.
Storck wisely decided to expand to more churches in Antwerp first and then find ways to bring more churches around the world into the Slow Art Day fold in future years.
Below is Storck’s description of what each of the four Antwerp churches are doing for Slow Art Day.
Slow Art Day in 4 Churches in Antwerp by Armand Storck
Sint-Andrieskerk (St. Andrew’s)unveils the painting The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew by Otto Van Veen and compares it to his modello. Children go in search of the mother and grandmother of Jesus, at the altar of Saint Anne. The sessions are free and start at 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
St. Charles Borromeo focuses on the paintings of the St. Francis Xavier altar. Slow Art Day sessions will be held at 2:15 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. This activity is included in the entrance ticket to the church.
Sint-Jacob goes for three works of art: a sculpture, a funerary monument of the Marquis de Velasco (Pieter I Scheemaekers), a painting, triptych The Last Judgement (Jan Sanders van Hemessen) and a stained-glass window, The Last Supper (Draeck – anonymous). The Slow Art sessions are free and start at 2:15 pm, 3:15 pm and 4:15 pm. There will also be a unique viewing moment at 4 p.m., when the shutters of the triptych The Last Judgement will be closed for fifteen minutes, making the back exceptionally visible.
In St. Paul’s, the guides will bring visitors to the pulpit of the Antwerp sculptors De Boeck & Van Wint (see photo below). They became famous for their later Stations of the Cross, made the large church furniture in 1874 and decorated it with beautiful Bible scenes. Fascinating for young and old. The church (see second photo below taken during the 2024 Easter services) is open free of charge from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., the guided sessions start every half hour (last at 4:30 p.m.).
We hope you have a wonderful Slow Art Day 2024 wherever you are in the world – and that you take inspiration from Armand Storck and his colleagues in Antwerp who are leading the efforts to expand our movement.
– Phyl
P.S. If you have not yet registered your Slow Art Day with us, then go to this page.
P.P.S. Our Annual Report is out. Read it and get inspired!
Ran Hee, the manager of the Choi Sunu House Memorial Museum in Seoul, Korea, hosted their (and Korea’s) first Slow Art Day on April 15 with the theme “Neurim & Nurim (느림 그리고 누림)”, which translates to “Slow and Enjoy”.
The event was jointly organized by the National Trust Cultural Heritage Foundation and Ewha Womans University Graduate School of Education participants majoring in art education, Kim Han-sol, Han Yu-jin, and Heo Bona.
Choi Sunu (1916~1984) was an eminent art historian and museum professional who served as the fourth director of the National Museum of Korea until his death. He devoted his life to define and propagate the beauty of Korean art and architecture through exhibitions and writings. The Choi Sunu House, where he lived from 1976 to 1984, is an expression of his aesthetics of simplicity and elegance, and has been open to the public since 2004.
Ran Hee and team created a three-part event:
First, curator Song Ji-young gave participants an introduction to Choi Sunu and his house.
Next, Bona Heo, Ewha Womans University graduate student, Yoo Jin-han, and Hansol Kim handed out question cards with prompts for slow looking (and talked about the slow looking movement).
Last, Professor Han Ju-yeon hosted a video viewing session and discussion with attendees (scroll down to see photos, as well as audio and video excerpts).
Visitors listening to the introduction of the Slow Art Day event.Curator Song Ji-young introduces the event.Participant contemplating the question cards.Flyer for the event.
The hosts prepared a few memorable excerpts from Choi Sunu’s works alongside a video. Participants were also encouraged to write a short note on postcards about their experience.
Slow Art Day experience cards.
Below are a few links to audio and text excerpts of Choi’s works (in Korean):
Choi Sunu, “Fruits More Beautiful than Flowers”
Choi Sunu, “The Empty Branch of Mid-Winter”
Choi Sunu, “Light Green Radish”
We at HQ are glad to welcome the first Korean museum to the slow art movement, and look forward to seeing what the Choi Sunu House designs for Slow Art Day 2024.
– Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. You can also follow Choi Sunu House on Instagram.
Flyer of the exhibition “Two Millenia of Changing Faces: Gloucester’s Architecture.”
For the event, visitors were encouraged to slow down and look closely at each piece for 5-10 minutes so that they could ponder how architecture has inspired and shaped stories of Gloucester’s people, culture and industry.
At Slow Art Day HQ we look forward to their next year’s event!
Calvary Garden, Saint Paul’s Antwerp, Belgium – credit Sint-Pauluskerk AntwerpenCalvary Garden, Saint Paul’s Antwerp, Belgium – credit Sint-Pauluskerk Antwerpen
The garden, populated by prophets and saints and sheltered by the church wall and private home, contains 64 statues and architecture that dates from the 1700s.
It is a place of reflection, an oasis of peace in the center of the busy port city, and as such a perfect spot for a Slow Art Day.
For this fifth Slow Art Day, they had volunteers (“St. Paul’s friends”) in the Garden to help answer questions and guide participants. Importantly, they also made the Garden free of charge from 2pm to 5pm on Slow Art Day, helping to welcome hundreds of people into this outdoor art-filled sanctuary.
As noted, their in-person afternoon was very well attended.
Additionally, they generated great online engagement including hundreds of Facebook and Instagram likes.
Saint Paul’s Antwerp, Belgium, guide Leo Vereecken during Slow Art Day 2022, credit Sint-Pauluskerk AntwerpenSaint Paul’s Antwerp, Belgium, guide Leo Vereecken during Slow Art Day 2022, credit Sint-Pauluskerk Antwerpen
We must admit that we are big fans of the team at Sint Pauluskerk. They are an inspiration to all of us around the world who care about building this movement based on slow looking, reflection, and love.
– Robin, Ashley, Phyl, Johanna, and Jessica Jane
P.S. Please help us welcome a new Slow Art Day volunteer, Robin Cerio. Robin has a Master’s in art history, has worked in museums, and is going to help us with our big backlog of 2022 reports. In fact, she drafted this report. Welcome, Robin!
