Born 1967, Esbjerg, Denmark
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Education
1995-1997
Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany
1989-1996
The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark
1996
DAAD Scholarship, Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany
2024
Henrik Olesen, Cabinet, London, UK
2022
Henrik Olesen: WALLS, Galleria Franco Noero, Turin, Italy
Henrik Olesen: Digestion, Galerie Buchholz, Berlin, Germany
2021
Henrik Olesen: Hey Restless!, GagaReena, Los Angeles, USA
2020
Henrik Olesen, dépendance, Brussels, Belgium
Henrik Olesen, Galerie Buchholz, Cologne, Germany
2019
Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Galerie Buchholz, New York, USA
2018
Hey Panopticon! Hey Asymmetry!, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany
6 or 7 new works, Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
Cabinet Gallery, London, UK
2017
The Walk, The Wattis Institute, San Francisco, USA
2016
Conversation in a Yes/No Landscape (with Gerry Bibby), Sismógrafo, Porto, Portugal
Galerie Daniel Buchholz, New York, USA
Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York, USA
2014
The Companion Species Manifesto, dépendance, Brussels, Belgium
Abandon the parents, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark
(curated by Henrik Olesen, Daniel Buchholz and Christopher Müller)
2013
Hysterical Men, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Berlin, Germany
2012
Reena Spaulings, New York, USA
Mr. Knife & Mrs. Fork – Wolfgang Hahn Preis, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Cabinet, London, UK
2011
Master-Slave Dialectic, (With Dahn Vo) Fondazione Morra Greco
and Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, Germany
Museum für Gegenwartskunst – Emanuel Hoffmann-Stiftung, Basel, Switzerland
Projects 94: Henrik Olesen, MoMA – Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
2010
The body is a machine, machines are slaves, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden
Henrik Olesen / Kirsten Pieroth, dépendance, Brussels, Belgium
2009
Studio Voltaire Presents: Mr. Knife & Mrs. Fork, Studio Voltaire, London, UK
2008
How do I make myself a body?, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Berlin, Germany
Ludlow 38, New York, USA
2007
Some faggy gestures, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
Türen / Doors, collaboration with Judith Hopf, Portikus, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
2005
Le corps sous la peau est une usine surchauffée, dépendance, Brussels, Belgium
Henrik Olesen and Kirsten Pieroth – CUBITT, London, UK
2004
Secession, Vienna, Austria, (cat.)
2003
1935 1922, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany (cat.), Kunstverein Salzburg, Austria
Hosni Mubarak, Aaron McKinney, Richmond, Belgrad, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany
D 6 oder 7 neue Arbeiten, Klosterfelde, Berlin, Germany
2002
Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, Germany
There are two temperatures: one outside, one inside,
Kirsten Pieroth/ Henrik Olesen (collaboration), Galleria Franco Noero, Torin, Italy
2001
Studiogalerie, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany
2025
Silver Suits You - 25 Years Loving Art, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein (upcoming)
2024
Sì - for Margot, Etablissement d'en Face, Brussels, BE
2023
Dream Machines (curated by Daniel Birnbaum and Massimiliano Gioni), DESTE Foundation Project Space, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, Greece
Oltre il buio (curated by Alberto Salvadori), Ala Scaligera della Rocca, Angera, Italy
At the Studio, Collezione Giancarlo e Danna Olgiati, Lugano, Italy
Unto Dust, Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris, France
Exposé-es, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2021
Yael Davids – One Is Always a Plural, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
Benefit of the Doubt, Deborah Schamoni, München, Germany
Pathologically Social, O-Town House, Los Angeles, USA
Zeroes and Ones, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
A Decade that Exploded, Rialto 6, Lisbon, Portugal
State and Nature, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
2020
gerlach en koop: Was machen Sie um zwei? Ich schlafe., Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen, Germany
Studio Berlin, Berghain, Berlin, Germany– curated by Karen Boros
dépendance at Alice Folker, Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
BEINGS, dépendance, Brussels, Belgium
2019
Maskulinitäten, Bonner Kunstverein, Düsseldorf, Germany
2018
Hӧlle, Galerie Buchholz, New York, USA
Optik Schroeder, mumok, Vienna, Austria
A Matter Of Printing (For SMC), Supportico Lopez, Berlin, Germany
2017
Jump into the Future – Art from the 90’s and 2000’s, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Policeman´s Beard is Half Constructed: Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany
A still life by Chardin, Lisson Gallery, London, UK
2016
Accrochage, Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy
L’image volée, Prada Foundation, Milan, Italy
2015
Slip of the tongue, Punta della dogana, Venice, Italy
2014
The Hawker, dépendance at Carlos/ Ishikawa, London, UK
2013
