Biography

Kirsten Justesen
* 1943, born in Odense, Denmark

Kirsten Justesen is an interdisciplinary artist, based in Copenhagen. Her practice comprises various genres, from body and performance art to sculpture and installation. Justesen is trained in classical sculpture and was part of the Danish avant-garde of the 1960s, where she became a pioneering figure within the three-dimensional modes of art that incorporate the artist’s own body as artistic material. A conceptual approach to sculpture continuously renegotiated with an emphasis on time, process, and action, is distinctive of her art.

The early works of Justesen focus primarily on a feminist aesthetic, challenging societal and art historical norms surrounding women and gender. Pieces such as Sculpture #2 (1968), and Lunch (1975), both subverting the traditional female stereotypes and introducing a female gaze, established her as a significant figure of the feminist avant-garde. Since the 1970s, Justesen has exhibited extensively, both in Denmark and internationally, participating in landmark exhibitions such as Images of Women (1970) and MAGNA. Feminism: Art and Creativity (1975), as well as the touring exhibitions WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution (2007-08), and Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s (2016-).

Justesen later oeuvre explores the relationship between the body, space, and language in broader terms. Examples include the intermedia installation FAMA – Instant Saints (1996-97), investigating the nature of rumour, and the ongoing Meltingtime series (1980-), in which Justesen employs ice as artistic material to address formal, philosophical and existential questions that are made palpable through metamorphoses in its material state and meaning.

From 2019 to 2024, Justesen has worked on a public monument commemorating the life and achievements of Countess Danner (1815–1874) and the subsequent struggles for women’s rights in Denmark.

Justesen’s work is held in private and public collections and museums, including:

Brundlund Castle Art Museum, Aabenraa, DK
CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art, Denmark, Middelfart, DK
Court Theatre, Copenhagen, DK
Danish Arts Foundation, DK
Emily Harvey Collection, New York, US
Helsingborg Museum Art Collection, SE
Horsens Art Museum, DK
JP/Politikens Hus, Copenhagen, DK
Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, DK
MAN, Museum Anna Nordlander, Skellefteå, SE
Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, DK
National Gallery Prague, CZ
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, US
New Carlsberg Foundation, Copenhagen, DK
Randers Kunstmuseum, DK
Sammlung Verbund, Vienna, AT
SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, DK
Sorø Kunstmuseum, DK

Over the years, Justesen has received numerous awards and grants, and in 1998 she was awarded the Danish Art Foundations Lifelong Honorary Grant.

Alongside her artistic practice, since 1967 Justesen has designed stage sets for Danish theatres and from 1985-1990 contributed to the development of the scenography programme at the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Copenhagen. During the 1990s she worked in close collaboration with the Randi Patterson Company, a partnership resulting in the modern dance performances Pink Lady (1996) and Diamonds (1997).