V1 GALLERY PROUDLY PRESENTS
COUP DE THÉATRE
AN EXHIBITION BY JAKOB BOESKOV
V1 Gallery is proud to present Coup de Théâtre, an exhibition by Jakob Boeskov.
Boeskovs spectacular and unique art is an in-your face exploration of the horror and absurdity of life in the 21st century.
Pioneering a unique style that combines documentary filmmaking, impersonation, and satire, Boeskov explores the complexity and social potency of war, the weapons industry, globalization, biotechnology, corrupt politics, and other realities. The purpose of his hybrid praxis is to explore avenues that are not possible to investigate within the formal rules of journalism and art.
Boeskov's work is at once an expos' as well as interactive theatre. He engages weapons dealers, fundamentalist Republicans, Chinese militants and captures their candid - and often incriminating views on film, photo and in text.
The inimitable art of Boeskov has been globally praised for its boldness and innovation. The project My Doomsday Weapon, where he infiltrated a Chinese weapons fair with a fictional weapon, made him instantly famous on the international art scene. Boeskov has also managed to reach an impressively large audience. When My Doomsday Weapon was showed in New York, the companion website www.empirenorth.dk had no less than 4, 2 million hits.
In Denmark he is probably most known for Danes For Bush, where he, during the 2004 U.S. election, teamed up with journalist Mads Brøgger, and toured the U.S. under the guise of Danes for Bush, a fictional pro-Republican support group. The project was shown on national Danish television to rave reviews.
With notable international artistic milestones to his credit, Boeskov comes to V1 for his first solo show in his native Denmark. The exhibit includes the fictional weapon from My Doomsday Weapon, an ongoing screening of Boeskov's new video War Wizard, and a new series of drawings: The Chrome Monster Drawings.
Boeskov is a graduate of Danish Royal Art Academy. He recently participated in the group show Populism (Curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen, Cristina Ricupero and Lars Bang_Larsen) and is currently showing in the exhibition Screening War at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany.
