When the Threat Is Wrought in Neon

For the first time ever, we can present one of Superflex's more controversial works when we auction off Contemporary Art in Copenhagen this March. The work "Letter to Superflex, 14 January 2008" was created by the artist collective founded by the trio Bjørnstjerne Reuter Christiansen, Jakob Fenger and Rasmus Nielsen. From time to time, their artistic comments on social issues have created fierce backlash. The work at this auction is a response to one of these strong reactions.

After 9/11, the tone of the immigration debate in Denmark achieved new heights – or lows, depending on one's perspective – and it was noticed far beyond the country's borders. Superflex chose to comment on the tone of the debate by asking for help. From abroad. And in typical fashion for the artist collective, they also chose not to let the threatening letter that arrived years later go unnoticed. Instead, they had the pointless demand to go home wrought in neon so that everyone could be struck by the provocative strength and deep insensitivity of the statement.

In connection with the exhibition "Cool, Calm and Collected" at ARoS, where the work was exhibited in 2017-18, the collective explained: "The ignorance and violent hatred – perhaps derived from fear and racism – that the spelling error and the words in the threatening letter express, combined with the paradox that we are not foreigners, but rather Danish citizens, and therefore cannot be thrown out of the country, seemed in our view to contain an interesting degree of suspense and irony."

We have another auction with contemporary art in the pipeline at the end of March at bruun-rasmussen.dk, which we look forward to presenting to you. The auction is open for consignments until 12 March, so if you have works you want to sell at auction, then please feel free to contact us directly or request an estimate via our online valuation.