When the Stars begin to Fall
Solo show at Kunsthal Kongegaarden, Korsør, Denmark.
October 2, 2025 – January 11, 2026
OPENING: Thursday, October 2, 4–7 PM. Opening speeches at 4:15 PM.
To mark Korsør’s 600-year anniversary, Kongegaarden presents When the Stars Begin to Fall, a new solo show by the Danish artist duo Hesselholdt & Mejlvang.
The project transforms the art hall into a poetic and immersive environment of textiles, ceramics, and sound, and extends beyond its walls with a six-part flag in the garden and a monumental citywide installation of more than one hundred flags.
Across five rooms, the exhibition unfolds with embroidered textiles collected worldwide, hand-thrown ceramics inscribed with urgent appeals, and a powerful soundscape of rain, wind, fire, waves, and human voices. The works evoke shared narratives of care, fragility, and resilience in a time of global upheaval.
Symbols, fabrics, outcries, and waves
As the title suggests, stars play a central role in the exhibition. The star carries powerful symbolism, ranging from the power display of a national flag to the poetic force of a shooting star. Visitors encounter this familiar symbol already in the entrance hall on a flag fragment, where the white stars seem to be detaching themselves from the fabric.
Over the years, and from all over the world, the artists have collected brightly colored fabrics that bear stories and traces of lived lives, while also sharing common features in patterns and weaves. In the exhibition, these textiles hang from beautiful hand-turned flagpoles, some embroidered with words and motifs, others left empty. In a central work, the fabrics are gently tied together and appear disarmed, yet powerful in their own right.
The ceramic works are created by Hesselholdt & Mejlvang in various types of clay. They appear in natural earth tones combined with vibrant glazes that connect to the colors of the textiles. The vessels bear sentences—outcries about the state of the world, the climate and calls to action. The empty jars and bowls evoke associations with ceramics from several continents, but as with the textiles, the inspiration for each piece is not tied to a single origin.
The sound montage is composed of the artists’ recordings from different countries. The audio shifts between the drumming of rain, wind rushing through trees, crackling fire, and crashing waves to yells from crowds, singing, and more. Together, these form a poetic soundscape that rises and falls in intensity.
Flag installation in Korsør’s public space
On the occasion of the city’s 600th birthday, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang have created the extensive, site-specific installation Flags for Open Horizons: 107 monochrome yet differently colored flags adorn the city’s flagpoles, tracing a luminous trail of color through the old town center and out toward the fortress.
Based on the red and white of the Dannebrog, the national flag of Denmark, the installation graduates from the deepest burgundy to pure white, with diversions into hues such as orange and pink.
On the art hall’s flagpole, six white flags with swirling stars are hoisted.