Videos

Celestial Harmony, 2024. Celestial Harmony is an interactive performance where performers, dressed in hand-sewn silk and canvas costumes inspired by the works "Cosmic Relation" and "Tribe", move through the crowd as if pulled by a cosmic force. These blind creatures, “seeing with our fingertips,” embody Ole Fogh Kirkeby's philosophy, creating a tactile connection between self and cosmos. As the performance shifts from Tribe to Cosmic Relation, figures kneel, uniting cosmic forces and human spirit, reflecting Kirkeby's idea of an emergent unity where body, thought, language, and world converge into a holistic experience.

The exhibition “Collected Memory” at Politiken's Forhal and light newspaper displays at Rådhuspladsen, Nørreport, Vesterport, and Hans Knudsens Plads was open from Aug. 20 - Oct. 24, 2020. Based on the artist Mille Kalsmose’s experiences of loneliness and failure, the exhibition explores relationships and unity. Visitors contribute by sharing personal stories on colored newspaper, which are archived and displayed in the Media House. Weekly, the artist selects statements to be featured in public spaces and the printed newspaper. All contributions are archived and digitized on http://collectedmemory.world, creating a global community of shared experiences.

“Collected Memory” is a visionary network of sculptural, participatory installations created by Mille Kalsmose. This project aims to gather and share our innermost thoughts, feelings, experiences, hopes, and desires, exploring what it truly means to be human. By inviting participants to contribute their personal reflections, Collected Memory fosters a collaborative environment that highlights our shared humanity.

Through her works, Mille Kalsmose creates space for the intangible phenomena such as memory, identity, psychological mechanisms, and spiritual connections. In collaboration with neurologist Peter Michael Nielsen and psychologist Alex Ashot Ikilikian, she created "Re-Sounding Organ" to investigate alleviating pain and depression through sound vibrations. Her installation "Listening Back in Time," based on research from the ALMA space observatory in Chile, incorporates sound waves from the universe's creation. Kalsmose's other works, including "Traces of Memory," "Spatial Memory," "Points in Time," and "Untitled," delve into deep time, a geological understanding of time spanning infinite years.

“Conscious Matter” is a large-scale sculptural installation by Danish artist Mille Kalsmose, centered around matter and the mineral iron. Using industrial and archaeological materials like rock, iron cores, and steel bars, the work highlights the inherent beauty of matter. The structure, resembling a multi-storey cell or an inner prison, incorporates iron dust, ore stones, pigments, and her father's blood. It evokes the alchemical process and explores the concept of “Conscious Matter,” where iron serves as a tool for decentering humanity and revealing a reality beyond mere matter.

“Different Lives” is a 2:30 min video documentation by Mille Kalsmose, where she and a friend swap lives to explore their different realities. Created in 2001 and finalized in 2008, the video features a voiceover describing their contrasting life paths: Kalsmose's transition from handball player and teacher to artist without kids, and her friend's continuation in sports and family life (before this concept existed commercially). They exchanged homes, roles, and daily routines, with Kalsmose living her friend's life as a mother and her friend experiencing Kalsmose's life as an art student. The documentary-style video examines choices, identity, and the nature of reality through an intimate yet factual narrative.

“Inverted Rituals” is an installation of 24 videos on 24 screens with loudspeakers, immersing the viewer in the artist's mind. Each video displays a drawing of a mantra-like inner narration, both positive and negative, turned into ritual behavior. The screens and voices create patterns, repetitions, and rhythms, ranging from meditative calm to an overwhelming cacophony. The visuals and sounds interact like a neural network, taking over the viewer's mind and space.