Henrik Olesen

The artistic practice of Henrik Olesen (1967, Esbjerg, Denmark) explores, with a conceptually rigorous approach, the structures of power relations and systems of knowledge, revealing some of their inherent logics, those which contribute to social and political regularisation.

Olesen employs cheap, everyday materials to make collages, posters, texts, sculptures, installations and architectural interventions which critically examine contemporary culture and socially disseminated normalisations, thereby questioning quotidian conventions in family structures, the construction of identities and their historiography, the media, legal discourses, art history, and other sources.   

His work and projects have been the subject of exhibitions in institutions such as Kunstmuseum Basel, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, and New York’s MoMA, among others, and he has participated in the 32nd São Paulo Biennial (2016), Manifesta 10 (2014) and the Istanbul Biennial (2011).

This exhibition, the first solo show dedicated to Olesen’s oeuvre in Spain, assembles a selection of his most pertinent works, along with a series of architectural interventions made specifically for the spaces inside the Museo Reina Sofía.