Short Artist Statement

The artist duo J&K (Janne Schäfer, b. 1976, Darmstadt, DE and Kristine Agergaard / kkart, b. 1975, Copenhagen, DK) have been working in collaboration since 1999 and are based in Berlin, Copenhagen and on the island Møn.

J&K’s artistic practice is fundamentally performative and engages various ways of relating performance to other media such as photography, installation, collage, sculpture, found objects and text. Kaleidoscopic reference systems, constructed narratives and altered mythologies build the backbone, whereas collage can be understood as a basic principle for how the works come into existence. Using a double-bind of playfulness and sincerity the work investigates mechanisms behind the cultural production of values, believes and identities. The notion of civilisation is questioned while liminal realms of human and non-human becoming are scrutinised and transitional states of existence explored.

During 2018 and 2019 J&K are long term residents at the Inter Arts Centre, Malmø, to develop a large performance work which will premiere at Inkonst, Malmø, in early 2020. Recent larger completed projects include the public art work Forende Fasaner, a 20m high mural on Hillerødgade 38, Frederiksberg/Copenhagen, commissioned by Somewhere, as well as the art-in-architecture work Glory to the Unknown permanently installed at the Goethe Institute in Cairo/Egypt, commissioned by the German Federal Building Office.

J&K have shown major solo presentations at SPACE projects in London, The National Gallery of Denmark, KUNSTEN – Aalborg Museum of Art, The Pergamon Museum Berlin, The Aarhus Art Building, Overgaden – Institute for Contemporary Art Copenhagen and others. They have participated in large international group shows such as the 1rst Karachi Biennial, Copenhagen Art Festival, Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art and The Liverpool Biennial, and have shown widely at internationally institutions such as Mathaf Doha, Institut de Monde Arab Paris, IVAM Valenica, Museum for Egyptian Art Munich, NGBK+Kunstraum Kreuzberg Berlin, KUMU Tallinn, Pori Art Museum, Casino Luxembourg, Galerie im Körnerpark Berlin, Teatr Studio Warsaw, and many more.

Download artist bio – updated Jan 2019

Selected Exhibitions and Projects

Solo Exhibitions and Selected Performances

* indicates catalogue or publication

2020 (upcoming)

• We (working title), Inkonst, Mamø, SE

2018

• We, du.al, Svendborg, DK
• The space consists of a circle that travels in time, SPACE, London, GB
• Forenede Fasaner, public mural, Frederiksberg, DK, 2018

2017

• Soul Retrieval, solo show, Ringsted Galleriet, Ringsted, DK *
• The Emancipation of O.O.O., performance, Overgaden – Institut for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK

2016

• Huck, Tuck, Fold, Pack, installation and performance with C.Borch, I.Lewandowski, M.Steckbauer, Galerie im Turm / Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin, DE
• Forenede Fasaner – parade for Nordre Fasanvej, performance and community project, public space, Somewhere – Detours, Copenhagen, DK
• Sleeping, Dreaming, Dying, performance ritual in collaboration with M.Steckbauer, I.Lewandowski, C. Borch, Drømmesalen, Møn, DK

2015

• Sleeping, Dreaming, Dying, performance ritual in collaboration with M.Steckbauer, I.Lewandowski, C. Borch, private house Bestensee, DE
• Museum of O.O.O., solo show, KUNSTEN, Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Denmark*

2014

• Dark Ice, performances and text series, Greenland Eyes International Film Festival, Nuuk, GL and the Nordic countries*
• Calling for Water, Calling for Nettles, Calling for Gold, Calling for Dreams, performance, Tørring Gymnasium in connection with acquisition of the work by the Danish Arts Foundation, DK

2013

• The Nation, solo show (2013-2015) + performance (2013), National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, DK
• The Cave, performance, at ff-forma, part of Painting Forever! Keilrahmen, KW, Berlin, DE
Babylon Shuttle Bus – Mobile Utopia Research Unit, performance, Fusion Festival, DE
• Under Her Spell, performance in collaboration with Mathilde ter Heijne and Jen Ray, at ff / TAZ 2, Galerie im Körnerpark, DE

2012

• The Community Cycle: Birth, Life, Death, Afterlife, performance cycle in the public space, Copenhagen Arts Festival, DK*
• Calling for Water, Calling for Nettles, Calling for Gold, Calling for Dreams, performance, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK

2011

• The Nation, performance, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, DK
• Future Citizens, performance in collaboration with Pulsk Ravn, Kunsthallen Nikolaj and Fabrikken for Kunst og Design, Copenhagen, DK
2010
• The Perfect Stage, solo show, The Aarhus Art Building, Aarhus, DK *
• Descending the Holy Mountain, performance, The Århus Art Building and public space, Århus, DK
2009
• Museum of Autoanthropology, solo show, KBH Kunsthal, Krabbesholm, DK
2008
• Tools and Relics, solo show, etc.galerie, Prague, CZ
• The Babylon Case – A Time Capsule For Our Civilization, solo project, Pergamon Museum, Berlin, D *
2007
• I Know The World 3: Egyptomaniacs, solo show, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin, D
• Talking Babylon, solo show and performance, Uqbar, Berlin, D
• Egyptomaniacs, solo show, Overgaden – Institute for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK
2005
• Doing the worst we can, solo show, RACA, Copenhagen, DK
2002-2004
• The Gospel of the Golden Dolphin, ongoing performance project, Liverpool Biennial and others, UK, D, DE

