New this year, Art in the Sluice opens with a theme running through the entire exhibition: The Coast as Condition. The four invited artists all work with the coast — not merely as subject matter, but as an active focal point shaping their choice of materials, processes and perspectives. A shared point of departure that connects very different artistic voices.

When: Opening reception Sunday 2 August. Open daily 2–14 August

Where: Service corridor beneath the drainage sluice, Hvide Sande

Artists: Michael Ruby, Britta Bauer, Jens Thordal, Christian Estrup

More information: kunstislusen.dk

Michael Ruby presents the series Concrete Metal and Concrete DNA: metal sheets and lead impressions hammered directly over groynes and crumbling bunkers along the coastline. Weather, erosion and coastal history are recorded in the material itself.

Britta Bauer's Havkasser (Sea Boxes) reorganise beachcombed objects into graphic assemblages — archives of things washed ashore that have lost their original function.

Jens Thordal works with the northern coastal light as structure and as a marker of climatic shifts.

Local Hvide Sande artist Christian Estrup shows paintings that store the atmospheres of the West Coast in surfaces transformed by salt, wind and light.

All four artists have a connection to the artist residency programme ART56° at Æ Gammel Havn in Hvide Sande.

Art in the Sluice is not a neutral gallery or museum space, but an active, living frame. The corridor beneath the sluice is a place where art meets its surroundings on the surroundings' own terms — and that is what makes this exhibition something truly special.