More than a hundred baby penguins in balloon form take over the Kunsthal! Cute, packed together and aimlessly drifting with the slightest movement of air. When the Wind Blows brings together two works by Danish artist Benedikte Bjerre (1987): the installation The Birds (2017) and Getting Warmer (2026), made especially for the Kunsthal. Humour is her starting point; the undertone is more serious.
Enter the exhibition to find themselves surrounded by a sea of identical helium balloons in the shape of baby penguins. They are mass-produced goods, party shop fare, the kind of object you buy, use and forget. The choice of the penguin is no coincidence: as an inhabitant of the polar regions, it is one of the most recognisable symbols of the consequences of climate change, partly driven by a system of endless production and consumption.
Getting warmer
For the Kunsthal, Bjerre created a wall text that runs around the entire space, with the alternating words HOT and COLD. They refer to the children's game in which someone searches for a hidden object guided by the words warmer or colder, but also to the logic of trends, politics and climate: what is hot today is cold tomorrow. Meanwhile, the climate itself is becoming increasingly unpredictable: no longer shifting in a steady rhythm of cold and warm, but erratic and irregular.
About the artist
Benedikte Bjerre (1987, Copenhagen) works conceptually from sociological and social phenomena, with a practice focused on sculpture and installation. Her work moves at the intersection of popular culture, mass consumption and the Anthropocene. Bjerre has previously shown work at Frieze London, at palace enterprise in Copenhagen, and at institutions including Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and MMK Frankfurt. From 2019 to 2023 she was professor at the Jutland Art Academy in Aarhus.
