Copenhagen Contemporary

In October, the Danish artist Hannah Toticki will open her biggest exhibition to date in Scandinavia. Made specifically for Copenhagen Contemporary, Storage of the Gods earnestly and humorously wrestles with the great questions of life in an age with no shared sense of sacredness. Featuring guardian angels, archived dreams and contributions from more than 300 people, Storage of the Gods opens up a dialogue about how people today are individually responsible for creating meaning in the absence of a divinity greater than ourselves.

The Western philosophical tradition has long declared that God is dead. In Storage of the Gods, Hannah Toticki looks at the void left behind by religious traditions and rituals in today’s world. The exhibition takes the pulse of absence and longing in three different zones exploring conceptions of the divine.

The first zone features a collection of wings belonging to guardian angels we are missing. They are based on testimonials by more than 300 people describing the guardian angels they already have or wish they had. In our busy day-to-day lives do we miss something divine, something bigger than ourselves?

In a collected archive, visitors can read about the different angels, including The Guardian Angel of Housework, The Guardian Angel of the Socially Awkward, The Guardian Angel of the Night Sky, The Guardian Angel of My Niece with an Eating Disorder and many others. Visitors are also invited to contribute their own text about the guardian angel they are missing.

The second zone of Storage of the Gods presents a collection of archived dreams manifested in the form of humanoid clay figures. Sleeping on piles of dirt, the figures embody the link between the human and the divine that dreams have formed throughout history.

The final zone is a storehouse for an assortment of crowns. Historically, crowns have been worn by rulers to symbolize a direct connection to the divine. Bearing titles like Ruler of the Nervous System, Ruler of Performance and Ruler of Tides, the crowns here point to an altogether different truth: that, at the end of the day, we are just people.

The big questions of life are left to the individual
A key theme in Toticki’s art is the meaning of working life. The artist examines the role of work as a collective and ethical obligation, especially as a creator of identity and meaning in the life of the individual. Work is probably the closest thing in late modern society to an institution that fills the role of religion. Meanwhile, more people than ever before – especially the young – are struggling with stress, anxiety and depression.

With the diminishing presence of religion in society, the big questions of life are left to the individual. In Storage of the Gods, Toticki has created a unique landscape of works sparking all-too-rare conversations that insist on situating the individual within a community.