Copenhagen Contemporary unveils the art content of Yet, it Moves!, a pathbreaking research and exhibition project featuring a stellar array of Danish and international artists.

Yet, it Moves! 

12. May – 31 December 2023

Copenhagen Contemporary (CC) unveils the art content of Yet, it Moves!, a pathbreaking research and exhibition project featuring a stellar array of Danish and international artists. Opening in May at CC and in urban spaces across Copenhagen, the exhibition explores the universe’s only constant: movement!

Download press material here: https://copenhagencontemporary.org/en/press
A press preview will be held on 10 May at 11:00, with a welcome by CC director Marie Laurberg and an introduction by the exhibition’s curators. For registration and interview requests, please contact ida@cphco.org

Nothing stands still. Even things we consider immutable are in constant motion – within, above and all around us. Motion is a fundamental premise of everything in the universe, from the tiniest atomic particles to the human body and the macrocosm of the stars. Over two years, specially selected artists have been working with some of the world’s most prominent research institutions. Now, the result is a range of spectacular works unfolding the theme of motion as an omnipresent phenomenon and raising our awareness of the many complex movement patterns we are all entangled in.

Art in motion
The exhibiting artists are Ryoji Ikeda, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Jenna Sutela, Ligia Bouton, Helene Nymann, Nina Nowak, Jens Settergren, Black Quantum Futurism, Cecilia Bengolea, Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm and Nora Turato. Since 2021, the artists have engaged in dialogue with researchers at the exhibition’s four scientific research partners: DARK at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen; Arts at CERN in Geneva; the Interacting Minds Centre at Aarhus University; and ModLab (Digital Humanities Laboratory) at the University of California, Davis. This meeting of the minds has produced artworks with perspectives ranging across fields like astrophysics and quantum physics, brain and cognitive sciences, anthropology, and technology and performance studies.

“At CC, we are excited to welcome the public to the magical space where science and art meet. Both art and science are driven by a curiosity to understand the world and our place in it. Art can make abstract scientific concepts more accessible and relatable – by giving shape and form to the vast scale of the universe and the microscopic movements of subatomic particles,” says CC director Marie Laurberg.

Kicking off with a big opening party on 11 May, the exhibition project will stay “in motion” with new works and conversations introduced over its run. From the biggest halls at CC, the exhibition will extend into the cityscape, including the inner city, Copenhagen Airport, the borough of Nørrebro, the Inner Harbour and Søndermarken Park – places where Copenhageners move around every day.

A new space of reflection generates pioneering art
Yet, it Moves! explores the greater whole of which we are a part. Recognized in glimpses, this greater, moving whole is embodied in spectacular artworks giving shape and form to complex phenomena like black holes, star formation and gravitational waves – from the macro scale of the expanding universe to the micro scale of atomic explosions and particle. Other works focus on human body movement patterns – how they tie into the cyclical rhythms of the universe and how any movement is connected to everything around us.

In CC’s biggest hall, the world-renowned Japanese artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda will present his monumental trilogy dataverse 1/2/3 for the first time in Scandinavia. In three giant video projections, Ikeda composes a sensory explosion of images and sound, sampling open source data on motion obtained from scientific institutions, including CERN, NASA and the Human Genome Project. The huge audiovisual installation represents three worlds: the microscopic natural world of atoms, molecules, DNA and cells that is invisible to the human eye. The human world we live in on Earth with our brains and bodies, other organisms, cities, climates, internet, air traffic, satellites and so on. And finally, the macroscopic world – from our planet to the solar system, galaxies, the observable universe and potential multiverses.

It is dizzying to think that all life originates from the same point in the earliest beginning of the universe, and that all parts of it are linked together by movement. Explosions of elements are constantly taking place in the universe. Giant stars blow up, forming the heavy elements and particles that we and everything around us are made of.

In Pond Brain, the Finnish artist Jenna Sutela offers a sensual experience through the image of the human brain as a pond teeming with processes and communication pathways, accompanied by a soundscape of processed recordings of cosmic motion that links humanity to the universe.

In 3D animations, VR, AR, sound and immersive installations, the acclaimed Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen creates poetic interpretations of overlooked natural phenomena, often in collaboration with biologists, composers and writers. Kudsk Steensen’s large-scale installation for Yet, it Moves! reflects his interest in time, wetlands and the states of water – from liquid to crystal. The work studies the complex forms of life inside a glacier in Switzerland, and poetically records the slow movement of nature in the rare and unique ice formations and their current decline.

