True Length, 2020

The sculptural work ”True Length” takes it’s starting point in the relic ”Shroud of Turin” in Turin, a linen cloth measuring 4,4 x 1,1 meters, that since the year 1357 is considered to be the burial shroud of Jesus. The authenticity of the textile, stored in the cathedral Duomo di San Giovanni Battista, has since its origin been widely discussed and debated. 

Minimalistic wooden sculptures, in the shape of ancient measure rods, represents eight various lengths of Jesus body, presented by a number of scientists after studying the shroud. Each measure rod is produced in an individual wood type together with a specific ancient system of length (that usually uses a specific body part as reference).

The work about the ”Shroud of Turin” and the idea of ”holy lengths” (after German ”Heilige Länge”) within folklore aims to raise questions on pseudoscience, history writing, falsification and representation, where Hoflund’s sculptures update medieval relic making och artistic construction. Similar to the scientists assumptions and the lost ancient measure systems, his intention is to visualize and measure the non-measurable.

• True Length (Ancient Roman food and hand after Msgr. Giulio Ricci)
  Oiled teak wood | 162 × 4 × 2,3 cm
• True Length (Ancient Chinese Chi after Rev. Paul de Gail, Si)
  Oiled tulip wood | 172 × 4 × 2,3 cm
• True Length (Ancient Egyptian fist after Dr. Pierre Barbet)
  Oiled beech wood | 178 × 4 × 2,3 cm
• True Length (Talmudic cubit and handbreadth after Rev. Peter Rinaldi, SDB)
  Oiled abachi wood | 180 × 4 × 2,3 cm 
• True Length (Sumerian cubit and hand after Dr. Paul Vignon)
  Oiled oak wood |180 × 4 × 2,3 cm
• True Length (Indus Dhanurmushti after Dr. G.-B. Judica-Cordiglia)
  Oiled walnut wood | 181 × 4 × 2,3 cm
• True Length (Germanic Rhine-foot after Prof. L. Gedda)
  Oiled pine tree | 183 × 4 × 2,3 cm
• True Length (Old Norse Ell after Lorenzo Ferri)
  Oiled ash wood | 187 × 4 × 2,3 cm
• True Length (Metric system)
  Acrylic coated aluminium | 100 – 200 × 2,5 cm