Kristoffer Ørum
A programmer who picks the wrong algorithm on purpose.
Made by hand, mostly. Cut, cast, sanded, painted.
Comedy.
Not local. Boston, Vancouver, Riga, Kraków, Oberhausen, San Francisco.
Mostly it is admin.
A portraitist. None of the portraits are of him.
Instead of showing only what is lost when a human is translated into data, these moments offer a new perspective. Speaker 1, 2026
The project constructed a local myth about a deformed outcast living in a park frequented by wealthy residents. The Ballehage Woman, 2009
The project is a labyrinthian installation composed of hand-printed cardboard boxes, arranged to create interconnected spaces. In a Dark Room/a Storm in a Coffee Cup, 2004
The photo album was discovered among the salvaged items when the ship was recovered. Depth Estimation, 2019
The project arises from a media environment where trust in both institutions and images is unsettled. Watershed, 2025
The work mixed factual information about signal crayfish with invented characteristics, including claims that the species can grow to 1.8 metres and possess wireless communication abilities. Signal_Crayfish, 2020
The title refers to multiple senses of “diffusion”: the technical process of image generation; the social circulation of tools and knowledge; and the physical dispersal of small-scale devices across different environments. Diffused States (Vancouver), 2025
Produced for Aarhus Public Libraries and published by Haandholdt, the app was made freely available through iTunes. KAOS, 2012
The invasive biological species served as an analogy for invasive digital technologies and data collection systems. Signal_Crayfish, 2020
The work was installed in the lobby of the National Danish Broadcaster (DR) as part of Glowing Climate, organized by Illumenarts in 2009. The Wave, 2009
Diffused States was part of the Data Fluencies exhibition curated by Roopa, on the diverse ways artists engage with, resist, or reimagine data. Diffused States (Boston), 2025
Each figure is both a memory and a proposition—an echo of what might have been, and a sketch of what still could be. Monuments of a Fictional Past (Kraków Edition), 2025
The project reflected on the transformation of the district: once a mixed working-class and industrial area, now rapidly becoming an upscale residential neighbourhood. City Planning, 2010
Signal Crayfish was presented as part of "Monstrous Machines," an exhibition on why new technologies provoke fear and how this impacts our perception of technology. Signal_Crayfish, 2021
The liquid stains my hands when I reach into the vegetable drawer. Qua Aqua (Beetroot Texts), 2017
Rather than illustrating a lost history, the project manipulates familiar visual tropes and embraces the productive errors of AI. Aarhus'er #1, 2025
The artist-run space Spanien 19c used to be located in a messy and unregulated, but fairly central, part of the increasingly gentrified city of Aarhus. Brownfield Wonderland, 2022
The book was commissioned during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a group of works that examined interspecies entanglement and human vulnerability. Signal_Crayfish, 2021
Running small, open systems on one’s own hardware provides a degree of autonomy and technological self-determination. None of These Images Are of Me, 2025
They have been 3d scanned, using the kind of technology one might find in one's smartphone, and subsequently 3d printed in monochrome versions using a variety of materials ranging from terracotta to granite. Brownfield Wonderland, 2022
The project began with an unusual anecdote: "I look down into the shopping bag at some beetroots. Putins Nose, 2018
Perhaps there is more hope in admitting how deeply we are all entangled. None of These Images Are of Me, 2025
The installation drew from actual environmental concerns about invasive species whilst incorporating fictional elements related to digital communication networks and surveillance technologies. Signal_Crayfish, 2020
The project was supported by research conducted at Aarhus University as part of an ongoing investigation into the aesthetic dimensions of computational processes and automated interpretation systems. Listening Without Ears, 2019
This duality exposes both the shortcomings of surveillance technologies and the alternative forms of perception they enact, offering a mechanical way of seeing that highlights aspects of our species that human vision alone might overlook. Recognised Faces, 2014
These unsolicited “press releases” became part of the ongoing re-imagining of Amager by local government, private enterprise, and other forces. City Planning, 2010
At the moment the building site is a site of overlapping and contested imaginaries and Brownfield Wonderland is a celebration of this brief moment where two ideas of what a city is coexist. Brownfield Wonderland, 2022
About this website This is one of many possible records of Kristoffer Ørum's work, but it's never going to be complete.
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
Set in three symbolic locations—Folkets Park, Drottninggatan 6, and a speculative Malmö City Hall—the work blends archival research with fiction to propose a reparative reading of urban space. Even the City Dreams of Being Another, 2025
Algorithms originally trained for advertising are repurposed to remix the town’s architecture and stories into new visions of community and possibility. Hvidovre Makes Good Times Better, 2025
Her home was a makeshift cardboard shelter resembling her head. The Ballehage Woman, 2009
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
In the post-totalitarian context of Latvia, where memory is often manipulated for political purposes, the work offers a reminder that the past is not fixed and demonstrates the fluidity of historical narratives. Monuments of A Fictitious Past, 2024
*KAOS* is an interactive iPad app created in collaboration with poet Ursula Andkjær Olsen. KAOS, 2012
Video elements included a deep fake sequence featuring politician Pernille Vermund discussing invasive species. Signal_Crayfish, 2020
Two texts were airbrushed directly onto the wall using beetroot juice for the group exhibition *Qua Aqua* at Koldinggade 12 in Copenhagen. Qua Aqua (Beetroot Texts), 2017
As Rosi Braidotti has written, critique of the “tyranny of the unified subject” cannot be separated from the fact that we constantly reproduce the very idea of it. None of These Images Are of Me, 2025
Once generated, these daily phantom faces replaced Ørum’s personal avatar across his website, social networks and other platforms. Recognised Faces, 2014
I do it because I see a critique of the world that too often points outward, as if one could speak from a neutral and elevated place. None of These Images Are of Me, 2025