HORNSLETH AND THE ART WORLD TABOOS

by Lise Jeppesen, Director, Randers Art Museum Denmark

There is no Danish artist, I personally find more provocative than Kristian von Hornsleth. I was therefore initially skeptical when Hornsleth contacted me in January 2016 with an exhibition proposal. I associated his name with the controversial Uganda project from 2006 and with a lot of pop-inspired paintings with exposed silicone bumps and rabid statements of violence, sexual assault, power and politics. From my point of view as a professional art lover, woman, well-educated and well-meaning cultural radical, his project appeared as something resembling a personal confrontation. But Hornsleths inquiry was not forgotten.

Over the summer of 2018, Hornsleth launched his homeless project, and it became a hot topic in the British media. It was subjected to criticism from the aid organizations, but at the same time the project turned the spotlight on the increasing number of homeless people who have to sleep on the streets, while apartments sold for millions of pounds are empty. My attention was sharpened as to how Hornsleth, with his manipulations, actually manages to expose some tender points: to make basic absurdities visible in society today.

There is no doubt that Hornsleth violates almost any taboo in the art world, and a large number of his works are offensive – often even repulsive! But the case is that Hornsleth’s project is largely aimed at awakening this reluctance or resistance. As a conceptual- and performance artist, Hornsleth has turned provocation into an art form, and he navigates with great success and awareness in the media and the public. We look forward to sharing the exhibition SUPER CRASH with you all.

Museum magazine, Udtryk, about the Hornsleth exhibition, 2019, PDF

WHO IS KRISTIAN von HORNSLETH?

by Wolf-Günter Thiel, art historian and publisher, Berlin

Hornsleth’s works, whatever medium, are countercultural in every sense of the term, at once toying with, exploiting and criticizing popular culture through their defiant attitude to social conformity. Driven by the symbolic representation of his own name, Hornsleth’s work succeeds in engendering its own momentum whilst simultaneously questioning the nature of publicity and celebrity culture at large. Often described as a cross between Friedrich Nietzsche, Andy Warhol and Dr. House, one can always expect a certain playful or egotistical madness in Hornsleth’s work, refreshing and invigorating in its capacity to shock.

There seems to be at least two contradicting approaches in the work of Hornsleth. Firstly his confrontational navigation through contemporary culture built on his own philosophy which he calls Futilism, making one capable of using futility as such in a most constructive way. Secondly his manic insisting of developing a symbolic representation of his own name, ‘Hornsleth’, emblazoned across countless works he’s produced that now reach out all over Denmark and around the world. The word is ‘Hornsleth’, questioning the beauty of manipulation in an often countercultural manner and further questioning if the publicity in itself is more important than the products it endorses, now spreading from branding Lamborghini’s to sculptures, provocative photographs, and people themselves.

Where does all this leave the contemporary person? The Hornsleth Village Project Uganda saw every individual in an African village change their name to Hornsleth, in a simple exchange for a pig or a goat, and outrage ensued. Headlines spread across the world, and questions about ethics arose, but you didn’t hear the villagers complain? Or should we say the Hornsleths? The Hornsleth Arms Investment Corporation drives questions home about the accepted face of capitalism, and the nature of human relations to safety versus cruelty and how commerce can spread the dilemma. Once the message is seen, it’s not forgotten. The Deep Storage Project, is energizing a clarion call to mankind to try and save itself from itself, and utilizing art in a way that offers a potential chance to fight for the future of our species from today.

SUPER CRASH UDSTILLINGEN 2019

Ved Lise Jeppesen, museumsdirektør Randers Kunstmuseum

Det er med stor spænding Randers Kunstmuseum fra den 13. april til den 28. juli 2019 kan vise udstillingen KristianvonHornsleth-SUPERCRASH.Udstillingenharfokuspåkunstneren, provokatøren og mediefænomenet Hornsleths sociale aktivistiske projekter The Hornsleth Village Project Uganda, The Hornsleth Homeless Tracker Project og Hornsleth Arms Investment Corporation samt hans kommercielle brandingprodukter skabt i kunstens navn.

