sex and the city
benedikte bjerre
14 december 2023–10 february 2024
Sex and the city
Benedikte Bjerre
Modernist aesthetic is not what one might call lush or fertile. There are no elaborate acanthus leaves on Brancusi’s Column, and Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion, with its inhuman perfection, its fetishism of stone, steel and glass, appears so barren, if it has any relationship to sex it is strictly to the world of BDSM, a variety, which, ironically, has little to do with form following function.
This curious absence in (high) modernism of bodiliness, flesh or sex, not to mention its oddly repressed outcome – childrearing – screams to the heavens, demanding to be somehow compensated. That, anyway, is how I’ve tended to read the striking presence in the Barcelona pavilion of Georg Kolbe’s nude female form, the only indexical figure on site. And also Lewis Morley’s iconic 1963 photograph of a naked Christine Keeler covering her privates behind the backrest of a knock-off of Arne Jacobsen’s 7. This pose was since copied many times over, for instance by the Spice Girls in the live performance of their song Naked. One chair, five chicks: the implication of the body is as crucial as its absence.
Another image comes to mind: a 1968 cover of Alt for Damerne featuring a different Jacobsen classic, The Egg, inside which are four children showcasing the washed-and-combed centre of Ideology. There is something unintentionally vulgar about how this image takes Jacobsen’s purely formal reference to sexual reproduction and lets function follow; how the children sit like yolks inside the egg, manifesting the life that the chair’s triumphantly reduced “organic” form was supposed to keep from view.
This is where Benedikte Bjerre’s exhibition begins: at the possibility of vulgarity; that something simple might also be in excess. Her large shiny Easter eggs recall both modernist slickness as well as what it has repressed: the farcical image of fertility in capitalism, the gross industrialisation of desire, our total alienation from sex and subsequent abstraction of its possible, ehm, material effects. As they lie there, they appear as far from the reality of sexual reproduction as Jacobsen’s Egg, the distance between a horse and a car, a great glass pane and a dessert of sand. And yet, they elicit want – this is where sex nonetheless rears its head. You want to consume them, you want to be them, your pupils take their shape. The egg represents the oxymoron of objectified desire; life in its most hollow form as commodity. The Kinder Surprise is the gift that keeps on giving, a Russian doll. In an act of perverse tautology we give them to children, so that they can receive the surprise of themselves as gift, a plastic proxy. To adults, the egg arrives as sex toy, stirring with life, to be reintroduced into the body’s various orifices as a reversion of birth that allows its repetition as pure form.
Certain of the penile masturbation devices known as fleshlights claim to take the shape of this or that pornstar’s vaginal interior. This shape, as it is rendered on the package, brims with the authority of science and technology. It looks like the mould for some elaborate piece of engineering, a Zaha Hadid building, or, indeed, a sculpture by Brancusi. In this teched-out vulva, we might say, both winkingly and in earnest, we find the legacy of the Bauhaus. Bjerre has titled both the eggs and the fleshlight reliefs after Brancusi – Nearly Newborn and The Column – as if to bring some of the banality that is allowed to rise to the surface of her work to bear on the famed simplicity of that artist, and perhaps on modernism more generally. The relationship between the two works is that there is none, by which I mean: there ought to have been, naturally, since both belong to the world of “flowers and bees”, but we’ll arrive at it here only intellectually, through the alienated language of formal abstraction.
And yet, vulgarity sits inside the work like a toy inside a chocolate egg. When Bjerre leans on modernist aesthetics it is with a fairly sober understanding that the New only comes as a surprise once; that stylistic progression is a form of death drive; that modernist heroics is but the last great gasp of romantic pretensions to genius. But it is possible, too, I think, to read the measured cool of Bjerre’s sculptures, their abstention from beauty, as an at once humorous and dead serious rescue mission for some of what modernism made possible: detachment, formality, integrity, a reflexive intelligence. As such, we might say, she puts the language of modernism in scare quotes and uses it as a Kinder Surprise for its best ideas.
