BIOGRAPHY
Working from queer and trans epistemologies, Ester Fleckner inverts the value of failure, unfinishedness, and displacement to arrive at chaotic and intuitive ways of knowing. Fleckner employs an abstract aesthetic to counteract normative tendencies to produce ever new and false binaries. As such, Fleckner’s ventures are almost always serial and expressly inquisitive; always morphing along the way towards no particular endpoint. The works can be read as alternative maps for navigating visual and linguistic representation out of rigid categorisation. Fleckner mostly works with woodcut printing – a simple, slow and physical technique that allows for differences, errors and a loss of control. As a natural material, wood is apt for Fleckner’s exploration of the collisions between the body and various cultural norms. Fragments of text or drawing are often added in pencil as interaction or dialogue with the graphics works that are printed by the artist. Fleckner’s practice expands from the woodcuts to include cast concrete sculptures, drawings, text work and performative readings.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Ester Fleckner
Born 1983. Based on Møn, DK
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Education
2007-13 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, MFA, Copenhagen, DK
2010-11 Goldsmiths, University of London, MA Gender and Culture, GB
Solo exhibitions
2022 Bedfellows, M100, Odense, DK
2021 Woodbeds, brimming, Kunstplass Contemporary Art [Oslo], NO
2019 Woodbeds, brimming, Avlskarl Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
2017 Pressure/ Imprint, three parallel presentations, Malmö Konsthall, SE
2017 All models are wrong, some are useful, Galerie Barbara Wien, Berlin, DE
2016 A closet does not connect under the bed, Art Brussels w/ Avlskarl Gallery
2016 A closet does not connect under the bed, Overgaden Institute of Art, DK
2015 Wooden Scripts, abc – berlin contemporary, w/ Avlskarl Gallery, Berlin, DE
2015 How to spell a sound that is physical, Avlskarl Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
2014 Jeg navigerer i kollisioner, C4 Projects, Copenhagen, DK
Group exhibitions, selected
2023 spelling, slipping, ellipsis, Lunds Konsthall, SE
2022 P for Perspective, Simian, Copenhagen, DK
2022 Woodcut: From 1400 to the Present, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, DE
2022 Den Frie Udstilling 2022: Atmosfærer, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK
2021 Soil. Sickness. Society, Rønnebæksholm, DK
2021 De Te Fabula Narratur, Historisk Museum, Oslo, NO
2021 De Te Fabula Narratur, Kunstplass Contemporary Art, Oslo, NO
2021 (in)visible, Malmö Konstmuseum, SE
2020 Synliggørelser (Renderings), Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK
2019 Folded Veil, Edouard Malingue Gallery, HK
2019 Taletid, Solidaritetssalonen, Rønnebæksholm, DK
2019 Fra klassisk til queer, J.F. Willumsens Museum, Frederikssund, DK
2018 der grosse Anspruch des kleinen Bildes, Galerie Barbara Wien, Berlin, DE
2018 Facing Concrete, Galleri Kant, Copenhagen, DK
2018 Art Basel, w/ Galerie Barbara Wien, CH
2018 Caressing History, Shrine Empire Gallery, New Delhi, IND
2018 FLESH, RØM, Copenhagen, DK
2018 Now it is Light, Galeria Municipal da Boavista, Lisbon, P
2017 Extended Family, C4 Projects, Copenhagen, DK
2017 Frieze London, w/Galerie Barbara Wien, London, GB
2017 BEERS 5 – 100 Kvinder på Kro part 3, Carlsberg Byens Galleri & Kunstsalon, Cph., DK
2017 The Collectors Home, Avlskarl Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
2016 SEEABLE/SAYABLE, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, NO
2016 Af-Sløret, KH7 Artspace, Aarhus, DK
2016 Homosexuality_ies, LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Münster, DE
2016 Identity. Behind the Curtain of Uncertainty, National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kiev, UA
2016 100 Kvinder på Kro, Huset for Kunst & Design, Holstebro, DK
2015 A Feminist Culture Reader, Grafikernes Hus, Copenhagen, DK
2015 BEERS 5 – 100 Kvinder på Kro, Byens Kro, Copenhagen, DK
2015 Å PARADIS – HELSINKI, Kunstplass [10], Art Fair Suomi, Helsinki, FI
2015 Survival K(n)it 7, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga, LV
2015 Just Frustration, SixtyEight, Copenhagen, DK
2015 Homosexuality_ies, Schwules Museum, Berlin, DE
2014 Vi tager intet ansvar 3, Udstillingsstedet Q, Copenhagen, DK
2014 Time Prints, Dalian Art Museum, CN
2014 Å PARADIS – Strategies on The Nordic Queer, Kunstplass 5, Oslo, NO
2014 BarHvaViHar#9, Warehouse 9, Copenhagen, DK
2014 Literacy / Illiteracy, The 16th Tallinn Print Triennial, Kumu Art Museum, EE
2014 Time Prints, Art College of Xiamen University, CN
2013 The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog III, Baghuset, Copenhagen, DK
2013 Afgang 2013 (MFA Degree Show 2013), Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, DK
2013 24 Spaces – A Cacophony, Malmö Konsthall, SE
2012 The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog II, Baghuset, Copenhagen, DK