Kristian von Hornsleths værker kritiseres ofte for at være ren provokation, idet de eksplicit udfordrer dominerende normer for acceptabel adfærd. Hornsleth udfordrer kunstsystemet: værkbegrebet, ophavsretten, kunstinstitutionen og kunstpublikummet. Udstillingen SUPER CRASH er derfor i høj grad et eksperiment. Hvad sker der, når institutionen indoptager kritikken og udstiller den? Hornsleth har i vid udstrækning fået frie hænder med udstillingen.

Von Hornsleths kunstneriske projekt handler i høj grad om at udvikle modkulturer til det etablerede ved at fordreje, æstetisere eller blot visualisere politiske og socioøkonomiske problematikker. Midt i en krænkelseskultur manipulerer han, og gør det ofte mesterligt, med vores adfærdsmønstre og holdninger, og en lang række mennesker køber hans værker. Om udstillingen skriver Kristian von Hornsleth: “Min kunst har altid søgt konfrontationen med alle autoritative officielle systemer, lige fra kulturens institutioner til de dominerende politiske magtbastioner. For mig er en sund kultur, en kultur, der stiller kompromisløse spørgsmål til magthaverne, og samtidig anviser nye veje mod en bedre og mere demokratisk global fremtid.” Det er von Hornsleths første danske museumsudstilling.

Udstillingen Kristian von Hornsleth – SUPER CRASH har delvist retrospektiv karakter og viser fotografi, installation, film, maleri, keramik og objekter fra 1999 til 2019. Som en nomade bevæger Hornsleth sig i et terræn af kunstneriske udtryksformer og hans kendskab til dansk og international kunst er stort. Han annekterer de forskellige medier, udforsker deres muligheder og gør dem til del af sit projekt.

I malerierne karikeres stiltræk fra ekspressionismen og kontrasteres med pornografiske billeder, pressefoto af politiske topmøder eller samfundsmæssige kriser. Han anvender strategier fra popkunsten og masseproducerer værkerne som salgsobjekter. Kunstnersignaturen og hermed kunstnermyten dyrkes narcissistisk og megalomant. Hvert værk signeres med navnet Horn$leth, så stort at navnet fremtræder som værkets egentlige budskab. Signaturen brandes på alt – fra store farvestrålende malerier med kendisser som Donald Trump, Pamela Anderson og Leonardo DiCaprio til Rolex ure, Ilva møbler, våben, motorcykler og indbyggere i en ugandisk landsby.

Hornsleths strategi synes at være at sætte identiteten ”Horn$leth” i centrum som et brand for alle hans projekter. Derved stiller Hornsleth samtidig spørgsmål ved kunstbegrebet som en autentisk eller inderlig afspejling af tiden og individet. Er værkernes indhold ren reklame efter devisen: “There is no product only marketing”? Han ønsker mediedebatten og anvender med stor succes kunstens udtryksformer som middel til det mål.

I den forstand er Hornsleth en forretningsmand, og hans kunstprojekt samt de sociale aktiviteter kan fremtræde som ondsindet kynisme. Som en kommerciel udvanding af forestillingen om kunstværket som frit, originalt, autentisk eller inderligt, men også som en etisk problematisk og grov udnyttelse af mennesker til fordel for personlig promovering. ”Fuck the poor – Horn$leth 2015” står der med store bogstaver på et monumentalt maleri skabt af den velhavende, hvide mandlige kunstner. I baggrunden vises et sort-hvidt foto af motorløbet i Monte Carlo.

