Croy Nielsen

Birke Gorm’s female figures titled ‚loaf of meat‘ are made from what is already there; things collected by Gorm over time. Torsos made of a single terra-cotta brick, limps of terra-cotta pebbles found on the beach. Jute cushions shape their bulky bellies, and the small jugs on their heads make them appear like a little army of pregnant fighters. They are equipped with remnants of shiny metallic beverage cans, champagne corks and nails, which they carry like shields and riot gear. Contrary to the perception of pregnancy as a state of weakness that forces women into the domestic space, here, the pregnant belly is part of her combat equipment. As reproductive beings they live in an economy of abundance instead of expediency; they are oriented towards giving instead of taking. Gorm’s female fighters do not have superpowers, but are nevertheless combative subjects. Their weapons and tools are not constructed from other materials and thus extensions of their bodies in the sense of a heroic (male) undertaking, but are made of found and collected objects. They are reintegrated and utilized anew.

Birke Gorm (b. 1986 in Hamburg, DE) lives and works in Vienna, where she graduated from the Acadmy of Fine Arts in 2018. Upcoming solo exhibitions include Politikens Forhal, Copenhagen, MQ Art Box, Museumsquartier, Vienna (2021), Vestjyllands Kunstpavillion, Videbœk, and a duo with Marie Lund at Martina Simeti, Milan (2022). Upcoming group exhibitions include Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main (2022). Her work has recently been part of group exhibitions at Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin and Belvedere 21, Vienna (both 2019).

Oliver Croy and Henrikke Nielsen founded Croy Nielsen in Berlin in 2008. In 2017 they relocated to Vienna, where the gallery is situated in a historical building in the first district. Artists such as Nina Beier, Marie Lund, and Benoît Maire, who have been part of the gallery since its inception, were later joined by artists such as Olga Balema, Georgia Gardner Gray, and more recently Sandra Mujinga. The gallery also represents the Estate of Albert Mertz, and Vienna-based artists include Ernst Yohji Jaeger, Soshiro Matsubara, and Nicolas Jasmin