Christian+Jade and the Weight of Wood
Wood is often chosen for its colour or grain, but how much attention do we give to its weight? Christian+Jade use that question to look more closely at a familiar material. Their Weight of Wood project follows density back to the tree and the conditions in which it grew, then brings it into objects we might lift, balance or sit on.
Developed for Dinesen, the exhibition was presented in Copenhagen in 2022 and received a Danish Arts Foundation award in 2023. Its three parts, Forest, Wood and Human, connect the growing tree with the material that eventually reaches a workshop or a home. That’s quite a broad subject, made approachable through physical comparisons.
The workshop views help explain it. Samples are lined up, a balance sits among small timber objects, and a cross-section brings the growth rings into view. Alongside these studies, the rocking chair gives weight another role: the distribution of the timber becomes part of an object designed to move.
I like the concept because it starts with something so straightforward. Pick up a piece of wood and its weight is immediately there, even if the reasons for it are less obvious. A photograph can only take us part of the way, of course, but seeing the samples and finished objects together gives a much fuller picture of the investigation.
