Inge Bjørn

March 17, 2025

Living in the age of convenience

taiwanese grass jelly herb (3.1/5) (cooling, bitter mint sensation that feels light but has an intense climate. apparently, when steeped with agar agar or gelatin, it can thicken into a jelly. however, i would prefer to drink the herb as is.) "And surely you have seen, in the darkness of the most innermost rooms of these huge buildings, to which sunlight never penetrates, how the gold lead of a sliding door or screen will pick up a distant glimmer from the garden, then suddenly send forth an ethereal glow, a faint golden light cast into the enveloping darkness. How in such a dark place, gold draws so much light to itself is a mystery to me. Modern man, in his well-lit house, knows nothing of the beauty of gold, but those who lived in the dark houses of the past were not merely captivated by its beauty, they also knew its practical value, for gold in these dim rooms, must have served the function of a reflector. Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty." Tanizaki'...

"The thread is my brush."

Inge Bjørn is a Danish textile artist (one of my favorites)! She weaves her pieces based off of previous famous Danish painters such as Asger Jorn and various spontaneous abstract imagery that can be seen in her textiles. At first, her works appear to emulate a painting and intuitive practice, but a closer look reveals a very different method. It is not spontaneously and quickly hurled at the canvas, but nurtured into existence in yarns the color of nature with careful attention to the intimate work. Plenty of time is a must when weaving and hence time has played an essential part in myths about weavers. Just like in ancient Greek myths, Norse Mythology describes how the Norns – goddesses of destiny – weave the fabric of time and the thread of life. Just so, Bjørn responds to the thread of time and the history of weaving. Similar to her former collaborative partner, Asger Jorn, she engages in the weaving techniques and aesthetic of folk art while pointing at the relevance of weaving today.

Here is an appreciation blog post and some of her works: