Permanent installation at Søndermarken Krematorium’s Room of Departure.

The Søndermarken complex was designed in the 1930s by early modernist architect Fritz Schlegel. At the time Ny Carlsbergfondet commissioned the painter Georg Jacobsen to decorate the room with a mural depicting the four seasons.

The room is where you go to pick up the urn containing the ashes of the deceased.

The room itself is a highly formalist design: a perfect square with a domed ceiling containing an off-center oculus, creating a light spot on the floor, that travels across the room as the day progresses.

Our installation uses found pre-modern pieces of furniture, that were cast in bronze. In a direct cast process, moulds were created around the original furniture, and then fired in a kiln. After all the ashes have been removed, only the cavity of the originals remain, for molten bronze to be poured into.

The result is highly true to the originals, recreating even the finest details of the wood grain.

The commission was initiated and funded by Ny Carlsbergfondet, coinciding with their restoration of the mural by conservators from The National Museum of Denmark.

Photos by David Stjernholm.