It is with great joy that skēnē welcomes you to DANK, a group exhibition curated by Kevin Malcolm. DANK presents works by Sam Keogh, Christian Vindelev and Elisabeth Östin. It continues an ongoing collaboration between skēnē and Vermilion Sands.

In an era marked by privatization, gentrification and urban transformation, the exhibition asks questions about how art can function as a method for creating, reclaiming and renegotiating common spaces. DANK takes its departure from the idea of the cave as the first dwelling – a place for shelter, work and gathering – and as an early form of both studio and exhibition space. The cave functions as a metaphor for strategies of withdrawal and resistance, but also for the possibility of change from within prevailing structures. DANK explores the tension between operating within the system and detaching oneself from it.

Christian Vindelev is an artist and one of the founders of the Simian art gallery in Copenhagen. Through a body of work spanning sculpture, photography and installation, he explores how we, as humans, relate to our surroundings, ourselves and our ever-changing present.

Vindelev holds a Master’s degree from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. In 2024 he was awarded the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Talent Prize.

Elisabeth Östin approaches painting as a language of secrets and obscurities, beyond the reach of words. She often refers to her paintings as hybrids or ongoing transformations. In her ongoing series of works, she draws on the history of geology and cave myths, where altered sound and light give rise to illusion and myth-making.

Östin is a Swedish artist who lives and works in Arrie. 

She received her MA from Malmö Art Academy in 2019. Solo shows include Stumma källan / The Mute Source, Galleri Arnstedt, Östra Karup, Sweden; Trabeculae, Pumphuset Konsthall, Landskrona, Sweden; The Mocking Gap, KHM2, Malmö; To Live in Such a Place, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Simris.

Kevin Malcolm is an artist and curator based in Copenhagen. Since 2016, he has run the exhibition space Vermilion Sands. In his work, both as an artist and curator, he often thematizes ideas about value, the autonomy of art and the role of the artist in urban transformation processes. Vermilion Sands has a strong presence locally and abroad and aims to place local artists in international contexts.

Sam Keogh works with installation, sculpture, performance, drawing and collage. Keogh’s performance works interweave research on different subjects through wandering and semi-fictional monologues that create unexpected connections between political movements, biological processes, archaeology, housing issues, science fiction and popular cultural phenomena.

Keogh is an Irish artist based in County Wicklow, Ireland and in Glasgow, UK. He is educated at NCAD in Dublin and Goldsmiths College of Fine Art in London. He is represented by Kerlin Gallery, Dublin.

DANK is supported by Kulturrådet, Region Skåne and The Danish Arts Foundation.