An Element of Surrender
There is always an element of surrender in Kleemann's works. A surrender to that which is greater than man-made ideas: streams of the oceans, water, wind, weather. Things run through her, she uses her body and her canvases as a medium for something bigger. Nature, ice and time are not something she is in the process of overcoming, capturing or depicting. Instead, she is at the mercy of everything: gender, body, colonial power.
Bodil Skovgaard, Dagbladet Information 1.9.2023
Jessie Kleemann CV
b.1959 in Upernavik, living in Copenhagen since 2002.
Exhibitions & Performances:
2025 Tales of the Water - Group Show, Rønnebæksholm, 24. may - 31. august
2025 Running Time-performance with musician and composer Søren Gemmer, Le Bicolore, Paris, April
2025 Rising from the ashes - Convening for Reaparation and Rematriation, HKW Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 20.-26 january - Performance and Talk
2024 DEN FRIE group Show, Denmark ( 8th of june -4th of aug ) 2024
2024 – 25 Group Show COMMON THREAD, MoCNA, Santa Fe NM
2023 SMK – solo show Running Time aug- nov ’23
2023 Rønnebæksholm – solo show Lá. Læ. Likkja. Magna.
2023 Reykjavik Living Art museum udstilling NORTH
2023 Umeå Bildmuseet udstilling NORTH
2023 Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena EXPOSURE: Native Art and Political Ecology
2023 El Paso Muesum of Art, TX, EXPOSURE: Native Art and Political Ecology
2022 Marshall M. Frederick’s Sculpture Museum, EXPOSURE: Native Art and Political Ecology
2022 Atlantikumi/Atlanterhavet, Nordatlantens Brygge, København
2022 NORTH, Portland Museum of Art, Maine, USA
2022 INUA, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg,CA
2021 Atlantikumi/Atlanterhavet, Comissioned work by Nuuk Art Museum
2021 Grønland i kunsten gennem 300 år - Museet for Religiøs Kunst
2021 Värsta scenario Worst case scenario Lunds Kunsthall, SE
2021 Arkhticós Dolorôs – digtsamling (Forlaget Arena, 2021) og videoperformancen fra 2019, udstillet på bl.a. Nuuk Kunstmuseum.
2021-22 IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2021-22 Kunsthall Trondheim, Sex Ecologies, Trondhjem, Norge
2019 ROOTZONES Hanstholm Artspace
Faces//Kiinnernerit Upernavik, Upernavik Museum
2018, Perler på snor, en arktisk historiefortælling, Nordatlantens Brygge, Kbh
2018 The Weather Diaries, Nuuk Kunstmuseum,
2017 Faces //Kiinnernerit, udstilling og performance Nuuk Kunstmuseum
2017 The Weather Diaries, the ASI, Minniapolis, USA
2015 Anchorage Museum, AK, ” Without Boundaries: Visual Conversations” 2016-17
2015 Katuaq, Nuuk, textbased works and video works.
2014 The Pleasure of negative Emotions, KNIPSU Gallery, Bergen
2014 The Weather Diaries, NFB, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt
2014 Kiruna Konstgilde. Pathhway- Polku, Rovaniemi Artmuseum, Oulo Artmuseum
2012 HORIZONIC, sound – video art, Island, Sverige, Frankrig,
2012 Liverpool Biennial, City States, UK
2012 Solo Show ASSAK, Aarhus Kunsthal
Performances and works in video:
2023 Running Time/Løber Mod tiden ( 4 channel video, 8 min.loop)
2023 MASK ( 7:15 min loop)
2023 Lone Wolf Runner, SMK; ORSOQ, SMK; Solen i korset, Korset i Solen, Bornholm.
2022 Performance at the New Red Order, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Dance with Ship Biscuits)
2022 Performance Louisiana Literature (Plastic Flowers never fade)
2021 When the ravens turn white (7 min.)
2019 Arkhticós doloros ( 10 min.)
2019 Nuuk Kunstmuseum (don’t touch me! olie og amuletter; without consent with consent)
2018 Orsoq in Numbers, (Sound & performance piece) til EARTHBOUND, Aarhus
2017 Highlight Arctic, Summerhall, Edinburgh;
2016 Performances, Freeword Center, London; Meter art space CPH,
2015 ORSOQ; subarctic sushi!) KULSTOF 15, Kunsthal NORD
2012 SASSUMA ARNAA, video and performance Kunsthal Aarhus
2003 VIDEO POEM
1991 Spirit Host Join the elements
1988 KINAASUNGA (12 min.)
Awards & Grants:
Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl Nielsens Honoray Award, 2024
The Eckersberg Medal, 2024
Danish Art Counsil / Statens Kunstfond 3-year grant, 2023
Find Jessie Kleemann’s archive here - also featuring significant works that are not mentioned here yet!
Photocredit: Luna Stage