Music Compositions

10 Nov. – 8 Dec. 2023

The exhibition Music Compositions shows a new series of work created by Greek-born artist George Koutsouris, during his residency at the Danish Art Workshops, August – October 2023.

In these complex wall sculptures, various wood pieces coexist with numerous overlapping strings, creating ‘abstract’ three-dimensional paintings/reliefs that refer to musical instruments and musical symbols. The idea for these works was first conceived in 2021, when Koutsouris reached the final round at the competition for a permanent work for the new Music School at Rødovre, Denmark. His proposal was about a 5 m long relief, that would be implemented in the same materials, wood, strings, and steel components. The proposal did not win the competition but gave Koutsouris the idea of developing smaller finished works where he could explore the possibilities, the technical challenges as well as their visual narrative.

Koutsouris has created musical instruments and sound sculptures in the past, which are kinetic or interactive. However, this time he tries to represent sound and musicality only visually, in works which are static, not interactive, and silent, but can still reveal all the dynamics and tensions present in musical literature. Different types of strings have been used (steel, brass, copper etc.) which refer to various musical instruments, but now acting as visual ‘line’ elements, that Koutsouris uses to ‘paint’ on his three-dimensional wooden ‘canvas’.

For this project, Koutsouris has used almost all machines available at the wood workshop to process solid wood and create the overlapping figures on his reliefs. To obtain high-quality thin wood pieces, he even created his own plywood from scratch by pressing sheets of wood veneer together. To begin with, the reliefs were designed and arranged on the computer, cut at the CNC  machine, and processed further for the final finish and individual composition.

Materials used: Solid wood and hand-made plywood from walnut, mahogany, oak, ash and birch, tuning pins, stainless steel bots, various music strings and wire.

Exhibition Opening: 10 November, 3pm – 5pm in Strandgade 27B, 1401 Copenhagen K.

About the Artist

George Koutsouris lives and works in Copenhagen. He has graduated as an artist from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts as well as a mechanical engineer from the National Technical University in Athens and Acoustic Engineer from the Technical University of Denmark.

Koutsouris’ works are based on movement and sound, directly or indirectly. He often combines wood, metal, and plastic with technology (motors, electronics etc.) to create playful constructions that investigate the way people coexist, their relationship with nature, as well as the importance of probabilities and game in our everyday life.

His practice spans from automotive to interactive, from flat to three-dimensional and from silent to sound-based works. One of their common features is the underlying extensive calculations, the long design process, and the precision of craftsmanship.    

The project is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation