Man kan godt spytte i havet, men man skal ikke bilde sig ind, at det giver oversvømmelse

Claus Carstensen (b. 1957 DK)

1977-1983 The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenagen
1979-1983 The Department of Comparative Literature, University of Copenhagen
1981-1983 Copenhagen Circle of Semiotics
1993-2002 Professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen

Claus Carstensen held a major retrospective exhibition, What’s Left (Is Republican Paint) – Nine Sisters, at ARoS – Aarhus Art Museum in 2015 (catalogue: Eds. Claus Carstensen & Maria Kappel Blegvad: What’s Left (Is Republican Paint) – Nine Sisters, 200 pp., ARoS 2015).

2010-15 he executed a curatorial exorcism entitled Shibboleth – 76 by-appointment-only shows at his studio, drawn from his collection of works by other artists. Parts of these shows were shown in an extended dialogue with the permanent collection of Esbjerg Art Museum in 2015. In 2017 Shibboleth, a 552 pp. catalogue documenting all 76 Shibboleth shows, was published by Esbjerg Art Museum.

In 2016 a major site specific commission of five life size bronze figures, Doing Time / Critical Mass, was installed at the high security prison Storstrøm Fængsel, Nørre Alslev.

Carstensen was the curator of the transhistorical show Becoming Animal at Den Frie in Copenhagen (catalogue: Ed. Claus Carstensen, Thea Rydal Jørgensen & Jens Tang Kristensen: Becoming Animal, 288 pp. Hatje Cantz 2018). A show he also contributed to as an artist and a collector.

Besides a large number of artist books and exhibition catalogues he has published 15 collections of poetry, five essay collections and four anthologies.

Claus Carstensen lives and works in Copenhagen.