By Kristian Vistrup Madsen, Art critic, curator and writer
education
2009–2015 Städelschule, (Prof. Simon Starling and Prof. Peter Fischli), Frankfurt am Main, DE
2013–2016 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Sculpture, Copenhagen, DE
2016–2018 Participant at De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL
2006–2009 BA in Sociology, University of Copenhagen, DK
upcoming
2026 Gammel Strand, Copenhagen, DK (solo)
2026 Bonniers Konsthal, Stockholm, SE (group)
solo exhibitions
*catalog
2025 Memory, Viborg Kunsthal, Viborg, DK
2024 Frieze London, London, UK
2024 Is this tomorrow, Godsbanen, Rå Hal, Aarhus, DK
2023 Sex and the city, palace enterprise, Copenhagen, DK
2023 Vault, O-Overgaden Kunsthalle, Copenhagen, DK*
2023 David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
2022 Who delivers, Lullin + Ferrari, Zürich, CH
2022 LISTE art fair, solo presentation, Basel, CH
2021 let it go let it go, Kunstverein Göttingen, DE*
2021 Works, palace enterprise, Copenhagen, DK
2020 My dreams are longer than the night, Goeben, DE
2020 I did did I, Ringsted Galleriet, Ringsted, DK
2019 die kommende tage, C.C.C projects, Copenhagen, DK
2019 Desire for Passion (duo as EROS with Magnus Andersen), Issues Gallery, Stockholm, SE
2018 High Hopes, Good Morning Midnight, Offspring, De ateliers, Amsterdam, NL*
2018 Rio Bravo, Kunstscenen, Copenhagen, DK
2018 Long Haul, DU.AL, Kunsthal ved siden af, Svendborg, DK (duo)
2018 Harvester, Kantine, Bruxelles, BE (duo)
2018 Lullin + Ferrari, Art Cologne, DE (duo)
2018 YOMP, Saloon, Brussels, BE
2017 Wake-on-ring, Sheridan, The Bronx, New York, USA
2017 Lullin+Ferrari, Art Rotterdam, DE
2017 Point of sale, Vermillion Sands, Copenhagen, DK (duo)
2016 Trickortreater, Lullin+Ferrari, Zürich, CH
2016 Pitfalls, Salon Kennedy, Frankfurt am Main, DE
2016 Stock’n’flow, Bold Tendencies, London, UK Sharpe Practice, Traube, Ortisei, IT
2015 Aftermarket, Schleuse Stiftung Opelvillen, Rüsselsheim, DE
2014 Ostersee II, VESCH, Vienna, AU (duo)
2013 Kamelwagen, Die Neue Hafen2, Offenbach, DE
2013 Gegenstand 1822-Forum, Frankfurt am Main, DE*
2013 La Chambre, Platform Sarai, Frankfurt am Main, DE
2012 Happiness Revisited, Leonhardi Kulturprojekte, Frankfurt am Main, DE (duo)
group exhibitions
*catalog
2024 The Future of the Past, Maison du Danemark, Paris, FR
2024 Group Therapy, ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art, DK
2023 Høst – en kontrafaktisk udstilling, Carl Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum, Herning, DK
2023 Full of Days, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, DK
2023 Høst – en kontrafaktisk udstilling, Den Frie Centre for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK
2023 CHART in Tivoli, Tivoli, Copenhagen, DK
2023 Samlingen, Art Museum Brandts, Odense, DK
2022 Women and change, ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, DK*
2022 SMK – The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, DK permanent collection exhibition
2022 #empowerment, Planetary Feminisms, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, DE (group)*
2022 Surplus, Collega, Copenhagen, DK
2021 Theoretisch gehts’ mir gut, Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz, DE
2021 Berørt, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus, DK
2021 Berørt, SMK the National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, DK
2021 Berørt, SMK Thy, Thy, DK
2021 Berørt, Brandts, Odense, DK
2020 New Danish Art, SMK the National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, DK
2020 Architecture now, Cucina, Copenhagen, DK
2020 Skulpturbiennalle: Interdimensionale II, Gammelgaard, Herlev, DK
2020 Himmelskibet, Christian Andersen, Copenhagen, DK
