THE NOTION OF AUTHORITY by Kirstine Aarkrog

THE NOTION OF AUTHORITY

a solo show

by Kirstine Aarkrog

January 26th – February 10th, 2024

There is authority only where there is […] movement, change, and action. Authority is held only over that which can react, that is to say, that which can change according to what or who represents […] authority. And authority belongs to the person who can effect change and not to the one subjected to change. Authority is essentially active and not passive.

Alexandre Kojève, The Notion of Authority (A Brief Presentation)

The notion of Authority is a solo exhibition by Kirstine Aarkrog with 120 new text pieces. The material for the work is notes taken between 2014 and 2023. The notes have been worked over sculpturally and materially, in the sense that the editing is actual and physical. Aarkrog cuts up the texts and glues them back together, repeatedly, and these numerous edits are thus evident in the final results.

In Bladr Kirstine Aarkrog has created an installation that makes it impossible to get a clear overview of the text, just as it is impossible to see an entire sculpture, because it is three-dimensional and at least one side of it is thus always hidden.

For some time now, I have been trying to separate language from my sculptural work to see if they could function without it. So far I have failed. Without language the sculptures fall apart. The actual as well as the abstract holes and mistakes in my sculptures are a kind of spaces for language, because language in a way diminishes them.

In a similar way I am interested in whether language, in the form of instructions, assumptions, reflections, calculations etc., can stand alone without relying on any material reality other than its own.

Kirstine Aarkrog is an artist, working with in-depth fieldwork which most often results in sculptural works. She graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 2013.

The exhibition is supported by the Visual Arts Council (Rådet for Visuel Kunst) and the Danish Arts Foundation.

Opening Thursday January 25th, 5-8 pm
Exhibition January 26th – February 10th, 2024

Opening hours:
Thursday and Friday 4 - 6 pm
Saturday 1 - 4 pm
and by appointment.

Bladr Griffenfeldsgade 27 Nørrebro