About

benandsebastian

(Ben Clement, 1981 Oxford, UK; Sebastian de la Cour, 1980 Copenhagen, DK)

“benandsebastian’s work questions how gaps in knowledge shape identity and how particular absences, for example in the form of lost objects, incomplete artefacts, or excluded narratives, act upon the imagination.”

 

‘The work of the collaborative artist practice, benandsebastian, teeters on a cusp between designed physicality and intangible theories of the mind. Trained in architecture and theoretically versed, their sculptures take on elaborate mechanics and boast intricate detailing, yet speak to vast philosophical and sociological systems. It is impossible to concretely anchor their work, an elusiveness made evident in their recent exhibition at the Designmuseum Danmark, ‘Phantom Limbs’.

Embedded directly within the permanent collection and specifically paired with unexpected inventory from Copenhagen’s Medical Museum, National Museum and the attics of Designmuseum Danmark, their work becomes not only the sculptures on display, but the myriad relationships made between context and object, between body and limb. Evoking the medical sense of phantom limbs, where an amputee still feels the presence of the absent limb, benandsebastian navigate the museum context and call into question the assumed wholeness we expect, perceive and viscerally feel.’

Cassandra Edlefsen Lasch,
independent curator, DAMn magazine, issue 33

benandsebastian3

 
benandsebastian see what they make as a way of exploring the constructive potential of doubt within material culture.

E X H I B I T I O N S

2024:
Silent Parties
After
Berlin, Germany
2024:
Best Book Work of the Year
The Royal Danish Library
Copenhagen, Denmark
2023:
Realistic Utopias
KØS
Køge, Denmark
2022:
Traces of Niels Bohr
Sophienholm Kunsthal
Lyngby, Denmark
2021:
Autonomous Design
MAK Center for Art and Architecture
Los Angeles, USA
2019:
Where We Stand Now
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
Kanazawa, Japan
2019:
Recollection
Galleri Specta
Copenhagen, Denmark
2018:
Department of Voids, solo exhibition
Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art
Copenhagen, Denmark
2018:
Matter Out of Place, solo exhibition
Galerie Maria Wettergren
Paris, France
2017:
Everyday Life
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
Kanazawa, Japan
2015:
Göteborg International Biennial of Contemporary Art
Gothenburg, Sweden
2015:
Museum of Nothing
Shanghai Museum of Glass
Shanghai, China
2015:
The Beijing Archive, solo exhibition
Institute of Provocation
Beijing, China
2015:
The Fields Sculpture Park
Hudson, New York, USA
2014:
Beyond Reach
Den Frie Center of Contemporary Art
Copenhagen, Denmark
2013:
Homecomings
Gründerzeit
Berlin, Germany
2013:
Dysraphic City
Kunstlerraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien
Berlin, Germany
2013:
Zeigen
Nikolaj Kunsthal
Copenhagen, Denmark
2013:
Substitutes, solo exhibition
Etage Projects
Copenhagen, Denmark
2013:
Following the Museum, solo exhibition
Die Raum
Berlin, Germany
2012-2013:
Phantom Limbs, solo exhibition
Trapholt Museum of Modern Art
Kolding, Denmark
2012:
Treffpunkt: Berlin
Arken Museum of Modern Art
Copenhagen, Denmark
2011-12:
Phantom Limbs, solo exhibition
Danish Museum of Art and Design
Copenhagen, Denmark
2011:
Odense Sculpture Triennial
Kunsthal Brandts
Odense, Denmark
2011:
White Out
Tokyo Design Center
Tokyo, Japan
Drill Hall Depot
London, UK
Ordrupgaard Museum,
Copenhagen, Denmark
2011:
Mindcraft
Danish Crafts
Milan, Italy
2010:
Pastiche – When a Tree Falls in the Forest
Jyderup, Denmark
2009:
KURS: The Square
Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde
Roskilde, Denmark
2009:
Dialog
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Copenhagen, Denmark

P U B L I C A T I O N S

book:
Silent Parties
Hatje Cantz & Roulette Russe
2022: 160 pages
article:
Gilding our Ghosts
Thresholds, MIT Press
2020: pp 74-89
book:
Department of Voids
Kerber Verlag
2018: 172 pages

T A L K S

2022
Artist talk – with Irene Campolmi, Victoria Keddie and Alessandra Ferrini
KØS
Køge, DK
2018:
Artist talk
Krabbesholm
Skive, DK
2017:
Artist talk
Goldsmiths, University of London
London, UK
2017:
Artist talk
Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art
Copenhagen, Denmark
2014:
Found & Framed – Collecting within Art Practice: benandsebastian with Liu Ding
Today Art Museum
Beijing, China
2012:
Brooklyn Commons: benandsebastian in conversation with Fred Wilson
International Studio and Curatorial Program
New York, USA

P R I Z E S

2020:

Finn Juhl Prize 2020

2018:

Danish Arts Council award for the exhibition Department of Voids

2017:

Award from Esther and Jep Fink Foundation

2015:

Honorary Award from the Danish National Bank’s Jubilee Foundation

2012:

Niels Wessel Bagge Art Foundation Award

2009:

Awarded 3-year work grant by the Danish Arts Foundation