Diskussionen om mål og middel er særligt betændt i forbindelse med de sociale politiske projekter, The Hornsleth Village Project Uganda og The Hornsleth Homeless Tracker Project, hvor Hornsleth agerer som aktivist og tilbyder velfærdsgoder, men kun til dem der deltager i hans projekt og lader sig ’købe’. Men er den handel ligeværdig, når den ene part er økonomisk ringere stillet end den anden? Har kunsten en forpligtelse til at indgå i etisk velovervejede relationer? For Hornsleth handler strategien, hvor han æstetiserer og visualiserer social nød, om at blotlægge velfærdssystemernes dysfunktionelle, absurde og ineffektive karakter og de realpolitiske og magthierarkiske forhold, de er forbundet med. Læs mere om problematikken i udstillingens publikation SUPER CRASH, hvor den diskuteres af både Camilla Møhring Reestorff og Mikkel Boris

Den amerikanske forfatter Arthur C. Danto har i publikationen After the end of art (1995) lanceret teorien om, at kunsten med det 20. århundredes avantgardebevægelser har opløst sig selv, og at dét, vi har kunnet opleve på kunstscenen de sidste 20 år, er de sidste krampetrækninger i et allerede dødt legeme. Hvis man anlægger det perspektiv, fremstår Hornsleth som den store dukkefører, der med sine snore animerer og orkestrerer en forestilling, hvor både magthavernes, mediernes, kunstverdenens, socialrådgivernes og selvfølgelig publikums reaktioner bliver del af værket.

I sidste ende er Hornsleths egentlige metier performance- og konceptkunstner, men hvor 1960’ernes konceptkunst var produceret ud fra devisen ”stor idé i en minimal form”, dyrker Hornsleth nærmest det modsatte. Idéen er til tider lille, men den udtrykkes i en stadig større og mere iøjnefaldende teatralsk form. Andre gange tager værket afsæt i et tabu forbundet med skyld eller skam, der så kontroversielt italesættes i rabiate slogans og sættes i spil som et storstilet mediecirkus.

Bliver ironien i sidste ende til selvironi? Er det her Hornsleths egentlige kritik formuleres? Kan Hornsleths kunstneriske projekt ses som den sidste romantikers forsøg på at afdække den vestlige verdens materialisme, kolonialisme og magtstrukturer i et oprigtigt håb om at skabe en bedre verden? Eller forbliver det en iscenesættelse? En diskussion af kunstens evne eller mangel på samme til at påvirke reel politisk forandring?

Randers Kunstmuseum har som museum for dansk kunst et bredt fokus på kunstscenen i dag. En særlig interesse er dog rettet mod kunstnere, der på forskellig vis agerer i yderkanten af det etablerede. Med disse udstillinger ønsker museet specifikt at debattere kunstfeltets grænseområder, kunst kontra branding, finkultur kontra populærkultur, kunst kontra politisk propaganda, kunst kontra ikke-kunst, det tabuiserede kontra det etablerede. Hvad der så sker under SUPER CRASH, når værkerne udstilles inden for kunstinstitutionens rammer, bliver interessant. Holder værkerne som kunst? Bliver kritikken tam? Eller er det modsat institutionens rammer, der smuldrer under frontalangrebet?

Vi glæder os til at dele udstillingen med publikum.

I arbejdet med udstillingen har Kristian von Hornsleth og hans assistenter ydet en enestående stor indsats. Det havde ikke været muligt at gennemføre et så omfangsrigt udstillingsprojekt uden deres dedikerede og selvstændige indsats. Udstillingen er blevet langt større end de økonomiske rammer ellers ville have tilladt. Der skal også lyde en stor tak til publikationens forfattere, Camilla Møhring Reestorff, Mikkel Boris, Tiziana Casapietra, Danilo Trogu, Jonas Bergstrøm, Carmen Line Hust, Wolf-Günter Thiel og Rasmus Willig og til Dennis Reindau, Sebastian Gyrst-Lonsig Christensen og Kristian von Hornsleth, der har stået for arbejdet med grafik og opsætning.

Stor tak til de hjemløse fra projektet The Hornsleth Homeless Tracker Project, der passioneret har tilbudt at dele deres historie og interesse for projektet med publikum i forbindelse med udstillingens åbning.

Udover værker fra Hornsleths egen samling omfatter udstillingen malerier fra en række private samlere. Vi er glade for at kunne præsentere dette udvalg af værker for offentligheden og vil benytte lejligheden til hjerteligt at takke de mange udlånere. Udstillingen ville ikke kunne være blevet realiseret uden Jer.

