f.eks. is a roaming exhibition platform for contemporary art that seeks to generate critical and speculative dialogues between audiences, artists, and broader publics.  f.eks. produces temporary art events that are located in and around the urban spaces of Aalborg and the Northern Jutland region – activating architecture, infrastructure, ecological sites, and public spaces through a series of live art engagements. These include performances, talks, workshops, readings, pop-ups, social installations, screenings, and many other forms of interactive and ephemeral art making.

f.eks. is an award-winning, non-profit organization supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, Den Jyske Kunstfond, Augustinus Fonden, Det Obelske Familiefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, Region Nordjyllands Kulturpulje, 15. Juni Fonden, Aalborg Kommune Kulturpulje, UMMK, Himmerland Boligforening, and Aalborg Kommunes Kunstfond as part of an ongoing artist-initiated program.



22.03.2024 
“blue synnyt”
Alex/Alexandra Sofie Jönsson (DK)

blue synnyt is a new site-specific public art project by Alex/Alexandra Sofie Jönsson.

blue synnyt is an performative audio-visual guide to posthuman relations exploring how infrastructures, practices, and colors mediate between bodies and the environment. The work draws on Karealian knowledge practices of synnyt - a mythical aetiology practiced by tietäjät, the ancient healers, working with care practices and spells connecting phenomena in their origin contexts. Presented as a temporary outdoor audio-visual installation, with swimming & sauna, and a collective listening moment, blue synnyt will reframe the public spaces of Vestre Fjordparken along Aalborg’s Limfjord in new ways.  

The project examines the aesthetics of bodily (dis)comfort, in an attempt to dismantle numbness towards natural ecologies, and open up for new agencies as a temporary form of eco-surrender and solidarity. Can water - with its currents, coldness, ice, and waves - momentarily reorganize the body? blue synnyt focuses on care and temporality that centers practice-based forms of knowledge - such as hydro feminist and queerfeminist perspectives - in which knowledge is not to be uncovered, but relearned in bodily, material, and social contexts in which it can nurture new relations. 

blue synnyt was created during two seasons of ice swimming in the Limfjord - the same location which is currently endangered by a planned motorway connection bridge. The project draws on a range of embodied knowledges co-created with local ice swimmers, activists, family members, and (more than human) friends - highlighting ecological bonding experiences in the nearby area through audiovisual material, underwater footage, and soundscapes.

Special thanks to Tanja Schlander, Nina Wöhlk, Caro Gervay, Liisa Annikki Jönsson, Katrina Louise Jönsson, Elisabeth Thomsen, Clara Dybbroe Viltoft, Helle Nygaard, Sara Hagins, Limfjorden, Nikolaj Kühn, Tine Steensgaard Bach, Käte Vestergaard Pedersen, Jens Bugay-Hougaard, Julianne Concepcion, Isbjørnen and its iceswimmers for their contributions, and to The Danish Arts Foundation, Huset i Hasserisgade, Vestre Fjordparken, and Aalborg Streetfood for additional support.

 
Friday, March 22nd:
Outdoor Installation with Sound by Tanja Schlander, Ice Swimming & Sauna 
from 4:00 - 8:00 pm
Vestre Fjordpark, Skydebanevej 14, 9000 Aalborg

PROGRAM:
4:00 pm Ice Swimming & Sauna Session
6:00 pm Artist Talk with Karelian Refreshments
7:00 pm Listen & Viewing of blue synnyt

Note:
This is an outdoor event - please dress warmly.

Please bring whatever you feel comfortable swimming in and a towel if you wish to swim in the fjord and use the sauna. Isbjørnens iceswimmers will introduce ice swimming and assist with water safety. Changing locations at Vestre Fjordparken will be made available.

We will serve drinks and Karelian refreshments. The event will be in both Danish and English and is free of admission, no sign up is necessary.

Alex/Alexandra Sofie Jönsson is a socially-engaged artist who works with theoretical and visual practices around the environment and ecofeminist knowledge to make open-source conceptual and emotional tools and useful infrastructures for everyday contexts. Jönsson has exhibited and created workshops internationally at Tate Modern (UK), Art Center Nabi (SKR), Roskilde Festival (DK), and Kunsthal NORD (DK); completed a residency with Art Hub Copenhagen (DK); and was awarded a working grant from The Danish Arts Foundation in 2022 as well as the Ars Electronica Prize in 2011. Jönsson is a co-founder and organizer of the experimental artistic platform Lím Collective and completed a practice-based PhD from Westminster University, London (UK) in 2020.


14.12.2023 - 
“S for Sound, S for Solidarity”
Yazan Khalili (PS/NL)

S for Sound, S for Solidarity is a radio communications project initiated by Yazan Khalili and f.eks.

