Baby Jesus
Sidsel Meineche Hansen
Sylvia Kouvali, London | Piraeus
- Title
- Baby Jesus
- Gallery
- Sylvia Kouvali, London | Piraeus
- Year
- 2023
- Duration
- 15 min 25 s
- Format & Technical
Digital video with sound
- Baby Jesus Digital video with sound, in collaboration with Therese Henningsen Duration 15 min. 25 sec., 2023
The video work Baby Jesus (2023) presents an extraordinary case of the entanglement between property, the self, and survival. In collaboration with Therese Henningsen, Hansen portrays four nuns from the Little Sisters of Jesus congregation who live in a tower block in Hoxton, London, and a shared house in Walsingham, a Catholic pilgrimage village in the UK. By taking “The Cross” and the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the nuns renounce ownership and feelings of possessiveness. Led by their Catholic belief and relationship to God, their self-concept is based on spreading the Gospel through low-paid service jobs and living in the community. They align themselves with outsiders and practice, in a sense, a counterculture to that of today’s aspirational homeowners. One of the nuns makes baby Jesuses in clay from dozens of plaster moulds in different sizes, filling the void by reproducing the Church’s message with multiple baby objects.
Stills
Sus recientes exposiciones individuales incluyen: Metal Works, Ordet, Milán (2024); HOOK NO 10., gta exhibitions, ETH Zurich (2023); Inner Child, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen (2021); home vs owner, Rodeo, Londres / Pireo (2020); LIVE LIFE WELL., Centro de Artes Contemporáneas, Praga (2019); Welcome to End-Used City, Chisenhale Gallery, Londres (2019); An Artist’s Guide to Stop Being An Artist, SMK, Copenhague (2019); Real Doll Theatre, Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlín (2018); End-user, Kunsthal Aarhus (2018).
Sus recientes exposiciones colectivas incluyen: GLASSTRESS 8., Fondazione Berengo Art Space, Murano (2024); After Laughter Comes Tears, MUDAM, Luxemburgo (2023); MAN IN HOUSE, Institut Funder Bakke, Silkeborg (2023); Human Is, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlín (2023); Kino Roland, gta Institute, Zúrich (2022); 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale de Venezia: The Milk of Dreams, 59ª Bienal de Venecia, Venecia (2022).
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Sylvia Kouvali
- Address
- 41 Polidefkous , 18545, London | Piraeus
- Phone
- +30 210 41 23 977｜+44 207 43 99 777
- info@sylviakouvali.com
- Website
- sylviakouvali.com
Sylvia Kouvali (formally Rodeo) opened in 2007 in Istanbul. As well as looking at the local region of the gallery, the programme has always had an international approach, showing contemporary artists from all over the world with a focus on the qualities of the works rather than geographies. The gallery’s primary goal is to expand the dialogue between collectors, museums and curators towards an international understanding of contemporary art. Since opening, the gallery has focused on working closely with institutions and biennials alongside the artists to produce and present new ground-breaking works. In October 2014, it opened its second space in London, expanding and extending this focus with a significant presence of the gallery’s artists in major exhibitions worldwide. In June 2018, it opened a new space in Piraeus, Greece: a place to present artists who are part of the roster and to invite new positions, both historical and younger.