Time and tide wait for no man

The exhibition title, Time and tide wait for no man, alludes to an anecdote about King Canute the Great. According to the story Canute ordered a seat to be placed for him on the sea-shore when a tide was coming in. Shouting at the sea he commanded the tide not to wet his royal feet or robe. Needless to say, the tide did not halt. After the incident, which attested that secular power is vain compared to supreme power, the king never wore his crown again.

Bjørn-­Henrik Lybeck’s Time and tide wait for no man is a constellation of sculptural objects and photographs that serve as a meditation over the passing and workings of time, which is like the sea that the mighty King Canute had no command over. Using photographic terms and methods, such as exposure, negative, and imprint, Lybeck experiments with recording everyday life. He aspires to protect and preserve selected objects from their ephemeral nature. The works shown at Studio17 – a selection of preserved lunches, a piece of half-burnt driftwood, and a looping sunset – are his way of making the hard to grasp concept of time smaller and more comprehensible.

Bjørn-Henrik Lybeck (b. 1985) is a visual artist who currently lives and works in Bergen.