Allan Bech Hansen got his Master of Arts in Architecture from the well renowned Aarhus School of Architecture. Here he - via an external affiliation to Det Jyske Kunstakademi - implemented an art and literature minded approach to his society- and environment engaged thesis; speculating on, if we could live differently and more connected in densely populated urban areas.
This investigative and questioning approach has been an integral part of his practice, as he primarily can be seen as an architecture infused artist or a paper architect; the projects are not intended for realization, but rather invites debating on subjects relevant to all of us; climate, environment, society ['s divide], etc. Some will argue that he can be seen as an archtivist - a merger of the architect and the activist.
Artistically, [some of] Bech Hansen's drawings have been dubbed Dali'esque and surrealistic. Even though he is an admirer of several of the Surrealist and Dada movement's artists, he would describe his drawings as mere images of the experienced everyday life. The drawings actually embody a caring and deep investment in the above mentioned subjects, and is Bech Hansen's way of processing events of life. He finds much of his motivation in the above mentioned contexts/topics, and is trying to broaden his research knowledge through his artistic work - no matter if it is a single artwork or a greater project as his latest exhibition (and a continuous exploration), the lines between matter (2023), which included several writings.
Writing and reading are [often] pivotal to his works, as they typically serve as "the sketch". Quite uniquely, despite the amount of details in the artwork, he never use actual [drawn] sketches. He draws the initial, honest, idea and compose the entire drawing along the way. That said, the drawing can be seen as a form of tool for journaling, meaning that the drawing is a vital part of a fairly time consuming process that also includes researching certain areas of interest.
The aim is to create relations of thought between [otherwise alien] elements through the grafting of various art forms. The elements treated often have their starting point in a part of the current social debate or are neglected and yet relevant topics from it. Likewise, the work alludes to the importance of everyday life’s small unnoticed phenomena; thus, phenomenology is a significant factor in the method used in project works related to context immersion.
Allan Bech Hansen lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark.
He has earlier worked as a teacher and lecturer in the fields of architecture and visual representation.
e d u c a t i o n
Aarhus School of Architecture | Master of Arts in Architecture
via the departments called Experiment/Equilibrium + Constructing an Archive
+
Det Jyske Kunstakademi
part of my master's programme
g r a n t s
Dreyers Fond (project + travel grants)
Det Danske Institut i Rom (residency)
Statens Kunstfond (project + travel grants)
Esther og Jep Finks Mindefond for Arkitektur og Kunst-håndværk
Can Serrat (residency, Catalonia, E)
The Danish Art Workshops (residency, Copenhagen, DK)
University of Massachusetts (residency/travel - Amherst, US)
t e a c h i n g
Krabbesholm
School for architecture, art, visual communication, and design
Associated teacher in the architecture department and part
of the organizing related to visions, exhibitions and talks.
Modus
School for architecture, design, and drawing
University of Massachusetts (UMAS)
workshop and lecture at the School of Architecture in Amherst.
DIS Copenhagen
workshops and lectures related to drawing.
