Workshop with Kristoffer Akselbo

The workshop is based on seven existential questions that not only explore Kristoffer Akselbo’s individual working methods and artistic expression, but also invite you to reflect on your own creative processes:

• What methods do you use in your work?
• How do you come up with ideas for projects?
• What kinds of experiments do you conduct during your process?
• How do you generate material?
• What inspires your work?
• How do you decide which material to use from your experiments?
• What criteria do you use when selecting your material?

About Kristoffer Akselbo

Kristoffer Akselbo (DK) is based in Odense and works across performance, sculpture, and installation. His practice explores bodily presence, absurdity, and ritual through staged and spatial interventions.

Recent works include Barracuda (2025), a week-long performative installation created for Berlin Atonal’s Third Surface program, and Once I Was a Human (2025, Den Frie/Toaster), a performative reflection on alienation and loss of identity in urban spaces. Akselbo has also exhibited at institutions such as Kunstmuseum Bonn, SMK, Kunsthal Aarhus, Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Aspen Art Museum, and Palais de Tokyo (Paris). His solo exhibition WDB2 (2022, Kunsthal Kongegaarden) was awarded by the Danish Arts Foundation.

He has received numerous honors, including the Danish Arts Foundation’s three-year working grant, Torjussens Legat (2021), and the honorary grant from Aage & Yelva Nimbs Fond (2024).

Kristoffer Akselbo at the Biennale

Orcs & Others transforms the basement bar at Husets Teater into a living LARP world inhabited by six orc-like bartenders. For a whole month, the performers follow simple behavioral loops – serving, sweeping, playing games – so that everyday actions slip into fantasy. Guests enter a space where fiction bleeds into reality, and new characters emerge through brief guest appearances. A strange, playful ecosystem unfolds beneath the theatre, open to anyone who wishes to step inside. Read more.

In the work Once I Was a Human, Kristoffer Akselbo explores dehumanization and survival in a world where traditional human existence has become unsustainable. Find and follow the performance character, taking the form of a human-like, animalistic being, wandering near Den Frie and through the tunnel systems under the streets. Read more.

Practical info

Participants

Participants in the workshop will include a mix of students from the art academy and professional performing artists from across disciplines who are interested in performance.

Time and place

Workshop: April 29, 10:00 AM–1:00 PM at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Kongens Nytorv 1, 1050 Copenhagen K.

Kristoffer Akselbo’s two performance works can be experienced on April 17, 4:00–5:30 PM in the metro between Østerport and Copenhagen Central Station (Once I Was a Human), and in the foyer at Husets Teater (Orcs & Others) during the period April 17–May 3. Keep an eye out for Orcs & Others Open Mics during the period as well.

Price and registration for the workshop

Price: 75 DKK.

To register for the workshop, apply via the link. Once your place has been confirmed, you will receive an email with a payment link.

Discount on Biennale passes

As a workshop participant, you receive a discount on both the Full Biennale Pass (access to the entire 2026 Biennale programme) and the Mini Biennale Pass (three performances of your choice during the Biennale). Select “Under 27 / Seniors / Students” when booking your Biennale Pass.

Once you have received your Biennale Pass, you will need to book tickets for the performances you wish to attend. Click here for Biennale Passes and ticket booking.