Kristoffer Ørum
A documentary practice. Every work here has an address and a date.
Local. Copenhagen and Aarhus, mostly.
Collaborative. Most of it was made with other people.
Nothing digital about it. A screen is an object, and objects sit in rooms.
Works with machines that are confidently wrong.
Made by hand, mostly. Cut, cast, sanded, painted.
Bænkebider betragtere (Woodlouse Observers), the title of the ones placed around the hospital. Leddyrsomsorg / Arthropod Care, 2026
Putin's Nose was a multi-year project that sought to turn surveillance systems' simplified identity categories and tools against themselves. Putin's Nose, 2019
The project questions the assumption that it is "easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of the welfare state" (paraphrasing Slavoj Žižek). Melting State, 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
Stasm detects the position of 77 facial landmarks on upright, front-facing human faces with neutral expressions. Recognised Faces, 2014
The work was part of the group exhibition "Perpetual Interpreter" at Lokale in Copenhagen, co-curated with Anders Visti. Listening Without Ears, 2019
Lesson plans, assessment structures and financial data are translated into dynamic graphics, situating the institution in relation to broader societal forces and its individual members. A Body Has Many Members, 2012
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
Some elements are only revealed through exploration, others remain invisible, and a hidden part of the project can be discovered by persistent visitors. Topographies of the Insignificant, 2010
Occasionally she would enter well-lit areas briefly before disappearing when confronted. The Ballehage Woman, 2009
By working with AI models trained on biased and incomplete datasets, DIFFUSED STATES engages with both their limitations and their possibilities. Diffused States (Vancouver), 2025
The exhibition was part of a series of events organised by Kunsthal for Maritim Æstetik, which also included publications, debates, food events, and bus tours. Djurs Øhav, 2020
The exhibition featured video projections, 3D-printed sculptures, wireless transmissions, two-dimensional works, and an augmented reality component that allowed visitors to view "monsters" inhabiting the gallery through their phone cameras. Mundane Monsters, 2022
Public places became stages for brief moments of shared fiction. Mundane Heroics, 2019
Putin's Nose worked at the boundary between object and image, examining how digital images not only register meaning but enter physical space to shape identity and power relations. Putins Nose, 2018
A "Sucker Trick" is a magic trick where the magician offers false clues to hide what they are actually doing. Sucker Trick, 2017
Visitors encountered these figures both inside the museum and in everyday spaces, such as the local supermarket, where baguettes from the freezer section served as swords. Game Continent, 2010
Across all three contexts, participants worked together in workshops to reshape their environments through collective imagination, material transformation, and performance. Mundane Heroics, 2019
Shown with Colette Fu, Diagonal Press / Tauba Auerbach, Kate Conlon, Myungah Hyon, Neta Bomani, Noam Youngrak Son, Sonnenzimmer / Nick Butcher, Nadine Nakanishi, Rujuta Rao, Stephanie Simek and THUNGRY / bex ya yolk. Signal_Crayfish, 2026
Pet owners were invited to register at kolding.monster and bring their animals for scanning sessions on 24-25 September 2021 at the sustainability house on Jernbanegade 3. The Kolding Creature, 2021
Each day, the system generated a new composite face from images found via Google’s lists of top search terms. Recognised Faces, 2014
Another, the film The City that No Longer Exists (2020), was shown as a projection of a purple oyster narrating a story where humans transform into oyster-like beings after their city on a drained lake is flooded. Djurs Øhav, 2020
Much of what presents itself as representations of reality are computer-created simulations. Melting State, 2020
I am tired of artists who speak as if they know what is best for others, instead of investigating what is wrong with themselves. None of These Images Are of Me, 2025
I also do it because local AI is itself an impure position. None of These Images Are of Me, 2025
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
An oversized plastic walnut that transmits wireless text. Wireless Walnut, 2018
Day to Day Data highlights the poetic, speculative, and sometimes humorous dimensions of personal and domestic data. Day to Day Data, 2008
Using the fictional device Scope 3000, he ultimately merged with the patterns themselves. The Pattern In Us All, 2007
A local newspaper printed an account of a witness encounter with The Ballehage Woman, sponsored by tessellax.com as advertising disguised as news. The Ballehage Woman, 2009
The first part of the project was held at Galleri Image in Aarhus in 2017. Putin's Nose, 2019
This approach shares a lineage with experimental practices such as Surrealist automatic writing and collage. Watershed, 2025
The project treats everyday objects and routines as sites of discovery and narrative potential, turning personal and mundane experience into shared, speculative material. Day to Day Data, 2008
By constructing new faces from parts of the most widely circulated images online, Recognised Faces created a snapshot of the constant data collection and algorithmic recognition happening daily on the internet. Recognised Faces, 2014
Wireless Walnut is part sculpture, part hidden broadcast system. Wireless Walnut, 2018
Video elements included a deep fake sequence featuring politician Pernille Vermund discussing invasive species. Signal_Crayfish, 2020
Pages were loaded sequentially or at random, with intervals that gave visitors time to recognise and reflect on the material. Auto Navigate My History, 2014
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 emphasizes local DIY spirit, encouraging citizens to reimagine Hvidovre’s past and future. Hvidovre Makes Good Times Better, 2025
The resulting text alternated between objective and scientific passages and poetic or raving narratives. Roskilde Parahistory, 2009