Tine Bek: This Ship is Unsinkable

The solo exhibition This Ship is Unsinkable marks the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition in Denmark. 

With the exhibition title This Ship is Unsinkable, Bek refers to the myth of the passenger ship Titanic, which was officially hailed as unsinkable but tragically ended in a historic disaster by colliding with an iceberg on its maiden voyage to New York City, USA, in 1912. The tragedy resulted in the loss of around 1,500 lives. Both the historical event and the legendary myth of the Titanic have long been in Bek’s spotlight. She employs the passenger ship as both a metaphor for and a means to depict human fragility. Through her poetic and perceptual gaze on the immediate surroundings, everyday objects, and their various forms, the artist invites to reflection on themes such as fragility, power, vulnerability, and the subtle thread that connects them. By extracting the extraordinary from the ordinary, Bek offers an original perspective on the poetic, fragile, and variable elements encountered in everyday life.

In the exhibition, Bek’s works portray a mixture of still life, found objects and sculptural forms, all of which convey a tactility and sensuousness that is visually alluring and attractive. The visitors to the exhibition will likely recognise the various depicted objects but simultaneously notice that the forms or materialities overflow, crumble or bulge, and stand as uncontrolled, baroque forms. This is a characteristic feature of Bek’s artistic practice, as she also manages to appeal to people’s instinctive desire to feel and touch objects. Simultaneously, the works evoke intense and profound emotions as we have our gaze directed towards the poetics of everyday life through a sensory and tactile imagery.

The exhibition is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, Augustinus Fonden, Konsul George Jorck og Hustru Emma Jorck’s Fond, as well as Ragnvald og Ida Blix’ Fond, Beckett-Fonden, Grosserer L. F. Foghts Fond and Den Hielmstierne-Rosencroneske Stiftelse.

About the artist 
Tine Bek (b. 1988) is a Danish visual artist whose practice explores a fascination with the intimate and the sublime. Bek’s artistic practice extends across photography, film, and sculpture, presenting intimate portrayals examining everyday objects, fragility, and mortality.

Bek holds an MA in Fine Art Photography and Moving Image from The Glasgow School of Art in Scotland and studied fine art photography at Fatamorgana - Danmarks Fotografiske Billedskole. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Christiansborg Palace (DK), Fotogalleriet (NO), Fotografisk Center (DK), National Library of Lithuania (LI), Studio 488 Gallery (AR), Street Level Photoworks (UK), Studio Pavilion (UK) and 700b Gallery (USA). Her work is included in the permanent collection of The Danish National Photography Collection at the Royal Danish Library.

In 2020, her monograph The Vulgarity of Being Three-Dimensional was published and awarded the Hasselblad Foundation’s Photo Book Award, and the book is being reprinted in connection with the exhibition. In 2016 she co-founded the gallery 16 Nicholson Street in Glasgow and published zines on emerging artists through her independent publishing agency, Earth Saga Press. Bek’s works have been published in Vogue, Another Magazine, The Wire, Verk – Tidskrift om fotografi, Source Photographic Review, Eurowoman and Weekendavisen.

Bek collaborates with Arden Asbæk Gallery in Denmark, Vasto Gallery in Barcelona, and the Picture Room in New York, USA.

Event programme
In connection with the exhibition, a conversation will take place on January 13 from 1-2 pm between artist Tine Bek and the British arts writer Alice Godwin, who has also contributed with an interview in collaboration with Bek for the exhibition catalogue. Godwin has specialized in modern and contemporary periods of British, European and American art. The conversation will be in English and revolve around Bek’s artistic practice, exhibition and accompanying exhibition catalogue.

On Saturday, January 27 from 1-3 pm, the art centre will be transformed into a literary salon with the authors Liv Nimand Duvå, Ditte Holm Bro, and Kirstine Reffstrup. The event aims to reimagine the exhibition through a series of experimental literary readings in response to selected art works from the exhibition as well as the exhibition title This Ship is Unsinkable.

See the exhibition catalogue online here.