May 30, 2025 → June 8, 2025
Open: May 31, June 1, 7, 8 | 12:00–17:00
SpLab, Mejlgade 32-34, 8000 Aarhus C
Opening/vernissage:
May 30, 2025, 17:00-21:00
SpLab, Det Jyske Kunstakademi
Mejlgade 32-34, Aarhus C, 8000, Denmark
Admission:
Gratis
IMAGE
Graphic design by: William Becker
TEXT
Splab presents 'Just About And Never', a solo exhibition by Danish artist Carl Otto Linde.
Opening: May 30 | 17:00 – 21:00
Open: May 31, June 1, 7, 8 | 12:00–17:00
SpLab, Mejlgade 32-34, 8000 Aarhus C
The exhibition brings together five sculptural and sound-based works that reflect on the slow aftermath of crisis. Rather than focusing on spectacle or catastrophe, 'Just About And Never' turns to what follows: when movement stalls, meaning becomes uncertain, and the world continues, but not as it was. These works do not resolve. They remain.
For instance, a fixed beam of artificial sunlight glows across the floor ('Forever Does Exist'). Warm at first, it soon reveals a halted temporality. Time is simulated, then suspended. In 'Heaven Ain’t Never It', a mirrored sculptural form loops perception endlessly, refusing entry or orientation. The surface flickers, but the space does not open.
This atmosphere carries into the material. In 'So Mote It Be', a monkshood flower (historically poisonous) is suspended in resin. The gesture feels careful, but final. Its potency is held in place, no longer active but preserved in stillness. Meanwhile, 'Sorrow Means Are Part of Tomorrow' introduces sound into the space. A linen sculpture emits a fragmented blackbird call, hovering between alarm and lullaby. The sound offers no conclusion. It remains as presence, ambient and unresolved. Together, these works shape a world where resolution is deferred and perception slows. They speak softly but insistently, inviting attention rather than interpretation. 'Just About And Never' resists narrative. It lingers, observing the conditions of the present without asking them to conclude.
Presented within Splab, the exhibition resonates with the space’s mission as a platform for public engagement developed by the Jutland Art Academy. Splab exists at the threshold between academic reflection and public discourse, creating a space for works that question, suggest, and remain in motion.
Carl Otto Linde’s practice explores how material, time, and perception respond to pressure. With a restrained, precise approach, he constructs installations that dwell on ecological fragility, technological drift, and the quiet tension between natural and constructed worlds. In 'Just About And Never', he invites us to sit with what does not settle, to remain alert in the absence of certainty, and to notice what still moves in the stillness.
– Text by Olivia Turner
About the artist
Carl Otto Linde (b. 1996) lives and works in Aarhus. His practice engages with the tension between nature and culture, often reflecting on how the natural world is aestheticised, regulated, or overlooked. Through sculpture, installation, and sound, he constructs speculative environments shaped by collapse and transformation. His work frequently operates from the margins, offering a view of contemporary society from the perspective of the outsider.
He holds a BA in Fine Arts from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and is currently completing his Master’s degree at the Jutland Art Academy.