Amalie Smith explores the origins of life in major new solo exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg

Amalie Smith: Levende
26 September 2026 – 21 February 2027

Danish visual artist and author Amalie Smith (b. 1985) presents her most comprehensive solo exhibition to date, Levende, created specifically for the North Wing of Kunsthal Charlottenborg. Through a series of sculptural installations and an immersive sound work, the exhibition explores the origins of life and the traces, patterns and transformations that living beings leave behind in the world.

Press Preview: Thursday 24 September, 10.00–12.00
Kunsthal Charlottenborg invites members of the press to a preview of the three new exhibitions opening this autumn. The artists, curators, and the Director of Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Helene Nyborg Bay, will be present to introduce the exhibitions. For registration and interview requests, please contact: Jeannie Møller Haltrup, jmh@kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk.

In Levende, Amalie Smith explores the connections between nature, science, art and life. Drawing on scientific research, artistic practice and literary thinking, she explores some of the fundamental questions surrounding life on Earth, looking closely at living things across past, present and future.

The exhibition unfolds across five large display cases which all together form a continuous spatial sequence. Each display case is shaped after the doorways between the galleries, appearing as archaeological archive boxes where objects and materials meet across time, categories and contexts.

Visitors are invited to move through darkened, minimal spaces, where the works follow an inward spiral reminiscent of the whorls of a snail shell. The architecture creates a calm and sensory experience, drawing attention to the individual display cases. Here, hybrid human-like figures composed of textiles, ceramics, natural materials, waste and everyday items appear as archaeological finds. They are wrapped in 3D-knitted textiles developed by Amalie Smith, inspired by the patterns and self-organising processes of living systems.

A central element of the exhibition is the sound work Radio Levende (2026), created in collaboration with composer and musician Simon Brinck. The work consists of an extensive five-channel sound composition layered with music, field recordings, newly written songs and excerpts from Smith's conversations with researchers in the natural sciences. These layers continually generate new soundscapes. Parts of Radio Levende can be heard in the first five exhibition rooms, while all of its layers come together in a specially designed listening room in the sixth and final room.

Published in conjunction with the exhibition is the text work Hjertet tror, det skal pumpe for evigt, featuring texts by Amalie Smith that visitors can read in the exhibition or take home.

With Levende, Amalie Smith brings together art, science and storytelling in an installation that can be understood as a future archaeology of our own time. The exhibition explores how life can be understood and narrated, and how the present may one day be read as a collection of traces left behind.

The exhibition is supported by A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation, Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, Danish Arts Foundation, Lemvigh-Müller Foundation, New Carlsberg Foundation, and the The Obel Family Foundation. Thanks to Lekolar.

About the artist
Amalie Smith (b. 1985) graduated from the Danish Academy of Creative Writing in 2009 and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2015. Her interdisciplinary practice spans literature, sculpture, video, sound and textile. Recent projects include the permanent commission Levende jord (2025), the exhibition Sang om planeten (2024) and Looming (2022). Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK), ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Lunds Konsthall, Skissernas Museum in Lund, Kunstmuseum Bonn, and the New Museum in New York. She is also the author of nine books, including Terracotta (2025), Thread Ripper (2020) and Marble (2014).

Practical Information
Amalie Smith: Levende
26 September 2026 – 21 February 2027
Season Opening: 25 September, 17.00-22.00, free admission
Press Preview: 24 September, 10.00-12.00
Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Kongens Nytorv 1, 1050 Copenhagen K
Read more here

Press Contact
Jeannie Møller Haltrup
Head of Communications, Kunsthal Charlottenborg
jmh@kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk / (+45) 3374 4629

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