2012 International Performance Art Festival, BarHvaViHar#5 art lounge, Warehouse 9, Cph., DK
2012 Rundgang, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, DK
2012 BarHvaViHar#1, Warehouse 9, Copenhagen, DK
2012 Jeg prøver at kigge ind, men får gardiner i øjnene, Q Space, Copenhagen, DK
2010 Rundgang, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts/ private home Frederiksberg, DK
2009 Contemporary past: New Art Forms in Memorial Building, Vilnius, LT
2007 Chinese Smorgasbord, Udstillingsstedet Q, Copenhagen, DK
Represented in the following collections
SMK – Statens Museum for Kunst / The National Gallery of Denmark, DK
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, DE
Malmø Kunstmuseum / Malmö Art Museum, SE
Statens Kunstfond / The Danish Arts Foundation, DK
FRANK Art Collection, NO
Københavns Kommunes Kunstsamling, DK
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Grants and prizes
2022 The Danish Arts Foundation, work grant
2022 Nominated for the Queen Sonja Print Award
2021 The Danish Arts Foundation, work grant
2020 The Danish Arts Foundation, work grant
2020 Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond, production grant
2019 The Danish Arts Foundation, work grant
2017 The Danish Arts Foundation, work grant
2017 Nominated for the Kjell Njupen Memorial Grant
2016 Aage og Yelva Nimbs Fond, awarded honorary grant
2016 Den Hielmstierne-Rosencroneske Stiftelse, awarded work grant
2016 The Danish Arts Foundation, work grant
2016 Art Brussels SOLO Prize, BE
2016 Nominated for the Queen Sonja Print Award
2015 Ole Haslunds Kunstnerfond, awarded travel grant
2015 The Danish Arts Foundation, work grant
2014 The Danish Arts Foundation, work grant
2013 Fr. Gerda Jensens Kunstnerlegat, travel grant
2010 Knud Højgaards Fond, scholarship
2010 Nordea Fonden, scholarship
2010 Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond, scholarship
Artistic publications2020 The Danish Arts Foundation, work grant
2021 zwischen körpern (among bodies), Tieranatomisches Theater, Berlin, DE
2020 lambda nordica nr.2 2020 vol 25, cover, academic journal of LGBTQ studies, Gothenburg University, SE
2019 “Intimate constellations/constellations of intimacy”, Mathias Danbolt & Ester Fleckner, Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory
2018 Dansk Sociologi nr.2, 29.årgang, 2018, billedbidrag og kunstnerpræsentation
2015 Cruising horizontal lines, special edition woodcut print for Pist Protta 77
2014 “Kollision: fordi anus, min krop er botanisk…”, text in Trappe Tusind#10, trappetusind.dk
2013 Argumenter for begær, publication of graphic print, Den Danske Radeerforening
Collaborative work
BarHvaViHar. A queer feminist art bar with exhibitions, readings and performances. The bar was conducted on a regular basis in 2012-2014 at Warehouse 9 in Copenhagen and other locations occasionally. Organised with Mo Maja Moesgaard, Mette Clausen and Line Hvidbjerg
Public talks, readings and other artistic work
2022 Artist talk, M100, Odense, DK
2018 Performer, live concert by Kirsten Astrup at Roskilde Festival, DK
2018 Performer, video work Urolige Hjerte by Kirsten Astrup
2017 Artist talk, Malmö Konsthall, SE
2016 Artist presentations, the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kiev, UA
2016 Walk and talk // Ester Fleckner & Maria Kjær Themsen, Overgaden, Copenhagen, DK
2015 FRANK Conversations, text reading & talk w/ Mathias Danbolt, Den Frie, Copenhagen, DK
2015 FRANK Conversations, text reading & talk w/ Mathias Danbolt, Archive Kabinett, DE
2014 Å PARADIS, SKEIVT ARKIV og KUNST, artist talk, Pride House/House of Literature Oslo, NO
2014 SMK Fridays: Kunsten er queer, text reading, The National Gallery of Denmark, Cph., DK
2014 Slipfest Trappe Tusind #10, performative reading w/ Mo Maja Moesgaard, Kirsten Astrup and Mattias Agerskov, Rummet, Cph., DK
Teaching
2022 Queer Abstraction, workshop , BFA School, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Cph., DK
2022 Teaching assistant, spring semester, BFA School, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Cph., DK
2021 Artist talk and studio visits, Københavns Kunstskole, Cph., DK
2021 Teaching assistant, fall semester, BFA School, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Cph., DK
2021 Guest teacher, Rundgang, BFA School, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Cph., DK
2021 Guest teacher, spring semester, BFA School, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Cph., DK
2020 Guest teacher, fall semester, BFA School, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Cph., DK
2020 Guest teacher, Rundgang, BFA School, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Cph., DK
2020 External examiner, BFA admission, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, DK
2019 Examiner, Rundgang, BFA School, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, DK
2018 Studio visit and talk, Braunschweig University of Art, Berlin, DE
2017 On the path of failure, lecture, Aarhus School of Architecture, DK
2017 Slow Text, workshop, Malmö Konsthall, SE
2017 Studio visit and talk, Kunsthøjskolen Holdbæk, Berlin, DE