Portfolio of work, texts, and projects made and organized by Jonas Georg Christensen

I’m practicing as a visual artist, while also working with writing and research. I mainly focus on making images and artist’s books. I do most of my own printing and function as the publishing editor of Edition Txt Critique – in Danish Udgave Txt Kritik, or simply Udg. Txt.

I hold an MFA degree in Visual Arts, Art Theory and Communication – from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. I approach art as a conceptual activity and view the arts in general – including theory – as ways of working with the use of language. My work has thus come to revolve around questions related to power, systems, norms, rights and the question of subjectivity.

This portfolio – this webpage – covers works, texts, and projects made between 2010-23. In collaboration with other artists, writers, designers, technicians and made as solo projects.

Short bio

I began my studies under The Free Youth Education (FUU, 1999-2002), which got me into the Design School Kolding, before I went on to go in the direction of photographic studies at Fotografisk Skole (Aarhus, 2006). I was thereafter accepted at the Funen Art Academy in 2006 – then two years later switched to the Jutland Art Academy in 2008 – finishing this first part of my education in 2011.

Later I enrolled for studies in the theories of art, aesthetics and communication at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Department of Theory and Communication (Afdelingen for Teori og Formidling, 2013-16), which again developed into 'other kinds of' research: artistic research, art history and psychoanalysis – among other themes focusing on the question of the act of writing (skriven).

Besides various study trips – to most of the European capitals – I’ve made travels in Europe to Hauterives (Le Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval), Lausanne, Basel, Zürich, Mantua – and in America to La Paz, San Francisco (and the Bay Area), New York and Los Angeles. Plus, a trip into the Nevada Desert, including California City, Las Vegas and the Mormon Mesa (to see Michael Heizer’s “Double Negative”). Residencies made in Budapest, Porto and Thessaloniki. Besides these trips, one sojourn in 2001 and a couple of visits to Barcelona.

I’m living and working in Copenhagen and maintaining a private life here, which thus have been and maintains to be private.

Written in relation to my examination for the exit-exhibition Afgang 2016, here’s a declaration by former Director of the Theory Department at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Carsten Juhl:

“... In his interventions, Gerard Byrne mentioned the influence of the pallet of Victor Vasarely for some of the pictures and stressed that the work of Christensen could not avoid interpellating the question of the role of “attitude” in art. For her part, Maria Muhle also interrogated the question of intentionality asking Christensen why he gave such credit to the viewer. – In his answers Christensen revealed quite an ability to discuss the critique presented to him. So the author [Christensen] was able to introduce several important dimensions in the discussion: the questions of autonomy and immanence of the image, the “materiality” as part of the signification of the image, the secondary role of the presentation of the piece and finally and most importantly the fundamental conceptual problem of how, when and if an image can be convincing. The last point implicates however, that the text in the image and perhaps even the sound of it is able to maintain a discursive impact on the visual perception of the piece.”

The following introduction was put forward – at the fifth of my Dialogs in Praxis (Samtaler om praksis) – by curator Lars Bang Larsen (Director of Artistic Research, at Art Hub Copenhagen):

“Dette er femte og sidste omgang i rækken af Samtaler om praksis, som Jonas startede her i Vester Vov Vov sidste efterår.

For jer som er her første gang kan jeg sige at Samtaler om praksis består af båndede udvekslinger med kunstnere, teoretikere og forskere – hver gang med en ny gæst, som er udvalgt og interviewet af Jonas.

Samtalerne er blevet præsenteret her i biografen i et blandingsformat bestående af lyd- og tekstmontager tilsat ganske få billeder – og efterfulgt af en levende samtale mellem gæsten og Jonas, og de andre der havde fundet vej herind. Det er også den opskrift vi vil følge i aften.

På den måde er tæppet gået for produktion af sprog omkring kunst og kunstnerisk forskning, i diskussion mellem kolleger og ikke-kolleger. Det vil sige at samtalerne både har været fagfælleinvolverende par excellence, og har udvidet idéen om hvem der kan være fæller og fagfæller i kunsten.

Der har været åbnet for uenighed og sprækker mellem praksisser og kunstforståelser – godt med plads og evne til dét.

Så stor tak til Jonas. Det har været stimulerende, både at deltage og at arbejde sammen om det her. I løbet af de forskellige samtaler er der bidraget med meget nyt, som selvfølgelig er kommet fra de enkelte gæster – men i høj grad er opstået dialogisk, inden for den åbne ramme som Jonas er lykkedes med at sætte.

Vi har jo bare siddet her i Vester Vov Vov, men vi er kommet omkring i samtalerne. Man kan betegne Samtaler om praksis, som peripatetiske, for at bruge dét ord, der betyder ‘omvandrende’ eller ‘omkringgående’ men som også har med undervisning at gøre. Fordi deltagerne i Aristoteles’s skole Peripatos diskuterede, mens de spadserede: Bevægelse både i benene, i tanken og i munden, altså. ...”

Besides this, the following statement – also in Danish – very accurately and in detail describe, some of the themes present in my praxis. It was written by my former teacher, at that time lecturer at the Jutland Art Academy, visual artist Jørgen Michaelsen:

“... Det er karakteristisk for Jonas Georg Christensens værkproduktion, at de mange forskellige arbejder præges af en skrift-sensibilitet. Det skal forstås sådan, at hans tværmediale praksis, som bl.a. omfatter installation, fotografi, tegning og publikation, altid synes at indgå̊ eksperimentelt i en overordnet frembringelse af udsagn, hvor der reflekteres kritisk over kunsten og dens sociokulturelle betingelser. Grundlæggende har kunstneren et sikkert blik for æstetisk økonomi, hvilket altid sikrer værkerne en autonom robusthed, der rækker ud over projektpræmissen.

contact

jonas.georg.chr at gmail dot com