Selected Group Shows

* indicates catalogue or publication

2017
• upcoming: Karachi Biennial, Karachi, PAK
• Hybris, group show, Overgaden – Institut for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK

2016
• One minutes, screening, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts (AMNUA), Nanjing, CHN
• Survival Kit 8, performance with Paul Philipp Heinze, Linards Kulless, Christoph Mühlau, Magda Tothova, & Suse Wächter, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga, LAT
• ƒƒ / Stage Diving, Syster Gallery, Luleå, SE
• Turm, Turm, Turm, exhibition in 3 parts, Galerie im Turm, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin, DE
2015
• Mending and Bending Remedies Beneath the Palm Tree, performance with Paul Philipp Heinze, Linards Kulless, Christoph Mühlau, Melissa Steckbauer, Magda Tothova, Vienna Art Week, Palme13, Vienna, AUT
• Freitag, der 13. | 13 – יום שישי ה, Circle 1, Berlin, DE
• Green Gold, performance, KGB Art Week, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin, DE
• ƒƒ / Pffffff, performance, Works on Paper III, Momentum, Berlin, DE
• ƒƒ / Help It Grow, performative conference, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, DE
2014
• They have come to escort me…, event curated by J&K, Kunsthal Nikolaj, Copenhagen, DK
• ƒƒ – TAZ 3 with ff, exhibition and 24h performance event, Teatr Studio, Warsaw, PL
• They have come to escort me on the dangerous pathway of the intermediate state, video series curated by J&K, The One Minutes, Amsterdam, NL
• Tea with Nefertiti, State Museum of Egyptian Art, Munich, DE*
• Der Hen Ad, Sydhavn station, Copenhagen, DK
2013
• New Danish Artists, CPH:DOX film festival, screening, Copenhagen, DK
• Tea with Nefertiti, Insitute Valencia d’Art Modern, Valencia, ES*
• The Oracle / ff, The Wand, Berlin, DE*
• Tea with Nefertiti, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, F*
• ƒƒ / TAZ 2: Collaborations, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin, DE
• ƒƒ / TAZ 2: Erogenous Zone, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin DE
2012
• Tea with Nefertiti, Mathaf, Doha, Qatar*
• Day Of The Dead, Minuit Vernissage, Grandteatret, DK*
• Das Lebens ist Anderswo, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin, DE
2011
• Generous Gestures, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK
2010
• Transient Spaces – the tourist syndrome, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/NGBK, Berlin, D*
• Screened Realities, IG Bildende Kunst, Vienna, AU
• Celebration, Uqbar, Berlin, D
• Remnants of Exercise 1: Evoking Perfection through Intoxication, performance at Forgotten Bar Project, Berlin, DE
2009
• Private Flat # 5 situaction, private flat, Florence, IT
• The Party, Beaver Projects, Copenhagen, DK
• The Infinite, the Intimate and the Impossible, Magacin, Belgrade, SRB
• Reliquaries of the Empires Dust, Bereznitsky Gallery, Berlin, D
2008
• Museumsbauhütte, Werkbundarchiv / Museum der Dinge, Berlin, D *
• Transient Spaces / Kaunas in art contexts, Meno Parkas, Kaunas, LT
• Don’t Worry – Be Curious, 4th Ars Baltica Triennal of Photographic Art, NGBK / Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin, D, Contemporary Arts Centre, Andrejsala, Riga, LAT, Casino Luxembourg, LUX *
• The Soft Shields of Pleasure, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK*
• I Know The World, SMART Project Space, Amsterdam, NL *
2007
• Match Race, Nordjyllands Museum of Art, Ålborg, DK *
• I Know The World I, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin, D
• The Tent Show, hosted by Parfyme Deluxe, Nikolaj – Contemporary Art Centre, Copenhagen, DK
• Don’t Worry – Be Curious, 4th Ars Baltica Triennal of Photographic Art, Stadtgalerie Kiel, DE, KUMU – Estonian Art Museum, Tallin, EE, Pori Art Museum, FI *
• Talks on Babylon, performance, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, DK
2006
• Tales From the Travel Journal vol I, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, LT *
• Sit Down! – Contemporary Art in Mimersgade, Mimersgade, Copenhagen, DK *
2005
• Suspend Disbelief, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin, D
• EXIT 05, Kunstforeningen Gl. Strand, Copenhagen, DK *
2004
• Stafet, Esbjerg Museum of Art, Esbjerg, DK *
• Rituale der Zukunft, Program Angels/Lothringer Dreizehn, Munich, D
2003
• Mixed, Backfabrik, Berlin, D
2002
• Liverpool Biennial 2002 – The Independent: New Religious Art II, St Peter’s Church, aconvention, Adelphi Hotel and various public spaces, Liverpool, UK
• New Religious Art I, Henry Peacock Gallery, London, UK
2001
• Rio Trajectorias, Galeria Funarte – Ministry for Culture and Education and various public spaces, Rio de Janeiro, BRA*
• Tea Party, intervention performance, Tate Modern, London, UK
2000
• Escamping, The Lido, London, UK
• London Biennale 2000, Blue Boy Shop, London, UK

Contact Info

J&K Studio Berlin
Janne Schäfer
Maybachufer 14/15
DE – 12047 Berlin
j[at]jk-world.net

J&K are members of feminist network ff.

J&K Studio Copenhagen
Kristine Agergaard
Baggesensgade 4C, 4
DK – 2200 Copenhagen N
k[at]jk-world.net

Kristine Agergaard is member of kkart.