Paper art, paper art, paper art. Origami, collages or decoupage? Which one is it this time? Peter Callesen set his heart on decoupage and origami in his artworks. What’s rather unusual is his indifference towards colors. His working material is the blank paper.

By taking away all the information and starting from scratch using the blank white A4 paper sheet for my creations, I feel I have found a material that we are all able to relate to, and at the same time the A4 paper sheet is neutral and open to fill with different meaning.

But Peter Callesen isn’t just your regular artist. He took art beyond the walls of any museum. He even got the moon of the sky in Copenhagen in 2004. Here are some of his most spectacular installations:

Earth

This installation was placed near a busy street, in the old town square in Copenhagen. His idea was to create the illusion of seeing Earth from outer space instead of the moon. Many passers by stood in awe pointing at the paper Earth in the sky. Of course his art had a deeper meaning: to make people see things from a different perspective, to make them reflect on their existence.

Above the Sky (Children exhibition)

Above the sky was an exhibition especially designed for children. It revolved around sound and interaction. The children enjoyed getting to know art through it; peep-holes presented themselves with many surprises, as did the tree trunk and the Babylon Tower.

Luncheon in the Green

The entire exhibition was made out of a green room with a white quadrangle and on the opposite wall, there was a pair of headphones. The white quadrangle was the exact size of Edouard Manet’s famous painting Luncheon on the Grass.

Peter Callesen offered a luxurious lunch for the people attending and surprisingly (or not), some of them were even taped eating and talking. Afterwards, the room was cleaned, leaving but the headphones and the empty walls. The headphones had the opening on tape so the people could listen to others eating, talking and drinking.

This particular installation was a subtle criticism to art exhibition openings because sometimes, the opening takes the spotlight while the actual exhibition is doomed to become the runner-up.

Photo credits: Peter Callesen