What value does drawing possess in an era when computers can recreate the touch of the human hand and fashion a work of art? How can human creativity compare to the advance of artificial intelligence? Andreas Albrectsen’s work tussles with these dilemmas and exposes the conceptual frictions that lie between the digital and human realms. In his measured, monochrome drawings, Albrectsen harnesses motifs that are often associated with computer systems—the arrows of weather patterns on a meteorological report; the folders of a desktop; the word puzzles of a reCAPTCHA.
The reclamation of these images, symbols and words is something of a rebellious act by Albrectsen against the powers of Big Tech. Now returned to the human hand, these motifs are charged with the resonance of having been translated between media. While the expansion of empires was once the demonstration of power, it seems the colonization of data and digital territory is now the marker of influence. We might think of the growing dangers of deepfakes and bots, who feed false information to human users to the detriment of fair elections.
In the case of the Recapture series, which return the nonsense fragments of scanned books to the tactile page, Albrectsen draws attention to the relationship between the human user and computer system. While the user performs the required task of deciphering words to prove their humanity, they simultaneously improve the intelligence of the software. Albrectsen’s drawings interrupt this exchange, however, highlighting the shadowy intentions behind a reCAPTCHA—their benefits and their hidden costs. While the result of a reCAPTCHA is to digitize archives and make these accessible to a human audience, they are often carried out blithely without understanding how information will be used. Human knowledge and data are bestowed unknowingly. The absurd poems that appear in Albrectsen’s Recapture works speak to this farcical truth.
Albrectsen’s drawings discuss the way in which information is disseminated and processed. Through the lens of the computer screen, human experience is diluted and distilled into something unemotional and detached. The representation of tempests, for example, as a collection of arrows and lines forges a distance between the audience and the true impact of a storm upon human life. Equally, desktop folders are a place in which sensitive information is archived, to be retrieved in the future or forgotten. In Albrectsen’s Untitled (Folders) series, these dossiers are superimposed over alpine ranges and sand dunes which mimic screensaver backgrounds. Albrectsen makes us consider how information is gathered by Big Tech and used at times without our knowledge; how quickly we fashion our digital identities and how long the residue of those profiles lingers on.
The decision by Albrectsen to work with paper, charcoal and pencil is weighted in both art historical and quotidian significance—these are the tools of preliminary observations and unconscious outpourings, as well as the humble utensils of everyday life. Indeed, art history and its essential relationship to human creativity is an anchor in Albrectsen’s work. The computer screen is reimagined here as a new kind of vanitas painting—a warning against the transience of life, but also its emptiness when experienced purely online. The distinctly human nature of drawing contrasts with the objectivity of the digital imagery that Albrectsen employs.
The migration between the human and digital, conceptual and material is vital to Albrectsen’s practice. In the midst of this oscillation is a discussion of modern life and the longing for connection. His drawings can be seen to facilitate and disrupt such connections, echoing the way in which a computer allows people to speak across continents via high-speed fibre-optic, but also create physical distance between interlocutors. With his own mixed Danish and Brazilian heritage, Albrectsen views this longing for connection as integral, inviting a dialogue between the two sides of his personality, as well as the digital and human. Alice Godwin
Selected Exhibtions
Solo
2024
Selected Writings
Duo show with Jakob Kolding.
Galleri Arnstedt, Östra Karup
Opening May 25
2022
Superbloom
Galeria Anita Schwartz, Rio de Janeiro
20.4 - 4.6
2021
C.C.C, Copenhagen
4.3 - 1.4
2020
Galleri Arnstedt, Östra Karup
30.5 - 17.6
2019
(Andreas Albrectsen & Otavio Schipper)
Specta Gallery Copenhagen
20.09 - 25.10
Charlotte Fogh Gallery, Aarhus.
5.4 - 11.5
2018
Bozar - Centre of Fine Arts
05 .09 - 09.09
Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen
01.06 - 30.06
2016
Galleri Tom Christoffersen
26.08 - 28.08
2016
Galleri Arnstedt, Östra Karup
25.06 - 10.07
Drawing Now Paris (Le Carreau du Temple)
Galleri Tom Christoffersen
22.03 - 25.03
2015
Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen
23.10 - 21.11
Amsterdam Drawing (NDSM WERF)
Galleri Tom Christoffersen
17.09 - 20.09
Andreas Albrectsen
Galleri Arnstedt, Östra Karup
30.07 - 18.08
2013
The End
Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen
27.09 - 19.10
KHM Gallery, Malmö
07.06 - 22.06
2013
Reel Time
Galleri CC, Malmö
05.04 - 28.04
2011
Silent Icons
Gerhard Hofland, Amsterdam
10.09 - 18.10
The Show
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
06.07 - 10.07
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Press, Mentions & Publications
by Garrett Stewart / Bloomsbury Academic Books US
Analysis of 'Untitled (Folders)' in the chapter "Material Transference and Medial Merger. Transmedium: Conceptualism 2.0 and the New Object Art" (2017)"
'Atmosphere' issue 11
Fall 2023
Lessons From A Climate Comeback
Oct. 28, 2021
Tiden kalder på ledelse uden værktøjer
Analysis in news outlet MandagMorgen, 3. Jan 2024
5 hjerter: Et smukt billede på altings forfængelighed
Review by Peter Michael Hornung, Politiken, 1.Oct 2023
Exhibition text by Aukje Lepoutre Ravn. 2022
Printed in the book Anita Schwartz XXV 1998 - 2023
Materialities of The Weather Forecast
Text by Anne Kølbæk Iversen. 2021
Chasing Rainbows
Exhibition text by Ida Schyum. 2019.
Sleeper. Otavio Schipper & Andreas Albrectsen
Exhibition text by Lotte Møller, 2019.