With this collaboration, Yazan Khalili and f.eks. have co-developed a nomadic radio project in Aalborg to rethink the autonomy of art and culture from the point of view of infrastructure. The project will utilize radio programming to highlight artistic, socio-political, and cultural conversations in relation to localized power dynamics and broader geo-political contexts. By drawing attention to underserved cultural and political voices attempting to common locally, the project gives voice to resistance and facilitates critical discourse across milieus. Along with practitioners across publics in Aalborg, f.eks. will carry this out through producing pop-up broadcasts, sounds, and other radio programming over the course of 2024. 

S for Sound, S for Solidarity asks, “how can we build autonomous infrastructures for art” and “what are the mediums and tools for these infrastructures? After reflecting on the need for improved communication for critical artistic, political, and social practices, Khalili and f.eks. are launching this collaborative artistic project toward addressing these needs. The project draws on f.eks.’s local organizational platform, combined with Khalili’s broad communal and artistic practice and knowledge, particularly across other radio platforms such as Radio Alhara. In doing so, the project seeks to rethink and reframe artistic practice in the hopes of producing new socio-cultural solidarities, awarenesses, and connections, while creating infrastructure for cultural and political activism and organization across scales and contexts.

 
February, 2024: 
Radio episode no. 1 between Yazan Khalili and Scott William Raby

Click here for full episode (soundcloud) 
Yazan Khalili is an artist, architect, and a cultural producer. Currently he is a PhD candidate at ASCA, The University of Amsterdam (UvA) as part of the Imaginart group. His practice frames landscapes, institutions, and social and technological phenomena as politicized entities. He is the co-founder of Radio Alhara in 2020, and The Question of Funding collectives in 2019. His work has been exhibited widely across different venues, such as Documenta Fifteen, Kassel (DE) 2022, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (DE) 2020, MOCA Toronto (CA) 2020, Kunstforeningen GL STRAND, Copenhagen (DK) 2019, and MoMA, New York (US), 2018.


21.10.2023 - 21.07.2024 
“Bodies of Waves”
Razan Sabbagh (SY/DE)

Bodies of Waves is a new site-specific sound project along Aalborg’s waterfront by Razan Sabbagh.

Bodies of Waves uses sound as an artistic tool to delve into the complex interplay between language devices in mass media and the profound issues of migration, colonialism, and climate change.  Bodies of Waves appropriates, collages, and examines audio from media outlet’s use of water as a linguistic metaphor to frame refugees and migrants. Terms such as “flood” and “wave” not only evoke images of overwhelming natural forces, but also subtly perpetuate colonial attitudes, reducing individuals to faceless masses and perpetuating notions of “otherness”.  Subsequently, as the project narrative unfolds, Bodies of Waves also confronts a modern form of colonialism: climate change.

By linking these linguistic descriptors of water to the physical spaces of Aalborg’s waterfront areas that face climate crises, new localized spatial, social, and phenomenological linkages become present. The industrial aspirations of the developed world have created a global crisis, with rising sea levels and water scarcity potentially becoming major drivers of future migration. The questions remain: how will Western media continue to frame and address the impending waves of climate refugees? How can we understand waterfront cities (like Aalborg) and their implication within these global crises? By activating a sound installation and performative walk in Aalborg unfolding water media metaphors in relation to endangered seaside spaces in the city, Bodies of Waves seeks to evoke dialogues, connections, and discussion in relation to these interrelated and unresolved socio-ecological questions.

Instructions on how to access Bodies of Waves here

Download Arloopa App here

Additional information on Bodies of Waves here

A special thanks to Khaled Barakeh, Nikolaj Skjold, Thomas Birket-Smith, and Huset i Hasserisgade.
 
Saturday, October 21st:
Performative Sound Walk and Group Conversation
from 2:00 - 5:30 pm
Starting point: Aalborg’s Waterfront (near Musikkens Hus), Musikkens Pl. 1, 9000 Aalborg
Ending point: Huset i Hasserisgade, Hasserisgade 10, 9000 Aalborg

Note: the primary language of the event will be in English. Please be kind to bring headphones, your smart phone, and download the Arloopa App to access the sound walk. The event is free of admission and we will serve drinks and snacks.
Razan Sabbagh's work explores identity, socio-political issues, and questions oppressive power structures, such as investigating the political infrastructure of prisons. Sabbagh often collects oral narratives and stories or takes existing texts, interviews, and testimonies as a starting point for her work. Her minimal installations, videos, and performances often explore the relationship between art, activism, aesthetics, and power. She has participated in numerous global exhibitions, including at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Kampnagel, and Thalia Theater, Hamburg (DE), the Sharjah Art Museum (AE), the Goethe Institute, Paris (FR), and Casino Display in Luxembourg (LU).