Teksten, uddrag af lovbestemmelserne om skudmålsbøger 1864 - 1941

Niels Larsen Stevns made this excerpt from the legal provisions on discharge books, likely with ink on paper. The text itself is a set of rules; I suppose a bit like a recipe. Check out the way the dense black lettering sits against the aged page. The texture of the paper, yellowed and worn, gives the impression of fragility, contrasting with the assertive formality of the gothic typeface. It makes me think about the relationship between power and vulnerability and how rules are made and the way they are written. I'm reminded of On Kawara's date paintings, but instead of recording the present, this points to a past time, and a very different kind of world, one governed by rules of work and obligation. This piece reminds us that art is always in conversation with what has come before, and that each gesture, each word, carries echoes of those past encounters. It’s a reminder that art, like law, is open to interpretation and never quite settled.