J&K / Janne Schäfer und Kristine Agergaard

Die Arbeit "Unendliches Spektrum" ist eine umfassende, grafische Malerei, welche über einen zwei-schenkligen Korridor des Neubaus eines LTGBI* Alters- und Pflegeheims der Schwulenberatung Berlin verläuft und hierbei die Wandflächen sowie die Decke bespielt. Der Ausgangspunkt für die graphische Arbeit sind Flaggen, mit denen sich verschiedene Gruppen über Sexualitäten und Genderzugehörigkeit identifizieren, die auch als “Pride Flaggen” bekannt sind. Die erste Regenbogen Flagge wurde 1978 von Gilbert Baker im Rahmen der San Francisco Pride entworfen. Vor allem seit den neunziger Jahren wurden eine wachsende Zahl von neuen Flaggen entwickelt, die jeweils die Zugehörigkeit zu einer spezifischen Gruppe bzw. Subgruppe sexueller und/oder geschlechtlicher Identifikation verbildlicht. Die BewohnerInnen und NutzerInnen des Gebäudes sollen die Möglichkeit haben, ihre persönliche Zugehörigkeit im Bild zu entdecken und gleichzeitig die Vielschichtigkeit der NutzerInnen des gesamten Projekts - auch zukünftiger noch nicht existierender Gruppen- zu reflektieren.Durch das Bild wird eine Vision von sexuellen und geschlechtlichen Identitätszuschreibungen entworfen, die immer offener und fließender wird: eine unendliche und spielerische Verwandlung der Identitäten in Bewegung. Gleichzeitig entsteht ein graphisch und farblich mitreißendes Formen- und Farbenspiel, welches auch rein abstrakt gelesen werden kann und in der Interpretation offen ist.

The mural Forenede Fasaner (United Pheasants) is the second final step of the community project and performance Forenede Fasaner – parade for Nordre Fasanvej (2016) in which J&K collaborated with 15 social groups and companies from the multicultural area “the birds quarter” around Nordre Fasanvej. Following the principle applied in the parade, the mural is a collage composed from visual samples from the hyper diverse neighbourhood bridging Copenhagen and Frederiksberg Councils. The work is innovative within the mural genre as the entire visuality is strictly departing in the artistic research and a long term participatory community process within this neighbourhood undertaken by J&K since 2015. By juxtaposing architectonic elements, cultural symbolism and everyday icons and composing them into three joyful figurative beings the work reflects the rich cultural diversity of the “bird’s quarter area” in a playful way and acts as a visual and welcoming gateway into the area. Forenede Fasaner was realised in collaboration with Somewhere, Nordre Fasanvej Kvarteret in Frederiksberg Council and the production was realised under direction of scenic painter Raz Brandt in collaboration with Christine Bechameil, Liselotte Møller og Rebecka Gothen.

"The Tale of The Black Water Snake" is a performative walk and participatory water cleaning ritual developed for the Biennial "Stofskifte" organised by artist collective På den Anden Side that took place on the summer 2020 on the island of Møn. The work springs from an investigation of the village's sewage and grey water system and its natural integration. Large parts of the grey water of the village Hårbølle is collected and runs into the sea at close-by Fanefjord without any man-made cleansing. On the water’s course to the sea the grey water passes a biotope that was created by a local initiative ca 30 years years ago by opening and rewilding Hårbølle stream, which now cleans the water in natural ways - it has been scientifically proven that the water is of high quality when it enters the sea and is today home to fish, many birds and a large amount of plant and animal species. The work is based on numerous conversations with locals and a series of guided meditative journeys undertaken in the village of Hårbølle J&K. The performance celebrates the local initiative and the rare and magical example of a functioning eco-system. https://2020.pdas.dk/kristine-agergaard

digital photo collage, wall relief in 9 parts, c-print diasec, 310 x 840 x 9 cm commissioned by the The German Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) permanently installed at the new building of the Goethe Institute and DAAD, Cairo, Egypt With this wall size photo-collage-tableau artist duo J&K have created a complex imagery for the foyer of the Goethe Institut’s new building in Cairo commissioned by The German Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR). They present a queer, fictive mythology that draws from both ancient Egyptian symbolism and revolutionary iconography. “Glory to the Unknown deals in death and triumph, fear and optimism, the potential for violence and the potential for peace, ultimately reaching for reaching a hope-filled climax that feels impossible, but is important to try to imagine” (A. Szremski).

