Benedikte Bjerre. The Birds

Kunsthalle St. Annen will open the installation THE BIRDS by Danish artist Benedikte Bjerre in its publicly accessible foyer. The contemporary work is presented in parallel with the exhibition Dimensions of Freedom. Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt. This exhibition explores artistic self-empowerment and societal concepts of freedom through the lens of historical avant-gardes. With THE BIRDS, these questions are expanded to include contemporary perspectives and translated into an immediate, participatory experience: for the installation, Bjerre fills the exhibition space with hundreds of helium-filled balloons shaped like penguins. The figures move freely through the space, respond sensitively to air currents, and continuously shift their arrangement.

Through her work, the artist addresses pressing issues of our times. The use of industrially manufactured, mass-produced objects points to global systems of production and consumption, opening up reflections on the relationship between nature, resources, and the environment in the context of climate change and ecological transformation.

THE BIRDS offers an interactive and sensory approach to art: visitors are invited to move freely through the space and experience the installation from multiple perspectives. Presented in the foyer of Kunsthalle St. Annen, the installation is freely accessible to all and reinforces the Kunsthalle as an open space for the people of the city and for dialogue on the urgent issues of our time.

Benedikte Bjerre (*1987) studied Fine Arts at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main, following a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology. She lives and works in Copenhagen.