MUNTHE ART MONDAY: AMALIE JAKOBSEN

Instagram: @amalie.jakobsen
Website: www.amaliejakobsen.com

Please introduce yourself and tell us about what you do?

My name is Amalie Jakobsen, I am a Berlin based artist. My primary medium is sculpture. I spend my everyday either in front of a computer, reading books or in my metal workshop, which is my happy place. Recent artistic explorations have taken me into outer space and under the earth surface to into underground water reservoirs. My latest solo exhibition at Gether Contemporary entitled “Aquifer” consists of 12 sculptures made of marble and different rocks from various places on Earth. In each rock a mining crater is carved out and at the bottom of each crater is what resembles the last water in the aquifer layer. 

The exhibition depicts an aftermath and leaves a landscape as a visual consequence of the conscious destruction of nature. The past years I have been obsessed with finding evidence of the extension of the Anthropocene (the so-called geological age of Man) in outer space. This research accumulated into my recent solo exhibition at Gl. Strand titled “Cosmic Coastline”. At the center of the exhibition was a satellite sculpture engaged in a robotic performance where a robotic arm drew warning signs is black sand. Surrounding the satellite was a two-channel animated video that showed satellites humming in Lower orbit and a series of marble sculptures. The scene is set speculatively for the space industry’s hunt for water, minerals, and other valuable resources in asteroids.

Could you explain more about how being a woman has affected your career? 

As a female artist I am not afraid to work in large scale, work with heavy weight and highly technical materials. However, I think I bring, as a woman, a rare air of feminine composure to large scale sculpture. An example is the 5,4-meter-tall sculpture “Suffocated Air” exhibited at Rådhuspladsen and is now a part of the permanent collection at Arken Museum for modern Art.

Can you name some other female (artist) that inspires you and explain why they do so?

I am a big fan of Alexandra Bircken, Carol Bove and Monika Sosnowska, they all make large scale metal sculpture.

What has been the most challenging aspect of being a female artist? 

The biggest challenges of being a female artist and working with metals have mostly been of a practical nature, such as getting women-sized welding gloves and being able to handle metal tools, that are designed for a large male hand.

What would you like people to notice in your artwork?

Beauty and destruction. My work offend has a seductive allure at first glance, but what is being depicted is a violent act taken by man against nature. I seek to provide glimpses through my sculptures of the inherent consequence our actions have on earth and outer space.