“Ebba Carstensen — Painting From Imagination”, was developed as a joint travelling exhibition at Ribe Kunstsmuseum, Sorø Kunstmuseum and Øregaard Museum, with design by us at each of these locations. The photos here are all from Ribe.

All elements were designed as a modular system making installation, transportation, and re-installation at the next location convenient.

All the elements are built in bulky formats of solid douglas fir with visible nails arranged in threes. They were designed to go with imperfect nature of Ebba Carstensen’s painted surfaces.

Ebba Carstensen worked in the early to mid 1900s. She often painted the same subject over and over again, like her many still lives of tablescapes with breads and eggs or even bird cages.

She also liked to do portraits, of either herself or of other women. Most of her canvases have a dry feeling to them, and she mostly uses earthy tones, something we also used in the color scheme for the exhibition design.

As well as designing skeletal wall units, we also did easels, display cases and tables, and daybeds dispersed around the rooms.

For the version of the show at Sorø Kunstmuseum, we were able to reuse all elements but in a completely different configuration.

Mentze Ottenstein team:
Mathias Mentze & Alexander Ottenstein, Nomi Ancher Bekker
Curation: Simone Lind Rasmussen (Ribe), Mathilde Helnæs (Sorø), Søren Thorlak Madsen (Øregaard)
Graphic Design: Studio Atlant
Photos: David Stjernholm