Kristoffer Ørum
Made by hand, mostly. Cut, cast, sanded, painted.
A portraitist. None of the portraits are of him.
This text is generated. He decided what it generates from.
A documentary practice. Every work here has an address and a date.
Comedy.
Local. Copenhagen and Aarhus, mostly.
Coffee Lake is a video installation combining computer-generated video with animated text, created for the group exhibition "Machine sans nom" at Bonamatic. Coffee Lake, 2019
What emerges is a narrative of the self that is both enacted and undermined by an indifferent system — an algorithmic account of personality, filtered through the lenses of psychology, technology and cultural expectation. AutoBiography, 2011
Presented as a manual for the Scope 3000, it included both a personality test based on pattern perception and a how-to guide for the device. The Pattern In Us All, 2007
The work unfolds through short video sequences in which a man slowly unpacks a large box while Olsen’s text is read aloud. KAOS, 2012
Retired factory workers repurpose their technical knowledge to build speakers and maintain audio infrastructure, passing skills across generations. Even the City Dreams of Being Another, 2025
The Glyptotek building emerges from darkness with its solid architecture beginning to flow whilst first hair and then colourful feathers grow out of the building, transforming it. Feathered Misconceptions, 2018
The taste of the titanium pigment which is also used as a whitening agent in milk and sugar. Qua Aqua (Beetroot Texts), 2017
While gentrification night favour one imagined future out of all the others that could have come about, the ongoing struggle of whose imaginaries will be realised, and whose will be kept as potential or unrealistic futures, remains. Brownfield Wonderland, 2022
The project asks what meaning remains in news images once they are stripped of context, headlines, and captions, reduced to fragments of colour and form. Watershed, 2025
One is pink and perforated, carrying a crown and, in mirror writing, "Find them, eat them & enjoy them" — the Danish Nature Agency's advice on the invasive signal crayfish. Signal_Crayfish, 2026
The solo exhibition Djurs Øhav addressed climate change and ecological narratives concerning Kolindsund, a formerly drained lake on Djursland. Djurs Øhav, 2020
The work examined how digital recognition systems and facial detection algorithms influence perception and identity. Putins Nose, 2018
Spray was the third part of a multi-year project that began with "Tank Hip-Hop" at Retro Avantgarde in Kongegaarder and continued with "Freedom, Equality, and Hip-Hop" at Sydhavn Station in November 2023. Mr. Spray, 2024
Hydrographic prints on cornstarch included text "NO pearls or seaweed in the toilets!!! they are getting clogged" (2021). Ebeltoft After The Flood, 2021
The project was documented and promoted through Instagram, allowing for continued engagement with the speculative narratives beyond the physical exhibition period. Mr. Spray, 2024
The project involved citizen participation in creating the final artwork, with local residents contributing both their pets' physical forms and personal stories. The Kolding Creature, 2021
Geometric shapes emerge from the boxes, forming a complex sculptural environment. In a Dark Room/a Storm in a Coffee Cup, 2004
It is this everyday, digital infra-ordinary that Watershed makes tangible. Watershed, 2025
In Copenhagen, at Live Art for Kids the project took shape in courtyards, playgrounds, and cultural centres. Mundane Heroics, 2019
What you see here is just what felt important to document at the time.
Previous iterations of Freedom, Equality and Hip-hop have appeared at Kongegaarden (Korsør), Sydhavn Station (Copenhagen), Friisland (Copenhagen Nordhavn), Survival Kit Biennial (Riga, Latvia), and F.eks. (Aalborg). Hvidovre Makes Good Times Better, 2025
The city of Aarhus serves as both source and subject, remixed through the lens of local imagination and global street culture. Aarhus'er #1, 2025
The exhibition continued this approach, combining speculation with a documentary style to produce objects that felt like remnants of possible futures. The End of the Universe as We Know It?, 2007
The project also speaks to a transitional moment. Watershed, 2025
The "Partners" exhibition investigated what happens when artists and associations work together within the context of an art museum. Everyday Heroes, 2019
Ordinary objects—such as a box of detergent or a web browser—become the basis for fictional universes, playful interfaces, and alternative representations of the data embedded in daily life. Day to Day Data, 2008
An oversized plastic walnut that transmits wireless text. Wireless Walnut, 2018
SignalCrayfish was presented as part of the two-person exhibition "Semio-Technical Traffics" with Emily Rosamond. Signal_Crayfish, 2020
Components included routers, antennas, and cables arranged alongside the biological forms. Signal_Crayfish, 2020
The headline read "The Inscrutable Face of Russia." This sparked reflections on how much difference there actually is between the paranoid gaze of computer surveillance technologies and that of human beings. Putin's Nose, 2019
All works intentionally carry imperfections — too many fingers, floating houses, distorted details — which reveal their fictional origins. Hvidovre Makes Good Times Better, 2025
On the contrary, humour often arises in breaks with the expected, in encounters with the unknown, bringing fear and laughter close together. None of These Images Are of Me, 2025
The installation ran on a standard computer connected to a screen in the exhibition space. Auto Navigate My History, 2014
The signal crayfish is an invasive species in Danish waters. A Human Pretending To Be An Artist Pretending To Be A Crayfish, 2022
It considers what AI might look like if it evolved through neighbourhood initiatives, recycled consumer hardware, and community-specific datasets, moving at the pace of shared maintenance rather than commercial urgency. Diffused States (Lexington), 2025
For the exhibition opening, Vitar Horsens Rollespilslaug performed an InCrowd game at the art museum, bringing their practice directly into the gallery space. Everyday Heroes, 2019
The objects were fabricated by hand, with airbrushed surfaces and traces of manual production visible on the casts. Invisible Objects, 2016
These scenes combined role play, sculpture, and performance into temporary worlds accessible to anyone passing by. Mundane Heroics, 2019
Interaction is minimal – the poem pauses until the reader touches the screen – creating a rhythm where text, sound, and image progress together. KAOS, 2012
Diffused States was presented as part of *Data Fluencies: Tributaries*, curated by Roopa Vasudevan, which brought together artists working on the ways data can be resisted, rerouted, or reimagined outside dominant narratives. Diffused States (Vancouver), 2025