SUPERFLEX’ solo exhibition SUPERCONVERSATION will be on view at Museum Jorn from October 11, 2024, to March 2, 2025.
In the fall of 2024, the Danish artist collective SUPERFLEX enters the conversation about the future of the art museum. In line with Asger Jorn’s and architect Jørn Utzon’s 1965 visions for a new art museum in Silkeborg—intended to break down the barriers between humans and artworks—SUPERFLEX presents an original exhibition in collaboration with Museum Jorn that engages with the museum’s history, its functions, and its future.
“Tumult was his element; in tumult, he felt like a fish in water.” This was how renowned French artist Jean Dubuffet described his close friend Asger Jorn. In the same spirit, Jorn himself proposed the creation of a “Ministry of Disturbances” in the late 1950s. Similarly, SUPERFLEX often works with the productive potentials of friction, emphasizing that “friction is necessary for collectivity.”
The exhibition explores what a museum is, highlighting the contrast between Museum Jorn’s background—rooted in Jorn’s spontaneity—and the institutional museum format, which is governed by cataloging, conservation, and administrative tasks. This tension is examined through thought-provoking dialogues between SUPERFLEX’s works and the museum’s own collection and spaces, as well as between physical artworks and cutting-edge digital technology. The exhibition presents the museum as an ever-evolving organism—one where art is not only exhibited but also created, lived, and expanded to redefine what an art museum does and what it can become.
SUPERCONVERSATION and SUPERBRICK FACTORY
The exhibition presents the work SUPERCONVERSATION—a dialogue between Asger Jorn (1914-1973), Jørn Utzon (1918-2008), Sonja Ferlov Mancoba (1911-1984), Per Kirkeby (1938-2018), Guy Debord (1931-1994), Jacqueline de Jong (1939-2024), Le Corbusier (1887-1965), Troels Andersen (1940-2021), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), and SUPERFLEX, created through artificial intelligence. Based on each artist’s thinking and artistic positions, they now discuss the future of the art museum.
“By including Jorn and other artists in our expanded collective, we facilitate a conversation between artists across time—a discussion on how we prepare for an uncertain future. SUPERCONVERSATION stems from an interest in hearing what these artists would say today. How would their practices position themselves in the present? Many of the themes they engaged with remain highly relevant—such as Jorn’s idea of a ‘Ministry of Disturbances,’ Mancoba’s work with ephemeral materials, and Debord’s critique of media culture.”
— SUPERFLEX
The exhibition also features a working factory established directly in the museum, producing Superbricks. Developed by SUPERFLEX, Superbricks are pink, curved bricks made of unfired clay, designed to avoid the straight lines and right angles that define conventional human architecture. With their organic materials and geometry, Superbricks mimic natural habitats and accommodate both animals and plants.
As the exhibition progresses, sculptures made of Superbricks will be built inside and outside the museum. These sculptures introduce visionary ideas about design, material choices, and architecture, emphasizing ecological environments, sustainability, and the coexistence of plant and animal species within human-made spaces.
Courtesy of Museum Jorn · Photo: Mathias Lassen