Forslåede hjerter og andre vibrerende tilstande.
Review and anysis at Kunsten.nu by Trine Rytter Andersen. 2019.
Tidsskriftet Dansk Sociologi no. 3, 2018
Artist presentation by Anders Blok - Published through the Danish Institute of Sociology. The University of Copenhagen.
Text by Anna Vestergaard Jørgensen. 2018
Paletten Tidsskrift för Konst no.2, 2015
Art and psychoanalysis - essay by Gertrud Sandqvist.
Dagbladet Information, November 6 2015
Skudhullernes lysende pletter - review by Anna Vestergaard Jørgensen.
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Collections
MNBA - Museu Nacional De Belas Artes, Brazil
SMK - The National Gallery of Denmark
Malmö Art Museum, Sweden
Vejle Art Museum, Denmark
The Danish Arts Foundation
The New Carlsberg Foundation
Novo Nordisk Foundation
Soho House, Copenhagen
Region Skåne, Sweden
Collection of Västergötlands regionen, Sweden
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners
Annie & Otto Johs. Detlefs Collection
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Public placements
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Embassy of Denmark in London, UK
Courtesy: The New Carlsberg Foundation
Center for Practice-based Art Studies (PASS) / University of Copenhagen Courtesy of The Danish Arts Foundation
Skåne University Hospital Campus, SE
Courtesy of Region Skåne
The Court of Justice in Glostrup, DK
Courtesy: The New Carlsberg Foundation
Group
2026
Upcoming
KUMU - Estonian Art Museum
12.2 - 28.8
2025
SP-Arte
São Paulo Art Fair, (Galeria Anita Schwartz)
2.4 -6.4
2024
Chart Art Fair ( C.C.C Gallery)
Kunsthal Charlottenborg
28.8 - 1.9
Apollo's Decathlon
Château de Montsoreau - museum of contemporary art, FR
14.6 - 11.8
Landlines / Linhas Fixas
2112, Copenhagen
15.23 - 27.4
2023
Works on Paper
Galleri Arnstedt, Östra Karup
7.10 - 11.11
Disappearances
Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen
26.8 - 22.10
Anita Schwartz XXV
Galeria Anita Schwartz, Rio de Janeiro
10.5 - 29.7
MARKET DEBUT
C.C.C Gallery / Spritmuseum Stockholm
12.5 - 14.5
2022
Are We There Yet?
Nils Stærk, Copenhagen
30.11 - 28.1.23
On Hearing of an Absence - Curated by Dinos Chatzirafailidis
Haus N, Athens
25.11 - 13.1.2
DRAWING W.O.W
Minuseins, Vienna
7.9 - 1.10
ART RIO
with Galeria Anita Schwartz
14.9 - 18.9
CHART ART FAIR
(C.C.C) Charlottenborg Kunsthal
25.8 - 28.8
Dansk Kunst Nu
SMK - National Gallery of Denmark
August -
SP-ARTE 2022
São Paulo Art Fair - Galeria Anita Schwartz
6.4 - 10.4
Historie Naturelle
With Mia Edelgart -C.C.C, Copenhagen
Opening 17.3 - 14.4
2021
Art Rio
Galeria Anita Schwartz, Rio de Janeiro
08.9 - 12.9
Samling
Arnstedt, Östra Karup, Sweden
17.7 - 05.8
SP-ARTE 2021 (Online)
São Paulo Art Fair - Galeria Anita Schwartz
16.6 - 20.6
Nye Dimensioner
Vejle Kunstmuseum
21.4.21 - 02.03.25
Projeto Verão
Galeria Anita Schwartz
24.2 -
2020
Art Rio Online
Galeria Anita Schwartz
14.10 - 18.10
Time of Change
SPECTA, Copenhagen
01 -12.09
2019
100
Galleri CC, Malmö
29.11 -22.12
Edstranska Stiftelsens Stipendiater 2019
Malmö Art Academy
25.10 -24.11
2018
Memory Foam
Code Art Fair, Copenhagen
Aug. 29 - Sep. 1
Den nordiske ambassade, Copenhagen
18.01 - 03.02
2017
Art - History - Collection ( A selection of the collection of Reyn van der Lugt)
Parts Project, The Hague
19.11 - 21.01.18
Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen
23.11 - 23.12
Selected Works From The Bech Risvig Collection
Huset for Kunst og Design, Holstebro
20.08 - 01.10
meter exhibition space, Copenhagen
19.08 - 09.12
2015
Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen
17.08 - 19.09
Galleri Jacob Bjørn, Aarhus
07.08 - 05.07
Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen
09.01 - 21.02
Galleri Tom Christoffersen
07.04 - 19.04
2014
Dark Matter
Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen
19.09 - 11.10
Understrøm - ung nordisk kunst
ARoS - Aarhus kunstmuseum
10.01 - 02.02
2013
Amsterdam Drawing
Gerhard Hofland
19.09 - 22.09
Nordic Drawing
Norrtälje Konsthall, Sweden
02.11 - 08.12
24 Spaces
Malmö Konsthall, Sweden
02.11 - 18.08
Rummets Rymd - Species of Space
Skissernas Museum, Sweden
02.11 - 18.08
2012
Art Rotterdam
Gerhard Hofland
09.02 - 12.02
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Grants
Ebba Elizabeth & Kristian Larsens Foundation, Denmark
Honorary Scholarship 2021
The Danish Arts Foundation
Work Grant: 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021,2024
Production Grant: 2013, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024
Den Hielmstierne-Rosencroneske Stiftelse, Denmark
Work Grant (2018)
Edstranska Foundation Scholarship, Sweden
2019, 2013.
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