Denmark (artist)

Denmark, (Wilrijk, Belgium, July 8, 1950), is a Belgian visual artist and installation artist. His works are visual archives which seek to address the mass production of printed paper in the media landscape as well as information overload. Denmark lives and works in Prouvy, Luxembourg, Belgium.

Denmark is a pseudonym and a contraction of den Mark (‘the Mark’).

Biography[edit]

Self-taught artist Denmark graduated with a degree in Denmark art history and archeology from Ghent University in 1972. Having begun crossing out passages from his textbooks during his studies, he later, during the latter days of the conceptual artmovement^[1], took to cutting up, tearing up and then gluing back together books, newspapers and magazines.

Documenta 6 (1977) explored the end of the avant-garde movement and expressed criticism of the media. In 1977 he won the Young Belgian Art Prize (Centre_for_Fine_Arts,_Brussels|Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels) for his cut-up newspapers.

The following year, Denmark held his first solo exhibition at the International Cultural Centre in Antwerp and the Brussels-based MTL gallery. This was followed by solo exhibitions in Belgium and elsewhere, in galleries and museums as well as libraries. This included an exhibition, in 1979, in the library of the Van_Abbemuseum|Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, in the reading room of the Wallraf–Richartz_Museum|Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne in 1983, and at the public library in Stuttgart’s Wilhelm_Palais|Wilhemspalais that same year. In 1985, work by Denmark was included in Livres d’artistes, a group exhibition held at the library of the Centre_Pompidou|Centre Georges Pompidou. That same year, he was given his first retrospective of his archival installations at Liège|Liège’s Palais_des_beaux-arts_de_Liège|Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMAC), followed by exhibitions at the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art (Bremen) in 1994 and at the Museum_of_Contemporary_Art,_Antwerp|Museum of Contemporary Art (MUHKA) in Antwerp in 1995. The works shown included complete volumes of art magazines and other publications, with each page folded into the smallest possible shape, and issues of the Belgian Official Gazette, clipped together and presented in endless rows^[2].

In 1997, he presented an overview of his work at the Villa Zanders Art Museum in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. Massive archives in rolling containers were exhibited in 2005 at the Musée_royal_de_Mariemont|Royal Museum of Mariemont in Morlanwelz, Belgium, in 2009 at the FelixArchief in Antwerp, and in 2010 at the Van Abbemuseum (Play Van Abbe, Part 3) in Eindhoven). These exhibitions subsequently moved to M_–_Museum_Leuven|M - Museum Leuven in 2012.

Selected solo exhibitions[edit]

