Laura Degn

Laura Degn
Tegument 

Laura Degn’s artistic practice spans a range of media and materials. She works in drawing, painting, sculpture, video and installation, moving freely between these forms as her studies necessitate. The work is unified not by a specific medium but by a consistent fascination with the body as an unstable, permeable phenomenon. A place where boundaries are continually shifting between inner and outer, between the living and the separated.

In Degn’s work, the body is seldom a stable entity. It is dismantled into fragments, surfaces, hybrids and remains. What was once part of a living organism now appears as something detached and ambiguous, recognisable, yet impossible to identify clearly. The body is not depicted directly, but rather processed, deconstructed and reassembled into new, often fluid forms.

This approach situates Degn within the tradition of Abject Art, which views the body as restless and transgressive rather than idealised. In her work, the abject is not a shocking spectacle but rather a fundamental condition. It offers a subtle confrontation with what occurs when the body’s parts, traces and excretions seep out of their natural context. Her works capture a unique intensity in the tension between attraction and repulsion.

For SPRING26, Laura presents Tegument, a work that explores skin as both a space of demarcation and a site of connection. The central element is a large, suspended curtain composed of many smaller shapes formed in gelatine, mounted on a curtain rod. The curtain serves both as a practical hanger and a metaphor, functioning as a bodily membrane that distinguishes yet links space, much as skin separates and connects the body with the outside world.

As a curtain, the artwork exists in a familiar, almost domestic context, filtering light, regulating the view and marking transitions. In Tegument, this function is transformed. The curtain becomes a kind of bodily surface; exposed, vulnerable and permeable. The suspended gelatine resembles skin that no longer protects but instead reveals. It creates the impression of someone hanging freely in the room.

The choice of materials is crucial in this respect. Gelatine, which is extracted from animal bones and tissue, exists in a transitional state between living and non-living. When the artist’s own skin impressions are captured in this material, a fusion occurs between the human and the non-human. The work becomes not just an image of a body, but rather a bodily event.

Light plays an active role in the installation. Depending on the angle and distance, the curtain appears dense, transparent or almost immaterial. In some places, the skin’s microscopic structures are visible; in others, the surface structure dissolves and becomes almost invisible. The work eschews a stable form and insists on being experienced in motion, as something one passes by rather than merely observes from a static viewpoint.

In conversation with the hanging curtain, we encounter a piece on the floor made of a darker, amber-coloured gelatine. While the curtain appears stretched and exposed, the floor piece resembles some form of residue, something that has fallen, accumulated and continues to change. Together, these elements create a tension between skin as a boundary and skin as waste, highlighting the contrast between what is suspended and what has been left behind.

In Tegument, Laura examines the body as something that cannot be sustained in its entirety; it exists only through traces, loss and transformation. The curtain, both an everyday object and a bodily metaphor, becomes a symbol of this condition. A layer we are used to pulling back and forth, but which here hangs silent, as exposed, corporeal remains.

Ahmad Siyar Qasimi

Laura Degn (born 1999) Lives and works in Silkeborg (DK).
https://lauradegn.wixsite.com/lauradegn 

Peter Rolsted

Peter Rolsted
The Opening of the Final Act

Peter Rolsted’s artistic practice often draws on personal snapshots and family photographs, which serve as fragments of memory rather than mere documentation. In the transition from photography to painting, the meaning of the images shifts significantly. The specific moment dissolves, and the motif emerges as already distanced. This temporal displacement is a central theme in Rolsted’s work. The painting becomes a space where light preserves memory, not as a straightforward reproduction but as something delayed and processed through multiple layers.

This displacement is also evident in the characters portrayed. The people that populate his paintings are frequently depicted in social settings, but their relationships remain ambiguous and unresolved. There is a sense of physical closeness, yet their eyes and movements do not connect. The group does not appear to be a stable gathering but rather a temporary constellation, held together by circumstance rather than genuine relationships.