2020 Amaryllis in vase, Coyote, draken II, Stockholm, SE
2020 No condition is permanent, Lullin+Ferrari, Zürich, CH
2019 Samfundsprognoser, ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst, DK
2019 Apposite sustainability II, Le cap, Saint-Fons, FR
2019 Especially Ordinary, 38CC, Delft, NL
2019 Skulptur Landsby Selde, Selde, DK
2019 Machines sans nom, Bonamatic, Copenhagen, DK
2019 INGRID, Skovsnogen, Kikbæk, DK
2019 Softcity, Chopsticks, Coyote, Stockholm, SE
2019 When facts change I change my mind, Lullin + Ferrrari, Zürich, CH
2019 Perspectives, Kunstfort, Vijhuizen, NL
2019 Pioneertown, HARD HAT CAFÉ, Stockholm, SE
2019 UTTRAN II, Uttran, Stockholm, SE
2019 Twelfth night, or what you will, Coyote, Stockholm, SE
2018 CLASSRELATIONS/KLASSEVERHÄLTNISSE, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg, DE
2018 Last Xmas at the Harbour, Bådhavnen, Copenhagen, DK
2018 ROOTS ON WHEELS, Rootcanal, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Sobranie Cocktail, Dienstgebaude, Zurich, CH
2018 KRÄFTSKIVAN, Galleri Mejan, Stockholm, SE
2018 Action Paint, Eventhall, Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus, DK
2018 Søby Sommer Skulptur ’18, Søby, Ærø, DK*
2018 Neuer Norden Zürich, Zürich Arts Council in Schwamendingen, Zürich, CH*
2018 Low Motion, Amager Strandpark minigolf, Copenhagen, DK
2018 With other eyes, Lullin + Ferrari, Zürich, CH
2018 WET, Bar Barbette, Berlin, DE
2018 Remmen kunstpris, D’Angleterre, Copenhagen, DK
2018 15 windows, Gallery Delfi, Malmö, SE
2018 Så længe lager haves, Galleri SPECTA, Copenhagen, DK
2017 PRIMARY STRUCTURES – 1966 bis zur Gegenwart, MMK2 – Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, DE
2017 Let’s see, where were we? In the pit of despair., De Ateliers, Art Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
2017 Eine Palme?, Billedhuggerhaven, Skovsnogen – deep forest artland, Kikbæk, DK
2017 Plant B, Komplot at Parc de la Fonderie 1080 Brussels, Brussels, BE
2017 Functional-Utility Program For Wschód Gallery, Wschód Gallery, Warsaw, PL
2017 The Power nap, Stedelijk museum, Amsterdam, NL*
2017 Simultan, Lullin + Ferrari, Zürich, CH
2017 Rumors of Glory, Basis Frankfurt E.V, Frankfurt, DE
2017 Why Is Everybody Being So Nice?, De Appel, Amsterdam, NL
2017 Belong Anywhere, Hate Magazine, Berlin, DE
2017 Chambers Chapter II, Villa Metzlerstrasse. 21, Frankfurt am, DE*
2017 LAST MINUTE BUSINESS – fast procedures in small amounts of time, Adult, Copenhagen, DK
2016 In-Between | Calendar, Lullin+Ferrari, Zürich, CH
2016 En slags penge, Piscine, Aarhus kunsthal, Aarhus, DK
2016 Whatman, The Shelter for Contemporary Art CCA, Tel-Aviv, ISR*
2016 Take me I am yours, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, DK*
2016 31 Women, PPC, Frankfurt aM, DE
2016 Afgang, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, DK*
2016 Soft Costs, Kunstverein Wiesen, Wiesen, DE
2015 Transfer, Kunsthalle Rathausgalerie, München, DE*
2015 Parked like Serious Oysters, Zollamt, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, DE*
2015 Stay, Horsens Kunstmuseum at Fængslet, Horsens, DK
2015 Mainzer Ansichten (collab J. Skoog), Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz, DE
2015 Olohuonenayttely, Helsinki, FI
2015 Beauty of indifference, Lullin+Ferrari, Zurich, CH
2015 Lemon Leafes/Zitronenblätter, Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, USA
2014 SIC, Ehemalige Oberfinanzdirektion, Frankfurt am Main, DE
2014 „I multiplied myself to feel myself.”, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna, AU
2014 Ostersee I, Büro Der Ministerpräsident des Landes Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, DE
2014 Dresden Public Art View, Dresden, DE
