Kirstine Roepstorff

Kirstine Roepstorff (born 1972) is a Danish visual artist who moves between collage and sculpture, as well as producing books. She resides and works in Fredericia, Denmark. In 2016, she represented Denmark in the Danish Pavilion at the 57th International Art Exhibition. In 2018, her works were showcased in the comprehensive solo exhibition "Renaissance of the Night" at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in the Royal Danish Academy of Art.

Roepstorff pursued her education at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1994 to 2001 and Rutgers University, Mason School of Fine Art in the USA in 2000.

Work
Roepstorff’s basis is collages incorporating media images that visualize existing power relations and critically deal with the history and failures of political ideas. By editing and decomposing the original material her works generate new contexts that open up spaces for negotiation and new narratives. The collages are often large using different materials like fabrics, photocopies, cuttings, foils, brass, wood and paper. In the past 5-6 years Roepstorff has broadened her collage practice by incorporating sculptural elements into her work creating new visual and bodily engaging experiences. Her sculptures have mainly been made of concrete and brass.

Balance is a key word for Roepstorff. Her works are often composed around horizontal lines whose divisions reflect different layers of consciousness. This is especially seen in her brass mobiles which Roepstorff denotes ‘Klangmennesker’ (Sound people) – "We're some kind of vibrational beings that are walking around, sometimes in unison, sometimes not. Whether we are able to go in harmony with our surroundings is very much about how our own inner sound is tuned."

57th International Art Exhibition
Roepstorff represented Denmark at the Venice Biennale 2017. For the Danish Pavilion, Roepstorff developed the exhibition project INFLUENZA: Theatre of Glowing Darkness. Because we need to relearn. The exhibition will explore the metamorphosis that occurs between the destruction of the known and the embrace of the new.

For the so far largest survey and presentation of her work in Denmark, Kirstine Roepstorff created the massive intervention "Renaissance of the Night," covering the south wing of Kunsthal Charlottenborg during the summer of 2018.

Publications and catalogues

 * Who Decides Who Decides, Berlin, DE, 2004.
 * Fleur du Mal (DADDY magazine no. 3), Peres Projects, DE, 2007.
 * It's Not the Eye of the Needle that Changed, Exhibition catalogue, Drawing Center, New York, US, 2007.* The Inner Sound that Kills The Outer, published by JRP Ringier, MUSAC, Leon, ES, 2008.
 * Nuit: Sun forms of beneath, Exhibition catalogue, Kunsthallen Brandts, Odense, DK, 2009.
 * Dried Dew Drops. Wunderkammer Of Formlessness. 2010.
 * Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, pub. Hatje Cantz, NO, 2010.
 * Illuminating Shadows, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Stadtgalerie Schwaz, Düsseldorf, DE, 2010.
 * Horizons of the Moving Mind, Kunstverein Göttingen, pub. Argobooks, 2014.
 * Walking Beside Time, Kunstpalais Erlangen, pub. Kerber Verlag, DE, 2014.
 * CMMN CLD, Published with König Books, DK, 2017