The Croatian artist Nora Turato examines the transitory nature of language. For Yet, it Moves!, Turato has made a new three-part work: a live performance at CC, a film about the performance and a poster campaign that will appear in the streets of Copenhagen. In this series, Turato investigates the link between the spoken language, neuronal connections and the movement of the human body. In simple, synthetic sentences, the poster describes how the brain interlinks bodily impulses and words to create movement in the body and in other bodies around it.

The title of the project is a statement attributed to Galileo, who was forced by the Catholic Church to deny that the Earth moves around the sun, which would have robbed the Earth of its spot at the centre of the universe. Galileo bravely defended his theory, declaring, “Yet, it moves!” He was referring to the now universally known fact that, no matter what humans do, the Earth still moves as part of the greater movement of the universe, affecting us and the world we move in every day.

Participating artists
Ryoji Ikeda (b. 1966, Gifu, Japan)
Jakob Kudsk Steensen (b. 1987, Denmark)
Jenna Sutela (b. 1983, Turku, Finland)
Ligia Bouton (b.1973, São Paulo, Brazil)
Helene Nymann (b. 1982, Dyssegård, Denmark)
Nina Nowak (b. 1984, Poznan, Poland)
Jens Settergren (b. 1989, Denmark)
Black Quantum Futurism (formed in 2014, Black Quantum Futurism is an interdisciplinary creative practice between Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips, Philadelphia, USA)
Cecilia Bengolea (b. 1979, Buenos Aires, Argentina,)
Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm (b. 1984, Aarhus, Denmark)
Nora Turato (b. 1991, Zagreb, Croatia)

Scientific research partners
DARK, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen
Arts at CERN, Geneva
The Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University
ModLab (Digital Humanities Laboratory), University of California, Davis.

Overview of openings and events during the exhibition

11 May, at 10:30
CC Symposium
Before the official opening, CC is hosting a special event, where exhibiting artists and researchers will engage in conversation, unfolding the theme of movement based on the Yet, it Moves! research and exhibition project.

11 May, at 17:00
Public opening party
Yet, it Moves! kicks off with a big opening party on 11 May, featuring DJs Xenia Xamanek and Martin Hasfeldt, concert by Astrid Sonne and speeches.

26-28 May
Opening of Jens Settergren’s work in Søndermarken, in partnership with the Bloom Festival.

26-28 May
Jens Settergren at the Bloom Festival.

26 June – 9 July
CC presents works by the exhibiting artists on all screens in the arrivals terminal at Copenhagen Airport.

August
Openings across Copenhagen, featuring works by Cecilia Bengolea, Jens Settergren, Helene Nymann, Black Quantum Futurism, Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm and Nora Turato.

December
Performance by Nora Turato at CC.

Yet, it Moves! is curated in partnership with external curator Irene Campolmi.

For more information about the exhibition, please contact
Jannie Haagemann
Head of Exhibitions and Senior Curator
jannie@cphco.org
+45 3146 3003

Press contact:
Ida Maj Ludvigsen
Head of PR and Communication
ida@cphco.org
+45 6021 9321

Yet, it Moves! is made possible by the generous support of
The Bikuben Foundation – The Vision Exhibition Award
Det Obelske Familiefond
Carlsbergs Mindelegat for Brygger J.C. Jacobsen
The Danish Arts Foundation
Frame Finland
Goethe-Institut Dänemark
The Embassy of the United States of America in Denmark
City of Copenhagen, Culture and Leisure Administration
William Demant Foundation
Koda Kultur

The exhibition is organized in partnership with
Audemars Piguet Contemporary
Performa, NYC
Bloom Festival
Clear Channel
The Skjolds Plads Urban Renewal Project
HAM Helsinki Art Museum/Helsinki Biennial 2023
Almine Rech Gallery
EER, Experimenting, Experiencing, and Reflecting

Copenhagen Contemporary er i 2023 støttet af:

Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, Augustinusfonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Beckett-Fonden, Bikubenfonden, Det Obelske Familiefond, A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal, 15. Juni Fonden, Kulturministeriet, Københavns Kommune, Statens Kunstfond Carlsbergs Mindelegat for Brygger J.C. Jacobsen, Frame Finland, Goethe-Institut Dänemark, U.S. Embassy in Denmark, William Demant Fonden, Koda Kultur, Foreningen Roskilde Festival, Refshaleøens Ejendomsselskab, Fredericia Furniture, Dinesen, Eva Solo, Nordic Rentals, Carhartt WIP