Nina Beier & John Miller - The Populace

May 14, 2026 – Mar 29, 2027

As you enter the exhibition, you are greeted by a large number of staged mannequins standing face to face with photographs of portrait paintings unearthed from forgotten archives. A strange space emerges - both familiar and strange. The figures appear neither quite as people nor as objects, and there is a jumble of mutual glances between the mannequins, the portraits and the audience.

The exhibition explores the cultural codes and structures that shape our contemporary world, moving between portraiture tradition, consumer culture and the hierarchies embedded in the gaze. The Populace is at once intimate and alienating, personal and generic. The work leaves a space where originality and copy are displaced, and where seeing and being seen are negotiated.

The exhibition is curated by Signe Melgaard Mark.

Ny Carlsbergfondet

15. Juni Fonden

Kemp & Lauritzens Fond

Lemvigh-Müller Foundation

Consul George Jorcks and wife Emma Jorck's Foundation

The Danish Arts Foundation

1664

ARoS Aarhus Art Museum