Lise Jeppesen, Museumsdirektør Randers Kunstmuseum

Shows

2022 “Great Love Will Come Again”, Miami private show r0om, Wynwood. Link
2022 “Rebels of Wealth”, NFT Project, 0ver 1000 sold, Copenhagen Denamark. Link
2022 “Political Art”, Warsaw National Art Museum, U-jazdowsky. Link
2021 “More than champagne”, Galerie Renate Kammer, Hamburg, group show. Info Catalogue
2019 “Supercrash”, Randers Art Museum, Denmark. Info
2012 “Painted Models”, Fashion Week Sao Paulo”, Kee Mod agency, November. Info
2012 “Freak Night and Deep Storage Project”, with Flaming Lips, Oklahoma, October. Info
2012 “Deep Storage New York”, White Box Manhattan, October. Info
2012 “Super Panic Light Box Show”, Platinum Lace, London, March, info
2012 “New Works”, GG Gallery, London, May
2011 3rd Annual Christmas Show, 20th Century Theatre, Notting HIll, London
2011 “Great Love Will Come Again”, Ralph Schriever Galerie, Cologne, Germany
2011 “Dead Porn Stars Litany”, FB69 Gallery, Münster, Germany
2011 Amsterdam Art Fair / FB69 Gallery Münster Germany
2011 “Projects of Exploitation, Death and Eternity”, GG Gallery, London
2011 “The Hornsleth Morgan”, Milano Design Week
2010 “Lord Mayors Parade” London with Morgan car producers
2011 Playtime Gallery and Bar, London, 2 February
2009 Opening Party, Hornsleth Showroom Aarhus, 21. Aug
2009 “Deep Storage Project”, Galerie de Grancy, Lausanne, Switzerland
2009 Langelands Efterskole Massacre Performance, 16. May
2009 Deep Storage Project, 798 Space, Beijing, China
2009 Deep storage Project, Stageback Gallery, Shanghai, China
2009 Deep storage Project, University of Guam, Guam, USA
2009 Deep Storage Project, BN24 Galerie, Hamburg, Germany
2009 Deep Storage Project, Bangkok, Soul Flower Gallery, Bangkok
2009 Fuck the Financial Crises, Galerie FB69, Münster, Germany
2008 New Works and Old Fears, A Fine Arts Gallery, Odense
2008 Hornsleth Arms Investment Corporation, Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen
2006 The Hornsleth Village Project Uganda, photos and video, Pressen, Politiken, Copenhagen
2006 We have money than God, paintings, Solon Kaffi Galerie, Reykjavik
2006 My Collectors Are Richer Than Yours, paintings, Another Year in L.A. Gallery, Los Angeles
2006 Just Get Rich, paintings and sculptures, DDM Gallery, Shanghai
2005 The New Hornsleth Restaurant, Apropos Galerie, Cologne, book
2005 Horn$leth Hurt$ Cu€to, Valerie Cueto Galerie, Paris, catalogue
2004 Bored to Death in Switzerland, JF Galerie, Zürich
2004 The Viking Art Party, The Hands in Clay Gallery, Shanghai
2004 The 10 Hornsleth Lounge Parties, 10 different locations 2002 – 2004, Copenhagen
2003 Fuck My Brains Out, Knud Grothe Galerie, Copenhagen
2002 F.Y.A.L., Baumgartner Gallery, New York
2001 Versus, Center of Attention Gallery, with Tai Shani, London
2001 Promi Paranoia, Felix Leiter Gallery, Berlin
2001 My Collectors Are Richer Than Yours, Galerie Heitsch, Munich
2001 Fucking Liars and Timeless Constructions, JF Galerie, Zürich
2001 Rape Kill Steal Burn, Galerie Mirko Mayer, Cologne
2001 Rape Kill Steal Burn, Stalke Gallery, Copenhagen
2000 The Hornsleth Bucherer Jewelry Project, Moscow Art Fair, with Galerie Volker Diehl, Moscow
2000 The Hornsleth Bucherer Jewelry Project, Cobblestone Film Production GmbH, Hamburg
2000 Fuck You Art Lovers, Galerie Jörg Heitsch, Munich
1999 New Brandings, Stalke Gallery, Copenhagen
1998 Nice Paintings for Nice Homes, Paustian, Copenhagen, Catalogue
1998 Group 7, Stalke Gallery, Copenhagen
1997 Civilization Critiques, Stalke Gallery, Copenhagen, Catalogue
1997 Elaborated Copies From The Big Noise, 10 shows with Danish Art Associations, Catalogue
1996 Futilistic Intervention, architectural installation, European Cultural Capital Copenhagen ’96
1995 The Hornsleth Death List, Sophienholm, Cobra Space, Copenhagen

