Flower Drop (2021)

Flower Drop is a performance by Molly Haslund that she first showed in June 2021 during the Den Frie Morgen (the Free Morning), a programme in which Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art (Den Frie Udstillingsbygning) invited a number of artists to perform in the area around Oslo Plads (Oslo Square) 

Wearing a grey suit, Haslund walks through the morning traffic carrying a giant bouquet of flowers – sunflowers, peonies and lilies. She walks across the pedestrian crossings and along the sidewalks, concentrating as she goes on holding the bouquet of flowers, which has a certain weight and a size that practically hides her shoulders and face. The colourful flowers attract the attention of surrounding pedestrians and cyclists. Occasionally she drops a single flower and walks on as if she hasn't noticed. Throughout the performance Haslund's repeated minor accidents tempt to cause attention in the surrounding social sphere. The viewer can choose to watch or ignore the incident – to shout 'you dropped a flower', or pick up the dropped flower and move on – or pick it up and approach the character in the grey suit carrying the huge bouquet of flowers. For the most part kind souls, even in traffic, stop, pick up the flower and run after the woman to give her the lost flower back. In gratitude, they are offered to keep the flower and the day can go on, after this unexpected moment of mutual kindness, on their way through the city to work, classes, meetings, appointments and shopping, now with a flower as a memento.
Completely uncultivated in the world of flowers itself is the phenomenon of 'flower drop', which in Danish is covered by a single and rarely seen metaphorical word 'blomstringsdråbe'. 'Blomstringsdråbe' and 'flower drop' describe the fleeting movement that occurs when flowers or buds that look healthy and well-developed suddenly, and immediately inexplicably, fall off the plant either in clusters or one by one.

Performances 2021-2022
Den Frie Morgen, Vol. 2, performance Flower Drop, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, June 18, 8-10am, 2021
FABRIKKEN Afd. AC #7, Amager Centret, Amager, Copenhagen, secret performance inside and around the shopping mall, May 6, 3-5.30pm, 2022
FABRIKKEN Afd. AC #7, Amager Centret, Amager, Copenhagen, finissage, June 24, 3-4pm, 2022
Up Close – performance art at Folkemødet, Allinge, Bornholm, Denmark, Arr. Den Frie Center of Contemporary Art and The New Carlsberg Foundation, June 5-7pm, 2022
FABRIKKEN Afd. AC #7, Amager Centret, Copenhagen, documentation of the May 6 performance exhibited in advertising spots, May 12-June 24, 2022
Åben Festival (Open Festival), Østerbro, Copenhagen, September 9, 3-4pm, 2022
CHART Art Fair, Public Programme, Kongens Nytorv 1, 25th and 27th 4pm-5pm, 2023
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DEN FRIE MORGEN (THE FREE MORNING) PROGRAM, June 2021
Adam Christensen and Deniz Unal: Thursday 17 June, 8-10am
Molly Haslund: Friday 18 June, 8-10 am
Jeanette Ehlers: Tuesday 29 June at 8-10 am
Kristoffer Raasted: Wednesday 30 June at 8-10
The Free Morning is a collective term for a series of morning events presented by The Free Exhibition Building in autumn/winter 2020 and summer 2021. The first series of The Free Morning unfolded in 2020 with performances by Bjørn Nørgaard, Eliyah Mesayer, Kasper Hesselbjerg and Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen. In addition to performances, the programme also features artist talks in the exhibition building's café. 

Thanks to Den Frie, and to Tableau for providing the bouquet.

Photos by Malle Madsen