The sculpture “The Meeting” is about the importance of meeting. It is the result of a citizen initiative in 2021 and was approved in June 2022 by the Copenhagen City Council, who thus accepted it as a gift to the city. This was followed by a long process of applications for funds. The project received support from Altinget.dk, Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen’s foundation, Grosserer L.F. Foght’s foundation, and Lizzie and Ejler Ruge’s foundation. During 2023, I made several sketch models in one-third and one-half size to model the figure group in full scale. In the summer of 2024, Skulpturstøberiet Svendborg could begin casting the bronze figure itself, and stonemason Schannong made the base, which is made of red Vånga granite. Scheller, Hougaard& Petersen contractor and landscaper and BAYO.S Skruefundamenter ApS have constructed the foundation and the Municipality of Copenhagen has laid paving on the square with a slight slope towards the sculpture
Specifically, the sculpture is inspired by the Mannerist painting The Visitation, an Altarpiece in the Baroque Church Chiesa Nuova in Rome, executed in the 1580s by the Italian painter Federico Barocci, which I became aware of at the exhibition The Creation of the Artwork at the National Gallery of Denmark. Several drawn drafts and preparations by Barocci were shown here. The motif is so simple, Elisabeth and Maria meeting on a staircase. There is something in that meeting, the way they hold each other’s hands and look at each other that I am deeply fascinated by, the way the somewhat older Elisabeth stands at the top, expressing welcome, and Maria steps up towards Elisabeth. There is something so fundamentally simple and straightforward in their meeting. I have made several smaller sculptures where it is two mythical creatures who meet in the same way. This in a search for the most essential in the situation, where it is not important that it is two women or two important figures in Christianity who meet, but the meeting itself. To emphasize the universality of the situation, here are two mythical creatures who meet each other. Since the sculpture has no base besides the granite staircase, the sculpture will be open to dialogue with the viewer who can sit on the steps and interact with the two.
On the base is engraved: “IN THE MEETING WE EMERGE”
