Henrik Olesen's Expansive Reina Sofía Exhibition Dismantles Familialism and Capital
From 26 June to 21 October 2019, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid hosted an expansive exhibition by Henrik Olesen, which was curated without a specific title. The display featured architectural elements that facilitated a sense of both enclosure and dissolution. It commenced with 'Mr. Knife and Mrs. Fork' (2009), a political satire on radical disinheritance, and included 'Portrait of my Mother' and 'Portrait of my Father.' One room showcased a representation of Alan Turing's body alongside a disassembled Powerbook G4, critiquing capitalist alienation and referencing Turing's conviction and subsequent suicide. Additional works included 'Some Faggy Gestures' (2007), 'Corners' (2015), and recent pieces like 'Exit/Portal' (2018) and 'As Yet Untitled' (2018), which address historical repression.
Key facts
- Exhibition ran 26 June to 21 October 2019 at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.
- Olesen made architectural interventions: revealing windows, scaling walkways, partitioning spaces.
- Show has no title; bracketed by artist's name in vinyl wall text.
- Opens with 'Mr. Knife and Mrs. Fork' (2009), a burlesque political parody against the family.
- Includes 'Portrait of my Mother' (2009) and 'Portrait of my Father' (2009) as planks of wood.
- Text panel quotes Antonin Artaud via Deleuze and Guattari's 'Anti-Oedipus'.
- Doritos box with plastic knife and metal fork serves as maquette of the institution.
- Alan Turing's body reproduced via emptying out, with disassembled Powerbook G4 laptop.
- Turing convicted in 1953, forced chemical castration, suicide by cyanide-laced apple.
- 'Some Faggy Gestures' (2007): seven panels of web images of queer gazes from pre-modern culture.
- 'Corners' (2015): plaster casts of corners collapsed on floor with pamphlet 'Sex (In Public)'.
- Anthony Caro's 'Early One Morning' (1962) appropriated, surrounded by butchered carcass images.
- Wall text by John Kelsey quotes Dante's 'Inferno'.
- Recent works: painted-over painkiller packaging, 'Exit/Portal' (2018), perspex 'M', 'As Yet Untitled' (2018).
- Essay by Camilla Wills published 10 December 2019 on Afterall.
Entities
Artists
- Henrik Olesen
- Antonin Artaud
- Gilles Deleuze
- Félix Guattari
- Alan Turing
- Anthony Caro
- John Kelsey
- Gerry Bibby
- Andrew Culp
- Maurizio Lazzarato
- D. W. Winnicott
- Camilla Wills
Institutions
- Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
- Afterall
- Lumiar Cité
Locations
- Madrid
- Spain
- Lisbon
- Portugal
Sources
- Afterall —