Sensuous, Surreal Satire About the Age We Live In: Alex Da Corte Exhibits at Kunsten
Trenchant criticism of the age we live in, poetic absurdism and intense staging: with this unique combination, in a new temporary exhibition the Venezuelan-American artist Alex Da Corte (b. 1980) will transform Kunsten Museum of Modern Art into a specially designed sensory explosion.
The exhibition will run from 25 September 2025 to 22 February 2026.
A surreal lunch break in the clouds, where fast food and fruit seem to be awaiting existential answers. The Statue of Liberty wobbles and falls down. The devil has taken over the weather forecast – and it’s burning everywhere.
This autumn, visitors to Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg will be invited into a dreamlike landscape with an explosion of colours, scents, sounds and symbols in a solo exhibition dedicated to the Venezuelan-American artist Alex Da Corte (b. 1980).
The exhibition space will be transformed into an all-encompassing experience – featuring specially designed floors, neon light, scent installations and brightly-coloured walls.
“Alex Da Corte’s art combines references from popular culture and consumer society with questions about identity and self-perception. He scrutinises the society we live in with critical glasses,” explains Lasse Andersson, director of the museum.
American identity, masculinity, and technology addiction
The works tackle such themes as pop culture, American identity, masculinity and technology addiction, all of which have a huge impact on our everyday lives, the world and media coverage today.
Alle temaer, der i høj grad præger vores hverdag, verden og mediedækningen i disse år.
“The works draw on references from film, children’s books and the history of design. Distorting, stretching and softening up familiar symbols, in his works Da Corte often refers to and reinterprets other artists. For example, he himself appears in such roles as Popeye, Sleeping Beauty or the Statue of Liberty: iconic characters, which he uses to turn recognisable things upside down, posing questions about more profound cultural meanings,” says the curator, Louise Bjeldbak Henriksen.
Banal and absurd – gloomy and carefree
We shouldn’t necessarily take Alex Da Corte’s humorous works too seriously. But there is a depth to them that extends beyond what we first see.
“In many ways, his work is a trippy existential satire about existence, featuring references to both highbrow and lowbrow culture. It creates something unique and easily recognisable, in which everyday objects are placed in surreal, dreamlike scenarios. On one hand it’s banal and absurd; on the other, gloomy, playful and carefree,” says the curator.
Humorous reflections on the age we live in
The exhibition challenges the concept of good taste with an uncompromising bombardment of the senses. Actually, the artist doesn’t believe in the existence of good taste, since it is forever changing and unpredictable.
With its playful, amusing approach the exhibition will appeal to all age groups, paving the way for meaningful discussion across generations.
“In works that often combine sculpture, video, installation and performance, Alex Da Corte grapples with cultural icons and everyday objects, transforming them into new, challenging and humorous reflections on the age we live in,” says Lasse Andersson.
About the artist
Alex Da Corte (b. 1980) is a Venezuelan-American artist, famous for his visually captivating, conceptually rich works, which often deploy references from pop culture in all-encompassing, colourful installations.
His recent exhibitions include Fresh Hell at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Japan (2023) and the retrospective Mr. Remember at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark (2022-23). Other highlights include participation in the Whitney Biennale (2022), the Roof Garden Commission at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2021), and the Venice Biennale (2019). He has also had solo exhibitions at prominent museums, including Kölnischer Kunstverein, Secession in Vienna, and MASS MoCA.
The exhibition is part of an ongoing collaboration between Kunsten and Louisiana: focusing on sustainability, and public engagement and interpretation, it explores new ways of presenting existing collections. This exhibition features a selection of works from Louisiana’s collection placed in new spaces and contexts, thereby paving the way for new ways of reading and viewing Da Corte’s practice.
Read more about the exhibition at kunsten.dk/alexdacorte.
Foto: Alex da Corte, Rubber Pencil Devil, 2019.