Futur Perfekt, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Germany
The Encyclopedic Palace, 55th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale
/ Biennale di Venezia – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Plaisance, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, USA
Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (curated by Gerry Bibby)
2012
Counter-Production, Generali Foundation, Vienna, Austria
Ghosts in the Machine, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA
Etna Carrara, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany
Collaborations & Interventions, CCA Andratx, Andratx, Spain
Supplica Per Un’appendice, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy
Relocated, MD 72, Berlin, Germany
Im Raum des Betrachters, Skulptur der Gegenwart, Werke aus der Sammlung
Moderne Kunst, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
2011
Quodlibet III – Alphabets and Instruments, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Berlin, Germany
2010
Real Preseces – Marcel Broodthaers today, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany
8th Gwangju Biennale – 10,000 Lives, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea
6th Berlin Biennale für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin, Germany
Modernologies – Contemporary Artists Researching Modernity and Modernism, Muzeum Sztuki Nowocz esnej w Warszawie / Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland
2009
Wo ist der Wind, wenn er nicht weht? – Politische Bildergeschichten von Albrecht Dürer bis Art Spiegelman, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Modernologies, Museu d´Art Contemporani de Barcelona – MACBA, Barcelona, Spain
Moby Dick, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, USA
Zeichen setzen / Indicated by signs, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany
Making Worlds, 53rd International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale
/ Biennale di Venezia – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
2008
Sergej Jensen – Henrik Olesen – Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Sammlung / Collection, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
Visite – Von Gerhard Richter bis Rebecca Horn, Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany
Konzepte der Liebe, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany
Collage: The Unmonumental Picture, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA
2007
Unmonumental: The Object In The 21st Century, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA
Oh Girl, It’s a Boy!, Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany
Spetzie – after the butcher, Berlin, Germany
BODYPOLITCX, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Made in Germany – Aktuelle Kunst aus Deutschland, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover, Germany
2006
…und so hat Konzept noch nie Pferd bedeutet, Generali Foundation, Vienna, Austria
Das Achte Feld – Geschlechter, Leben u. Begehren in der bildenden Kunst s. 1960, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln, at Metro Pictures, Metro Pictures Gallery, New York, USA
Optik Schröder – Werke aus der Sammlung Alexander Schröder, Kunstverein Braunschweig e.V., Braunschweig, Germany
2005
Verdunklung/Darkening, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Editionen – Pork Salad Press, Wiener Secession, Vienna, Austria
Projekt Migration, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany
The Lisson Gallery Summer Show, Lisson Gallery, London, UK
EXIT- Ausstieg aus dem Bild, ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany
2004
Henrik Olesen – Mia Joo Rosasco – Trung Ky-Danh Vo, Signal, Malmö, Sweden
Quodlibet, Galerie Daniel Buchholz – Köln, Cologne, Germany
Communauté 1, IAC – Institut d’art contemporain Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne, France
2003
World Watchers – Demokratie. Information. Subjekte., Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin, Germany
GNS (Global Navigation System), Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
50th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale / Biennale di Venezia – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
actionbutton, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
Influence, Anxiety, and Gratitude, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, UK
2002
Ökonomien der Zeit, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
5. Werkleitz Biennale – Zugewinn / Gemeinschaft, Werkleitz Biennale, Halle, Germany
Contextualise – Zusammenhänge herstellen, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
The Collective Unconsciousness…, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
2001
Frankfurter Kreuz, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
neue welt, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Inside Space – Experiments in Redefining Rooms, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, UK
Tate Collection, London, UK
Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen City Council, Denmark
Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany
Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Poland
Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA