iKunsthal CharlottenborgIndre By
Amalie Smith: Levende
Danish artist-author Amalie Smith's largest solo show yet: hybrid sculptures in display cases and an immersive sound work exploring how life emerges and leaves its traces.
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Under machine-knitted blankets, human figures of wax and ceramic lie in white, glass-lidded cases like sleepers in glass coffins, surrounded by objects tied together with string. Each case is cut to the size of one of the kunsthal's doorways and lies on the floor as if someone had pushed the wall over.
This is Amalie Smith's largest solo show yet, all new work made for the North Wing. Five cases follow an inward spiral modelled on a snail shell, so you walk into rooms that get narrower and darker the further in you go. The last gallery is a listening room for Radio Levende, a five-channel sound work made with composer Simon Brinck from music, field recordings, new songs and Smith's conversations with natural scientists.
The kunsthal quotes a five-star review from Berlingske. Kunstkritikk's Louise Steiwer found it poetic but with a slightly dry, static seriousness. Tickets are 95 DKK, 55 DKK for students and free under 16, with free entry on Wednesdays from 17:00.
Look for
The doorway cases
Look at the white display cases: each is sized to one of the kunsthal's doorways and lies on the floor as if the wall had been pushed over.
The sleepers under knitted blankets
Wax and ceramic human figures lie in state under machine-knitted blankets, with string-bound objects packed around them like grave goods.
The snail-shell spiral
The route winds inward like a snail shell, and each room is narrower and darker than the one before.
The Radio Levende listening room
In the final gallery, five channels of music, field recordings, new songs and scientists' voices come together, including researchers tracing human lineages back as far as they go.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Going Solo
- Nerding Out
Skip if
You want lightness: Kunstkritikk's critic found the show poetic but drily, statically serious.
With kids
Under-16s get in free, and the kunsthal holds Charlottenborg Baby mornings in this show on 2 December and 3 February, 10:00 to 13:00. The rooms are dim throughout.
Also at Kunsthal Charlottenborg
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- Amalie Smith: LevendePhoto: David Stjernholm
- Sending all my love — Vintage Postcards from the Middle EastCourtesy of The David Collection
- The Art of Desire – an Ottoman Sex Manual and its Context (Begærets Kunst)Courtesy of The David Collection
- Henrik Vibskov: The ExhibitionPhoto: Josefina Eikenaar / Designmuseum Danmark
- Kunsthal CharlottenborgKevin Wallis / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- The David CollectionOrf3us / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- Thorvaldsens MuseumLeif Jørgensen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Christiansborg PalaceJulian Herzog / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Designmuseum DanmarkJasparbang / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0