Videos

The performance Celestial Harmony immerses the audience in a sensory experience where performers, adorned with hand-sewn silk and canvas costumes mimicking the works Cosmic Relation and Tribe, navigate through the crowd in slow, deliberate movements, as if pulled by a cosmic force. Blind creatures, relying on touch and intuition, embodies the concept of "seeing with our fingertips" as described by the philosopher Ole Fogh Kirkeby. This tactile engagement with the world reflects a deeper connection between the self and the cosmos.This parallel between ancient cosmology and the imperceptible forces of human experience is intrinsically bound in the narrative of Celestial Harmony, as the performance transitions from Tribe to Cosmic Relation. Here, in fumbling motion, the figures kneel in front of the work, bonding cosmic forces and human spirit. This moment of unity transcends boundaries, bridging the gap between individual consciousness and collective existence. It echoes Kirkeby's idea of an emergent unity beyond dualism, where body, thought, language, and world converge to form a holistic experience. Celestial Harmony, 2024 Performance, Hand-sewn silk and canvas costumes, Duration: 10-15 min, Performers: Selma Ranløv & Natalie Beier, Video: Mille Kalsmose

The exhibition Collected Memory at Politiken's Forhal—and on illuminated newspaper displays at Rådhuspladsen, Nørreport, Vesterport, and Hans Knudsens Plads—ran from August 20 to October 24, 2020. Based on artist Mille Kalsmose’s personal experiences of loneliness and failure, the exhibition explores themes of relationships and collective unity. Visitors contribute by sharing personal stories on colored newspaper, which are archived and displayed in the Media House. Weekly, the artist selects statements to be featured in public spaces and in the printed newspaper. All contributions are also archived and digitized on http://collectedmemory.world, creating a global community of shared experiences.

Collected Memory is a visionary network of sculptural, participatory installations created by Mille Kalsmose. This project aims to gather and share our innermost thoughts, feelings, experiences, hopes, and desires, exploring what it truly means to be human. By inviting participants to contribute their personal reflections, Collected Memory fosters a collaborative environment that highlights our shared humanity.

Through her works, Mille Kalsmose creates space for the intangible phenomena such as memory, identity, psychological mechanisms, and spiritual connections. In collaboration with neurologist Peter Michael Nielsen and psychologist Alex Ashot Ikilikian, she created Re-Sounding Organ to investigate alleviating pain and depression through sound vibrations. Her installation Listening Back in Time, based on research from the ALMA space observatory in Chile, incorporates sound waves from the universe's creation. Kalsmose's other works, including Traces of Memory, Spatial Memory, Points in Time, and Untitled, delve into deep time, a geological understanding of time spanning infinite years.

Conscious Matter is a large-scale sculptural installation by Danish artist Mille Kalsmose, centered around matter and the mineral iron. Using industrial and archaeological materials like rock, iron cores, and steel bars, the work highlights the inherent beauty of matter. The structure, resembling a multi-storey cell or an inner prison, incorporates iron dust, ore stones, pigments, and her father's blood. It evokes the alchemical process and explores the concept of Conscious Matter, where iron serves as a tool for decentering humanity and revealing a reality beyond mere matter.

Different Lives is a 2:30-minute video documentation by Mille Kalsmose, in which she and a friend swap lives to explore their different realities. Created in 2001 and finalized in 2008, the video features a voiceover describing their contrasting life paths: Kalsmose's transition from handball player and teacher to artist without children, and her friend's continuation in sports and family life (before this concept existed commercially). They exchanged homes, roles, and daily routines, with Kalsmose living her friend's life as a mother and her friend experiencing Kalsmose's life as an art student. The documentary-style video examines choices, identity, and the nature of reality through an intimate yet factual narrative.

Inverted Rituals is an installation of 24 videos on 24 screens with loudspeakers, immersing the viewer in the artist's mind. Each video displays a drawing of a mantra-like inner narration – both positive and negative – transformed into ritual behavior. The screens and voices create patterns, repetitions, and rhythms, ranging from meditative calm to an overwhelming cacophony. Visuals and sounds interact like a neural network, taking over the viewer's mind and space.