Group shows

2012 Price of Freedom, Imitate Modern, London, February
2009 Love, Rohde Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009 Détournement, 53. Biennale, Venezia, Italia, Project program, Weblink
2009 Industrial Culture, the Globes, National Museum, Brede Værk, Denmark
2009 Stalke Up North, Copenhagen, ONE Copenhagen, Six Americans / Six Danes,curator: Dove Bradshaw; artists: Anastasi, Andre, Barry, Bradshaw, Kretschmer, Passehl, Dahlgaard, Ebbesen, Hornsleth, Jedig, Mertz, Recke ONE Copenhagen on-line catalogue
2009 Play Along, Galleri Rumkammeraterne, Copenhagen
2008 Rebranding X-mas, Galleri Fedt, Copenhagen
2008 Mit der Nase in die Zukunft, FB69 Galerie, Münster
2008 Overkill, Wonderland Art Space, Copenhagen
2007 Unfair Trade, Landesmuseum Joanneum, Neue Galerie, with Gursky, Sierra a.o., Graz, Austria
2007 Curating Contest, La Hotel Louisine, with Galerie Olivier Robert, Paris
2007 Shanghai Art Fair, with 1918 Art Space, Shanghai
2007 Asia Europe Meditations, Posnan, Poland, Catalogue
2007 The Hornsleth Village Project, lecture July 1 at WSNHiD University, Posnan, Poland
2005 ARCO ’05 Art Fair, Galerie Valerie Cueto, Madrid
2004 Bruxelles Art Fair, Galerie Valerie Cueto
2004 Lies, Lust, Art & Fashion, Podewil, Berlin
2003 Albisola, Italy, Attese, Ceramic Biennale #2
2002 Berlin, Potsdamer Platz, Deutsche Recycling, DKR, U-Bahn tunnel project, catalouge
2002 Genève, Musèe Ariana, Ceramics from The Ceramic Biennale, Albisola, Italy
2001 Cologne, Art Cologne with Galerie Mirko Mayer
2001 Cologne, BBK, Bundesverband Bildende Kunst Köln, Oktober
2001 The Happy Face of Globalisation, Attese Organizatione, Ceramic Biennale , Albisola, Italy
2001 Tirana Bienale, invited by Giancarlo Politi, the Flash Art editor, catalogue, Albania
2000 Art Forum Berlin with Galerie Mirko Mayer, Berlin
2000 Fouri Uso 2000, invited by the curator Helene Kontova of Flash Art, catalogue, Pescara, Italy
2000 Liste 2000, with Stalke Gallery, Basel
2000 Fun Fame and Fortune, Galerie Mirko Mayer, Cologne
1999 Art Forum, with Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin
1999 Liste 99, The Young Art Fair, Stalke Gallery, Basel
1999 Art Frankfurt, with Stalke Gallery
1998 Stalke Gallery, The 10 year aniversary show, Copenhagen
1997 Stockholm Art fair, Stalke Gallery
1996 Copenhagen, Stalke Gallery, Status 3
1995 Vienna Architechture Festival, invited by Scott Ritter

