Asbæk logo
CROSSING LINE
fragments from a micro global performance

31 October - 22 November 2003

The airplane of Simone Aaberg Kærn
Simone Aaberg Kærn landed in Kabul airport in December last year. She flew there herself in her 40 year old Piper Colt.

The little airplane covered with canvas is one of the objects Simone Aaberg Kærn is now showing in Galerie Asbæk.

The journey from a newly harvested field in Lille Skensved (DK) to Kabul took several months. In theory such a journey is impossible to carry out but Aaberg Kærn managed to get in contact with Turkish generals and Iranian air traffic controllers. In the end she succeeded in flying through and eventually confront the American Airforce controlling the airspace of Afghanistan.

All though Simone Aaberg Kærn was met with refusal from them she still chose to cross the border in her airplane and fly over the mountain range Hindukush to Kabul.
"With this act I re-conquer the sky. The sky has to be free. One is supposed to be able to send one's dreams against it and fly through it."

Still fra performance Kabul, jan. 03
One effect of 11 September is that more regulations of the airspace has been imposed. To Simone Aaberg Kærn who considers the right to fly even more important than the right to vote, it was necessary to take action.

In the beginning, when she started planning her action, it was about not tacitly to watch, when US Air and Space Command makes decisions concerning matters that prevent individual's freedom of movement. – An action for man's freedom of movement, no matter what.
This is a utopian feature recurring in many of the works by Simone Aaberg Kærn. In fact a principal idea in her art is to join existing structures of power and influence them by her own presence.


Exhibition view from Galerie Asbæk.
Photo, Anders Berg
The show in Galerie Asbæk is a fragment of Simone Aaberg Kærn's performance. It consists mainly of paintings, and video installations created in co-operation with Magnus Bejmar, who filmed the whole journey.
Together they are now working on a film about the journey, where they also found the girl Farial from Kabul, who dreamt about becoming a fighter pilot.
Exhibition view: video projection on airplane wing, Galerie Asbæk.
Photo, Anders Berg.
In her former work "Sisters in the Sky", Simone Aaberg Kærn explored how women became fighter pilots during the World War II. In Farial's wish she saw a parallel and decided to teach Farial how to fly an airplane and eventually let her fly herself over Kabul.


download press material

Panorama
Watch panorama pictures from the Göteborg Biennale 2003, where Simone Aaberg Kærn e.g. was showing her Piper Colt. The airplane is also among the exhibited objects in Galerie Asbæk.

Panorama 1
Panorama 2
Panorama 3
Panorama 4

The picture is moved by drawing the mouse.
Zoom in by pressing the "Shift" button.
Zoom out by pressing the "Ctrl" button.

Photography and panorama design, Anders Jiras.


Dansk version English version

 Frontpage
 Artists
 Information
 Commissions


TOP