Benedikte Bjerre. Photo: Karen Rosetzsky
Benedikte Bjerre
PROJECT
In Benedike Bjerre’s installation, the image of the penguin is used to investigate the interconnected relationships between popular culture, mass consumerism and the climate. Moving through the space as if they have agency, penguin-shaped helium ballons recall beloved penguins in pop culture, such as the animated singing penguins in Happy Feet. The artist is also drawing our attention to the precariousness of penguins’ natural habitats due to climate change. The work shares its title with Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror film about nature turning on humanity – luckily for us, however, Bjerre’s penguins don’t appear to be set on vengeance.
The acquisition of this artist’s work is supported by Joe White Bequest
ABOUT
In her practice, Danish artist Benedikte Bjerre examines sculptural forms in relation to architectural spaces. With an interest in how audiences experience their surroundings she references observations from daily life to comment on the current state of society.
Bjerre attended Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, and De Ateliers in Amsterdam. She recently had solo exhibitions at Kunstverein Göttingen and O—Overgaden in Copenhagen, and her works are included in the permanent collections of MMK, Frankfurt, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Malmö Art Museum, Sweden, and the National Gallery of Denmark.
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