“Future urban street life shall be formed by people not walls! This was the morale when Forenede Fasaner by artist duo J&K put everyday life on hold in a utopian split second and showed the social potential behind the structures that both define and separate us” (from review of parade by Kunsten.nu) For the community project Forenede Fasaner J&K invited diverse communities around the multicultural working class area of Nordre Fasanvej to co-create a performance project in the form of a street parade along and around Nordre Fasanvej on June 18th 2016. Nordre Fasanvej is a road that is perceived as a traffic way with little commercial, cultural or social activity, yet behind the facades life is brimming in the most varied ways. Based on a half year process of research in the area and encounters with a large number of local communities, J&K’s focus was to bring the rich and multi-faceted but largely hidden cultural life in the area onto the street and to mix-match otherwise separate cultural expressions into a fantastical living collage. Forenede Fasaner was created by J&K in collaboration with citizens, businesses and communities from Nordre Fasanvej and neighbouring streets: Danafrika, Den Kinesiske Forening, Glentekroen, Gunni Torp, H.C. Skov, Kammerklubben / Ramez Mhaanna and Mirjam Teresa Petersson, Kræmmerarkaden, Linjen (Bureau Detours) + Wolf FM, Mammut is in Love, Marius – Bispeengens Bemandede Legeplads, Natha Yogacenter, Nørrebro Karateklub, Samuel Takyi ‘Samtechi’, Texprint, and more. Forenede Fasaner is part of the art programme DETOURS that is realised on and around Nordre Fasanvej by the City Renewal Schemes Fuglekvarteret and Nordre Fasanvej Kvarteret from autumn 2015 to winter 2017. The art programme DETOURS is curated and produced by SOMEWHERE.

The Community Cycle presents an idealized and fictive community existing in a parallel reality beyond historical time and place. Each of the four living tableaux fuses performance and installation manifesting a rite of passage deriving from an imaginary mythological narrative. Each of the four acts marks an essential sequence of a life cycle: birth, life, death and afterlife. Basic human concerns such as family, labour, nourishment, economy and sleep are experimented with and separations between work, survival, leisure, worship and art are collapsing. Forming a striking contrast to the commercial pedestrian street where the performances take place, the work celebrates the public space as a possible location for trying out ideas and actions suggesting an alternative production of culture and an expanded sense of community. The work was developed for the public space programme of Copenhagen Art Festival in 2012, curated by Christian Skovbjerg Jensen and performed at dedicated sites along the main walking street Strøget of Copenhagen on four consecutive days, in total creating a day cycle from morning to night.

Multi-cultural notice board “We are what we eat” (unrealised) 1. price art-in-architecture competition, cultural council of Neukölln 2013, proposal for re-design of LIDL wall The facade of supermarket discounter LIDL on Donaustrasse - right in the centre of downtown Neukölln - is transformed into a huge colourful graphic notice board where local opinions on the subject shopping and food are to be read in various languages that are spoken in the area. The content of the quotes is extracted from a survey undertaken right in front of the store, where by-passers and customers have answered questions regarding their shopping attitude and eating habits. Using the subject of food as a vehicle to talk about cultural and personal identifications, a portrait of the neighbourhood is created representing the large social spectrum and the multiplicity of the neighbourhood. The graphic language of the wall-painting is inspired by pop-art; by visually appropriating and playing with LIDL’s own brand identity the work examines and questions the way classic commercial advertisement works. The proposal won the competition initiated by the cultural council of Neukölln. Unfortunately it was later rejected by LIDL after a lengthy negotiation process. So for now the work only exists in the form of a proposal.