Rolsted’s work deliberately draws on the rich narrative traditions of art history, but uses them in an interesting and innovative way. Classical motifs are not reactivated as nostalgic reference points, but as a critical tool for examining contemporary social and psychological structures.

For SPRING26, Rolsted presents a monumental painting that reimagines the bacchanal motif, a theme in art history associated with intoxication, transgression and the temporary suspension of social norms. Historically, bacchanals served as a ritual to let off steam. In Rolsted’s version, the motif is read through the contemporary experience of exhaustion and disillusionment.

In this interpretation, human figures are replaced with small porcelain figurines, marking a clear shift in the artwork’s logic. The body no longer exhibits its direct sensuality; instead, it becomes a kind of prop. The characters seem fragile, idealised, remote and comical, functioning more as miniature representations of social roles than as active individuals. The hedonistic community is depicted as a fabricated, ostentatious display.

The scene is set as a theatrical backdrop. The bacchanal occurs not in a liberating natural setting but in a clearly staged setting. This approach emphasises that the party is not merely an act but a recurring fantasy performance that unfolds continuously. Moonlight and dramatic lighting create an environment that is both seductive and deliberately detached.

Rolsted here refers directly to the Renaissance Bacchanals, including Titian’s The Bacchanal of the Andrians. Whereas the historical models often balanced chaos and order, this version appears more ambivalent. The celebration points not to renewal but to repetition without redemption. Hedonism is not seen as an ideal but as a symptom of a comical situation in which the future is uncertain.

The painting’s baroque composition and saturated colourism hold the viewer’s attention while still maintaining a distance. The rigidity of the porcelain figures and the artificiality of the scenery hinder empathy and underline the work’s tableau character. This festive scene seems more like a temporary pause from external pressures than a genuine celebration.

Rolsted’s The Opening of the Final Act examines the role of the celebration in a period marked by hopelessness and pessimism. The work preserves the bacchanal’s promise of intensity, yet allows it to unfold as a repeated gesture, beautiful, fragile, and with no guarantee for what might follow.

Ahmad Siyar Qasimi

Peter Rolsted (born 1996) Lives and works in Copenhagen (DK).
https://peterrolsted.com/

Kristine Baagland

Kristine Baagland
Indgang K (Entrance K)

“In this pink universe, it is easy to forget where you are, it is cozy here with an almost homely atmosphere.”

Kristine Baagland's installation Entrance K is a disturbing plunge into the artist’s personal and institutional space, exploring the boundaries between public and private within the institutional framework of the psychiatric system. Taking the pink-lined, almost surreally cosy corridors of Aarhus University Hospital in Skejby as its starting point, the work unfolds a critical dialogue between the artist’s own psychiatric experiences and the public perception of psychiatric facilities.

The work consists of 756 shredded A4 pages, Baagland’s psychiatric health records from the period 2017-2025, making it both extremely personal and yet universal in its appeal. Shredding, as an action, serves as a powerful visual and conceptual symbol of the desire for confidentiality combined with the fragmentary memories and identities that psychiatric patients often must navigate.

This document destruction also comments on the administrative and bureaucratic aspect of psychiatric institutions, where one’s personal history is reduced to archival material and notes, mere elements in a daily office job. For healthcare professionals, this is just routine; for the patient, it is a document of one’s most fragile moments.

The installation’s spatial and colour elements encapsulate the contrast that exists between the ’cosy’ pink surroundings and the intense, often painful experiences that transpire in the rooms. This duality sheds light on the paradoxes that can arise in psychiatric environments where homeliness and the hospitalisation context collide.

Entrance K challenges the visitor to reflect on how institutional environments designed to heal often evoke feelings of isolation and alienation. Through the use of the colour pink, Baagland sheds light on the glaring contrast between the outer façade and the inner realities of mental illness – a duality that is both absurd and deeply tragic.