2014 Show Beauty Hot, Asa Studios, Hamburg, DE
2014 Waren und Wissen, Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main, DE*
2013 Apollo Weltkulturen Museum, Green Room, Frankfurt am Main, DE*
2013 Cinema-Teatro Apollo Villa Trina Bellaria Igea Marina, IT*
2013 Eröffnung, Neue Hafen2, Offenbach, DE
2013 Mobile art School, Goethe-Institut, Hanoi, VN*
2012 Zauderberg (collab with J. Skoog), Zollamt, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, DE*
2012 11th Havanna Biennale (as a part of collective Museo Aero Solar), Havanna, CU*
2011 The Museum Show part 1 (as a part of collective Museo Aero Solar), Arnolfini, Bristol UK
2011 When in Rome, Malta Contemporary Arts, Valletta, MT
public collections
ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art, Ishøj, DK
Art Museum Brandts, Odense, DK
Collection of the Danish Arts Foundation, DK
Horsens Art Museum, Horsens, DK
KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Aalborg, DK
Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, DE
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, DE
Malmø Kunstmuseum, SE
MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, DE
The New Carlsberg Foundation, Copenhagen, DK
Novo Nordisk Foundation, Copenhagen, DK
Schweizerishe Mobiliar Genossenschaft, Urdorf, CH
SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, DK
public commissions
2025 Marmormolen, Copenhagen, DK (upcoming)
2024 Flyvestation Skrydstrup, Haderslev, DK
2023 Gießen, Hessen, DE
2021 Østre Skole Holbæk, Bygningsstyrelsen, Holbæk, DK
2019 Neckarvillen, Ameron Group, Frankfurt am Main, DE
2017 Eine Palme?, Billedhuggerhaven, Skovsnogen – deep forest artland, Kikbæk, DK
2013 Osthafen, (w. John Skoog), Neue Hafen2, Offenbach, DE
awards & grants
2023 Læge Inger Goldmanns Fond, DK
2023 Working grant, The Danish Arts Foundation, DK
2022 Astrid Noacks Hæderslegat, DK
2022 Minister Erna Hamiltons Legat for videnskab og kunst
2020 Working grant, The Danish Arts Foundation, DK
2019 Working grant, The Danish Arts Foundation, DK
2018 Working grant, The Danish Arts Foundation, DK
2017 Working grant, The Danish Arts Foundation, DK
2017 Niels Wessel Bagges Art Foundation Art Grant (NWB Kunstfonds Hæderslegat), DK
2016 Talent Prize (Talentprisen), Carl Nielsen og Anne Marie Carl-Nilsens Legat, DK
2016 Blix Foundation Graduation Prize (Ragnvald & Ida Blix’ Fond, Blixprisen), DK/NO
2016 ZAC, ZONTA Contemporary Art Award, Frankfurt, DE
2015 Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, DE 2011-2015
2012 Stylepark Rundgang Prize, DE
professorship & teaching
2019–2023 Professor, The Jutland Art Academy, Aarhus, DK
2021 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, DK
2019 Kunsthochschule Mainz, Mainz, DE
2019 Fatamorgana – the Danish School of Art Photography, Copenhagen, DK
2019 Johan Borups Højskole, København, DK
2019 BGK Roskilde, Roskilde, DK
2018 Ærø Kunsthøjskole, Ærø, DK
2017 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, DK
2014–2015 Konstskolan Munka på Munka folkhögskola, Munka-Ljungby, SE
residencies
2018 De Ateliers, Amsterdam, NL 2016-2018
2015 Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, USA
2014 Klitgaarden, Skagen, DK
2012 Botnik Studios, Gerlesborg, Hamborgsund, SE
bio
Born 1987, Copenhagen, Denmark
Lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark
Benedikte Bjerre works conceptually with sociological phenomena in a versatile practice focusing on sculpture and installation which reflect on the current state of society. She consistently examines sculptural qualities in relation to the architecture of a given space. The artist continually uses observations from her everyday life, as she engages in how the beholders experience their surroundings.