Press Release: Henrik Plenge Jakobsen

05.15.98

THE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

New Works: 98.2

Joan Bankemper, NEW YORK, NY

Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

Holly Moe, BANDERA, TX

Exhibition: June 11, 1998 ?ly 12, 1998

The International Artist-in-Residence Program, sponsored by ArtPace, A Foundation
for Contemporary Art | San Antonio presents New Works: 98.2, a series of
installations by artists living and working at ArtPace. Joan Bankemper, Henrik Plenge
Jakobsen and Holly Moe were selected by the March 1996 IAIR Program Panel
consisting of Elizabeth Armstrong, David Avalos, Dana Friis-Hansen, Thelma Golden
and Maaretta Jaukkuri. Work produced by the artists during their eight-week residency
will open to the public on Thursday, June 11 at 6:30 PM. An artist talk with Kathryn
Hixson, Editor of the New Art Examiner, will take place on Friday, June 12 at
6:30 PM.

Henrik Plenge Jakobsen

Henrik Jakobsen was born in 1967 in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he lives and works.
Jakobsen studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts,Copenhagen; Institut des
Hautes Etudes en Art Plastique, Paris; and the L'Ecole Nationale Superieur des Beaux
Arts, Paris. Since the early 1990s, Jakobsen has exhibited work throughout Europe,
including solo shows at the Centre National de la Photographie, Paris; and the Nordic Art
Center, Helsinki. He has participated in a number of group exhibitions and festivals,
including Traffic, CAPC, Bordeaux, France; Shopping, New York;
Nuit Blanche, Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France; Now
Here, Lousiana Musuem, Denmark; Manifesta I, Rotterdam, Holland, and
the recent Ontom at Gallerie fur Zeitgenoshisce Kunst, Leipzig, Germany. Jakobsen also
collaborates with Jes Brinch, under the pseudonym

Burn Out. This installation is Jakobsen's first solo exhibition in the United States.

Jakobsen is obsessed with the apocalypse. His work investigates the horrors of our
contemporary times, in installations that push buttons about responsibility and social
hierarchies. His installations confront viewers with violence and lead them to consider its
potential. Using a generational vocabulary rich in pop culture references Jakobsen creates
environments that are polemic and disturbing: a kindergarten classroom with a staged
death of a school teacher; a reenactment of a tragic school bus accident in a public
square; smoke billowing out of an apartment window.

At ArtPace, Jakobsen continues his theatrical investigations with the depictions of
violence. A room has been built in the center of the gallery, into which the viewer enters.
The interior is a recreation of the infamous shower scene from the Hitchcock classic
horror film Psycho. The installation is not a precise facsimile of the film set;
rather it is a contemporary version, with standard bathroom fixtures from a local
hardware store. The shower has been engineered for the water to appear blood red when
it hits the bathtub floor. The 1980s horror film Poltergeist is the source of a
second sculptural piece in the space, a child's bed spinning on the ceiling. Perfectly
made, the bed is attached to the ceiling and spins at an uncontrolable speed. Jakobsen's
installation highlights the paradox of our contemporary media world: when does
entertainment become reality?

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org