By blending the aesthetic with the personal and political, Entrance K stands as a vital contemporary art work that seeks not only to shed light on the artist’s own experiences, but also to initiate a broader dialogue around mental health, patient rights, and the role of the public health service in the treatment of mental disorders.

Lina Hashim

Kristine Baagland (born 2000) Lives and works in Aarhus.
In addition to visual art, Kristine Baagland also works with poetry and poetry readings and she is an active member of Unge Danske Digtere (Young Danish Poets).
https://www.instagram.com/baagland.kunst

Gizem Evcil

Gizem Evcil
PTSD (A love Story)

Gizem Evcil’s video work PTSD - a love story, provides an intense reflection on the human condition through a mirror installation that creates a spatial and psychological depth where the viewer is confronted with fragments of their own and collective memory. The work, accompanied by the song Mreyte ya mreyte by Lebanese Khaled Mouzanar, harnesses the emotional power of music to evoke a sense of nostalgia and loss. The song’s melodic qualities and thematic focus on reflection and self-awareness reinforce the introspective nature of the video piece.

The installation explores and discusses feminist and gender political perspectives that both challenge and expand the understanding of the individual’s position in contexts marked by social and cultural conflicts. Incorporating images of the Gazelle, an animal frequently featured in Middle Eastern art and literature, Evcil deploys this symbol of frailty and beauty to reflect the strength and endurance required to survive and navigate complex social landscapes.

The work is deeply personal; Evcil draws on her own experiences of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adding a layer of authenticity and immediacy to the installation. This element is essential in understanding the work’s emotional and therapeutic potential, as the artist utilizes her art to process and communicate her trauma. PTSD - a love story becomes a tool for both the artist and the viewer to navigate and understand the psychological landscapes that characterise people affected by traumatic experiences.

Furthermore, the work resonates with New Human Theory, a philosophical approach that seeks to redefine the human understanding of oneself to others and the world. Through her art, Evcil questions conventional perceptions of identity and belonging, which often adhere to gender- and culturally determined norms. The work proposes a new way of thinking about human existence, where the boundaries between the individual and the collective, the private and the public, are increasingly fluid and open to interpretation.

PTSD - a love story stands as a striking example of contemporary video art, where sound and image merge to create a multidimensional experience that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. The work is a powerful reminder of art’s ability to address and explore complex themes related to gender, power, and identity, offering a platform for empathy, understanding and critical reflection on the structures that shape our society and individual lives.

Lina Hashim

Gizem Evcil (born 1992) Lives and works in Aarhus.
In addition to visual art, Gizem Evcil also works with music and is a vocalist in the band VIBR - Aarhus.
https://www.instagram.com/gizem___________/

Jonas Erboe

Jonas Erboe
 Once Upon a Time

‘If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to know anything about life, run a Marathon’ - Emil Zátopek

Once Upon a Time is an installation that explores running and the vase and their historical, cultural and symbolic function and meaning. The work consists of 42,195 glazed terracotta vases - one for each of the marathon's 42,195 kilometers - and each depicts a story about the marathon from the first Greek myths to contemporary references and personal experiences.
The work is made with reference to the first Panathenaic Games in ancient Greece, where the winner of the running competition was awarded with prize vases, as well as the running project The Marathon Project, where in the period 2020-2023 the artist ran 12 marathons in - or around - small enclosed rooms or buildings. Among others Kunsthal Aarhus in 2022.

SPATIAL OPERATIONS by Jens Stegger Ledaal

SPATIAL OPERATIONS
/ Jens Stegger Ledaal
Elisabeth Von Beetzen Thorsen, Gustav Oliver Gunvaldsen, Halvor Wilhelm Valle, Hermund Arntzen Dale, Ingrid Bjørnaali, Marianne Stranger

A group-based project that, with artificial landscapes as a central starting point, will seek out and work on places in DK that can present both something characteristic (expected) and a contrast, such as the beaches at Hirtshals strewn with bunkers, a peaceful country road crossed by an enormous concrete bridge (between Aarhus and Silkeborg) or the disturbing at Marselisborg Zoo, where the wild animals are kept as 'ornamental plants' in a sort of pastoral tableau.