• 1978 Antwerp I.C.C., Denmark, 7.1 - 5.2.1978
• 1979 Eindhoven Bibliotheek van het Van Abbemuseum, Een dood archief in de bibliotheek, 9.11 - 9.12.1979
• 1980 Hasselt Provinciaal Museum en Provinciale Bibliotheek, Denmark, 19.9 - 9.11.1980
• 1983 Cologne Lesehalle im Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Ballast, 1.6 - 31.7.1983
• 1984 Ghent Vereniging voor het Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Denmark, 25.5 - 30.6.1984
• 1984 Stuttgart Stadtbücherei im Wilhelmspalais, Eine tote Bibliothek, 3.9 - 30.9.1984
• 1984 Eindhoven De Fabriek, Een dode bibliotheek, 10.11 - 23.11.1984
• 1985 Liege Musée d’Art Moderne, Denmark, 19.4 - 26.5.1985
• 1986 Brussels Bibliotheca Wittockiana, Archives mortes de Denmark, 6.3 -28.3.1986
• 1989 Braine-l’Alleud Centre d’Art Nicolas de Staël, Archives recyclées, 11.11 - 3.12.1989
• 1991 Amsterdam Brakke Grond, Denmark, 9.2 - 10.3.1991
• 1991 Metz Galerie de l’Arsenal, Archives recyclées, objets et installations, 6.4 - 20.5.1991
• 1994 Turnhout de Warande, A quick look at art news, 7.5 - 12.6.1994
• 1994 Bremen Neues Museum Weserburg, Multum, non multa, 12.6 - 9.10.1994
• 1995 Antwerp MUHKA, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, A Grip on News, 11.3 - 28.5.1995
• 1995 Johannesburg Market Theatre Gallery, Denmark, 26.3 - 13.4.1995
• 1996 Marne-la-Vallée Centre d’Art Contemporain, La Ferme du Buisson, Denmark, 19.1 - 3.3.1996
• 1996 Hellerup (DK) Gentofte Kunstbibliothek, Denmark, 3.8 - 31.8.1996
• 1997 Bergisch Gladbach Städtische Galerie Villa Zanders, Denmark. Eine Werkübersicht 1972-1997,7.3 - 20.4.1997
• 1997 Ludwigshafen Kunstverein, Denmark. Different kinds of reading, 30.4 - 15.6.1997
• 1997 Johannesburg Alliance Française, Denmark – Boshoff, 5.6 - 27.6.1997
• 1997 Dresden Städtische Galerie für Gegenwartskunst,
• Denmark. Different kinds of reading, 26.6 - 3.8.1997
• 1998 Thouars Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc, Denmark, 20.11.1998 - 17.1.1999
• 1999 Dortmund Dortmunder Kunstverein, Denmark, 22.10.1999 - 9.1.2000
• 2004 Eupen IKOB, Zerreiβprobe, 25.4 – 27.6.2004
• 2004 Mechelen De Garage, Daily Dust, 2.10 – 19.12.2004
• 2005 Antwerp Justitiepaleis, Archief ³, 27.01 – 30.1.2005
• 2005 Morlanwelz Musée royal de Mariemont, Denmark. Archives mortes, 29.10.05 – 15.1.2006
• 2007 Leuven Campusbibliotheek Arenberg, Denmark. Containing, 10.5 – 30.6.2007
• 2008 Ghent Bibliotheek Kunstwetenschappen, Une relecture, 3.11 – 19.12.2008
• 2009 Antwerp FelixArchief, Archief vs Archief, 3.4 – 5.6.2009
• 2009 Sint-Truiden Abdij en Begijnhofkerk, Archieven, 20.8 – 31.10.2009
• 2010 Genk Bibliotheek Genk, Fake library, 27.2 – 25.4.2010
• 2010 Harelbeke Bibliotheek Harelbeke, Genadeloze boekenliefde, 16.10 – 30.11.2010
• 2010 Ostend Mu.ZEE, Kunstmuseum aan Zee, Genadeloze boekenliefde, 16.10 – 30.11.2010
• 2012 Leuven M-Museum, tegenArchieven, 8.11.2012 – 6.1.2013
• 2019 Antwerp Fosbury & Sons, Mobile archives, 3.2 – 23.2.2019

Works in public collections (a selection)[edit]

• Ahlen Kunst-Museum Ahlen
• Antwerp M HKA, Museum Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen
• Antwerp FelixArchief
• Antwerp Katoen Natie
• Bergisch Gladbach Städtische Galerie Villa Zanders
• Bremen Museum Weserburg
• Brussels Bibliotheca Wittockiana
• Brussels Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten
• Brussels Vlaams Parlement
• Brussels ING
• Brussels Belfius
• Brussels AXA
• Eupen IKOB, Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst Eupen
• Genk Bibliotheek Genk
• Ghent Museum Dr. Guislain
• Ghent S.M.A.K., Stedelijk Museum voor Aktuele Kunst
• Grand-Hornu MAC’s, Musée des Arts Contemporains
• Ixelles Musée d’lxelles
• La Louvière Province de Hainaut
• Leuven Centrale Bibliotheek
• Leuven Vertrouwenscentrum Peter Adriaenssens
• Leuven University Psychiatric Centre – Gasthuisberg Campus
• Louvain-la-Neuve Amis du Musée de Louvain-la-Neuve
• Madrid ARCO Foundation Contemporary Art Collection
• Morlanwelz Musée Royal de Mariemont
• Ostend Mu.ZEE
• Oss Jan Cunencentrum
• Paris Bibliothèque Nationale
• Thouars Association S’il vous Plaît
• Zurich Ringier Publishing’s Art Collection

Other Entries[edit]

• French
• Dutch

References[edit]

This article "Denmark (artist)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.