Special projects

2009 ILVA, Making love to 2 mill people, art prints on canvas
2008 Hornsleth on the Mobile, with iLoop Mobile Europe ApS, sms: ‘hornsleth’ to 1940
2008 TV DR2 Smagsdommerne, The Judges of Taste, 14. feb, a culture debate show
2007 Smagsdommerne, The Judges of Taste, culture debate show, TV DR2 Danmarks Radio
2007 Bestseller Denmark, Kill Me Fast, ten shows and performances in ‘Selected’ fashion shops
2007 The Ducati 1098 Project Kill Me Fast #1-10, painted and exhibited around Denmark
2007 Fair Trade for Max Havelaar, poster project, Denmark
2006 Smagsdommerne, The Judges of Taste, culture debate show, TV DR2 Danmarks Radio
2006 Hornsleth Village Project Uganda, 100 people added ‘Hornsleth’ to name for farm animals, link
2001 Saxobank Denmark, Chance Operation, an ongoing installation project

Education

1988-94 MA, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, Architecture
1983-86 Geology studies, University of Copenhagen
1987-88 Copenhagen Business School

Art group

2008 Co founder of PP08 – Psycho Pop 2008, with Smike Käzner, Søren Dahlgaard, and others
1999 Co founder of PERMANENT VACATION, with Flash Art critic Wolf-Günter Thiel
1994 Founder of art group FSP, Futilistic Society Projects, Publishing, Sound
1990 Co founder of Juan Uno Etc. with artist Marco Evaristti and novellist Benn Q.Holm

Concerts and theatre

1999 Four Futlistic Sound Images, by F.S.P. Group, Stengade 30 Concert House, Copenhagen, DVD
1998 Nice Music For Nice Homes, Sound works performed by FSP at Paustian House, Copenhagen
1998 The Sound of Futilism, Solo piano by Hornsleth, Broendby Music School, Copenhagen
1995 Mariage of Heaven and Hell, opera performance, Juan Uno Etc., Second Opera, Copenhagen
1995 Mariage of Heaven and Hell, opera performance, Juan Uno Etc., New Theatre, Horsens, DK

Music editions

1999 Four Futlistic Sound Images, Live from Stengade Concert House, Copenhagen DVD 60 min
1998 Nice Music For Nice Homes, improvised sound work, by FSP, CD 63 min
1997 Fucking A Minor, Solo piano works by Kristian von Hornsleth, CD 70 min

Film

2006 The Hornsleth Village Project Uganda, with H. Lundo, TV DR2
2003 Fuck You Art Lovers Live No.2 , a sex triangle mouning ‘Hornsleth’, 5 min
1999 Talks on Futilism, 45 min, The Danish Film Institute Workshop
1999 Fuck You Art Lovers Live No.1, a silevr dildo demonstration, 5 min
1996 Babylon96Copenhagen, S16 mm, 5 min, with Evaristti/Holm, The Danish Film Inst. Workshop
1996 The Finger Phenomena, S16 mm, 33 min, with Evaristti, The Danish Film Institue Workshop

Bibliography

2003 Fuck My Brains Out, 24 pages, Grothe Gallery Copenhagen
1998 Nice paintings for nice homes, Paustian 16 pages, Futilistic Society Publishing, Copenhagen
1997 The Futilistic Manifest, 120 pages, Futilistic Society Publishing, Copenhagen
1997 Civilization Critiques, 24 pages, Stalke Gallery, Futilistic Society Publishing, Copenhagen
1997 Elaborated copies from the big noise -paintings of futilism, 24 pages, Danish Art Unions
1993 Dø Vågnende Søvn, Die Awakenen sleep, 240 pages, with Evaritti/Holm, Juan Uno Etc. Publ.
1992 The Litany of Hate, Overgaden, Copenhagen, 24 pages, Juan Uno Etc Publ., Copenhagen
1991 The Urban Delirium, 98 pages, Juan Uno Etc Publishing

Grants

1998 The Danish State Art Foundation
1998 The Danish State Music Council
1998 Danida Traveling Grant
1997 L.F. Foughts Foundation
1997 The Danish State Art Foundation
1997 The Danish Film Institute, The Workshop
1996 Copenhagen Cultural Capital Foundation
1995 The Danish Film Institute, The Workshop
1995 The State Music Council