The result of the work is presented in Kunsthal Aarhus as an installation with sculpture, video, photo, brought tools, effects and artefacts from the production process.

Ihsan Saad Ihsan Tahir

Ihsan Saad Ihsan Tahir
THINGS FALL APART

A large relief (12x1.8m) made of colored plaster, a non-linear narrative that examines ideas of cultural exchange and masculinity. The motifs are designed with fine indentations in the surface – a kind of poetic 'cut-outs' from a collection of cultural, personal, literary, musical and historical references. Logos from Iraqi imports stand side by side with images from music videos, family portraits, classic paintings, handwritten notes and dewy rap lyrics.

Olivia Rode Hvass

Olivia Rode Hvass
The Warm Hands (Hot hands!)
2023

Tapestry (1OO% cotton), burnt wood, natural stone, posca marker, spray paint, plants, sand.

The title “De varme hænder (Hot hands!)” – in English, “The warm hands (Hot hands!)” – refers to the media coverage of the striking nurses, where the nickname “The warm hands” was widely used by politicians, journalists, media personas etc. to describe them.

The warm hands are working hands.
The hands of physical work.
The supporting hands,
the caring hands,
the underpaid hands.

The hands have found each other.
They have become so warm now.
They ignite.

Lior Nønne Malue Hansen

Lior Nønne Malue Hansen
ĀLAYA-VIJÑĀNA | MAYBE MY SANCTUARY FOR THE BENT AND THE BROKEN IS ACTUALLY A PENITENTIARY FOR THE DAMAGED AND THE DUMPED AND I NOT THE
WARDEN BUT JUST ANOTHER OBJECT IN THIS STOREHOUSE OF TRAUMA

(selfportrait)

They say care is heavy work.
Mine weighs a ton.

Ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) is a term from Buddhism. It is the place in our (sub/un)consciousness where unprocessed trauma is stored throughout lifetime after lifetime, and from where our core behavioural patterns is shaped.

Materials: 1000kg mixed material from the artist’s own collection, (potentially misconceived) care, and a wish for second chances.

Cecilie Penney

Cecilie Penney
Big Ear
2023

Programming: Søren Vøgg Lyster
Lighting: Jonas Jørgensen
Materials: LED-panels, found-footage video, sound.

Big Ear explores humans’ first potential encounter with intelligent life from outer space. The work takes its starting point in the powerful radio signal, “the Wow! signal,” first measured at Ohio State University’s observatory, Big Ear, on the 15 August 1977. The signal was more than 50,000 times stronger than anything previously recorded, leading scientists to wonder if it could be an actual message from aliens.

The artist’s installation features an interpretation of Big Ear’s “flat reflector” that captured signals from the furthest reaches of outer space. A 1:35 ratio LED-screen is programmed to glow at varying intensities based on data from the moment the “Wow!” signal measurement was first recorded.

The work also consists of a video comprising scenes from American sci-fi films released during the lifetime of the Big Ear Observatory (from 1963–1998). This video is edited using the same code as the light installation and depicts different fictional interpretations of a first encounter between humans and aliens.

The Institute of Emancipatory Science (Asker Bryld Staunæs and Benjamin Krog Møller)

The Institute of Emancipatory Science
(Asker Bryld Staunæs and Benjamin Krog Møller)
HIC RHODUS, HIC SALTUS:
Here is Rhodos, jump here!
2023

Sand, video(AUTORHODICA), beach-television, the Library of Rhodes**, diverse materials.

The Institute of Emancipatory Science has operated beneathAarhus University for fifty years and was founded by Professor Swig. It is mostly driven by the artist group Asker Bryld Staunæs and Benjamin Krog Møller.

