Amalie Jakobsen: Exoskeletons

Future Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent works by Danish-artist Amalie Jakobsen. This is the artist’s second solo presentation with the gallery.

“It is important to look back into deep time at the architecture and the construction of an animal, that’s what’s left in the end.” -Amalie Jakobsen

Jakobsen focuses on the skeletal structures of ancient animals, these organic architectures are the basis for her new body of sculptures. The pattern of the skeleton is laser cut out of metal which is then bent and contorted into a new continuous form. She purposefully created loops or repetitive symbols to reference infinity, a complex time construction in relation to the finite life of a living being. These looped structures are hand painted to reveal an elegant reimagining of these internal armors.

Jakobsen was inspired by the Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy at the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The Gallery holds nearly a thousand skeletons and interprets their organization and classification. As the current dominant species on earth, humans are at the very front before all the rest of the species both extinct and still living. The layout and arrangement of this gallery informed Jakosben’s exhibition.

Embedded within the exhibition’s narrative is an exploration of our vulnerability in the face of the contemporary climate crisis. Prior mass extinctions on earth occurred due to natural disasters, humans are the first species in time whose activities have been the main driver of synthetic climate change. Jakobsen’s sculptures serve as symbolic reflections, not only of ancient species but also of our own susceptibility to the potential ramifications of human-induced environmental degradation.

Amalie Jakobsen (b. 1989 Copenhagen) lives and works in Berlin. Jakobsen graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths University of London in 2014. Recent exhibitions include Gallery Brandstrup in Oslo, Gether Contemporary in Copenhagen, and Art Museum Gl. Strand in Copenhagen. Her work is included in Public collections such as Arken Modern Art Museum, the Carlsberg Foundation, and The Danish Arts Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark. Large scale public commissions include: Clichy, Paris; Danish Immigration Services Office, Naestved, DK; Grenaa Cultural Center, Grenaa, DK.