Its primary form of expression is installations of archival material from the student movement of its heyday in the 197Os, but also articles, dance, lectures and performances. In recent years, the Institute has exhibited its productions in various art spaces and journals such as Antipyrine, ARoS, ARK, Captive Portal, e-flux, Kunsthal Aarhus, MindFuture, Pròblema, Rum46 and Udstillingsstedet Spanien19C, and in 2O18 the project was awarded by Statens Kunstfond.

Its current research projects entail “Computer Lars”, “Larschive”, “Library of Rhodes”, “Paintings of Professor Swig”, “Spanien 1-1OO/A-Z” and “Organ for the Autonomous Sciences”, which are all student-driven and fully autonomous from the overall institutional bureaucracy. Studying at the Institute for Emancipatory Science is free of charge, and it is always welcoming to new students and project proposals.

Marie Kaarøe

Marie Kaarøe
(born 1971) lives and works in Aarhus, DK.
Arkitekt m.a.a. Arkitektskolen i Aarhus 1991-1997
Aarhus Kunstakademi 2016-2020
@marie.kaaroe.art

Practice
My practice unfolds in a dynamic tension between drawing and sculpture. The works stem from the attempt to combine these two forms of expression and originate in the concepts of scale, measurement and volume. As individuals we move around here on Earth, consciously or unconsciously registering everything around us, on the basis of our own body and physicality. Each one of us is our own roving measuring stick and whether the measurements that surround us are theoretical or real, we nonetheless relate them to the physical space our body creates. In other words, it is the human perception of the world that I am trying to interpret in precise and conceptual works that simultaneously contain complexity and numerous possible meanings.

Work info
Kilo(Kubik)Meter (100 x 100 x 100 cm - 1000 meters parashute line, steel)
I + I + I (220 x 200 x 30 cm - Pencil on paper, mdf)

Pascal Mayet

Pascal Mayet
(born 1980, Sweden) lives and works in Copenhagen.
Det Fynske Kunstakademi, 2009-2014
Intermedia, The Hungarian University of Fine Art, 2011-2012
Interaktive medier, Designskolen Kolding, 2007-2009
pascalmayet.com

Practice
Pascal Mayet is an interdisciplinary artist who works serially with drawing, painting, text, installation, performance and sound.
His works are based on the sense of the experienced, and a major part of his practice takes place in the public arena. Through a poetic language he examines the connections between people and and their political, economical, environmental and cultural realities.
It is the interaction between these realities that interests him, where he places equal emphasis on the external space as on our own inner space where we feel, think and remember.
Pascal is interested in how these spaces affect us, but also in how we can affect them.

Kamilla Mez

Kamilla Mez
(born 1993, Berlin) lives and works in Aalborg.
BA Art & Technology, Aalborg Universitet 2016-19
www.kamillamez.com
@kamilla.mez

Practice
Kamilla Mez works primarily with themes of digitality, society and space, where she often links particular information from one place to another; addressing some of the many challenging dynamics of the social and political aspects existing at the boundaries of different types of spaces, between public and private or physical versus virtual. She deals with the dominating mediums through a language of elusive, parenthetical meanings that engages itself through the use of modern technology, installation and performance, which in their composition often demand a prior investigation. The investigation of the dynamics of spatial boundaries is important because they play out and affect cultural production and lived experience. Kamilla Mez works with what happens between the digital and arch-material, subtle objects and social profiles, enabling the expansion of an invisible knowledge.

Olivia Willman

Olivia Willman
(born 1996, Copenhagen) lives and works in Aarhus.
Det Jyske Kunstakademi 2017-22
@olivia_willman

Practice
Olivia Willman’s practice almost always results in sculpture or installations. Whether as a large single sculpture or a small hand-made element, there is always a connection between the material and its interaction with the surrounding world.
Temathically, Willmans works predominately with various forms of mysticism. In her approach to mysticism she maintains an affinity with a substanstial, almost forgotton cultural heritage specifically connected to Scandinavia, as a spirtual juncture between the Middle Ages and our present.