Interview

The Art of Satire How Superflex used humor to take on the corporate world.

- Francesca Gavin

SITTING AROUND their studio, on the ground floor of a low-key office building in the gentrified northern part of Copenhagen, the core members of the Danish art group Superflex seem far less confrontational than you might expect. From their bases in Copenhagen, Stockholm and London, Jakob Fenger, Bjørnstjerne Christiansen and Rasmus Nielsen have been working together for 25 years on politically charged projects that have taken them everywhere from Texas to Africa, via Bangkok, Japan and many of the world’s most prestigious art galleries. This year sees their most high-profile commission to date, with the recent announcement that they are the latest artists invited to fill the vast Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern. Yet, despite the glamorous projects and globe-trotting lifestyle, the three men, all in their 40s, appear surprisingly grounded, dressed in casual clothes, with a beard here, some gray hair there and plenty of lines around the eyes.

Talking about their provocative work—which has included such pieces as an exact replica of the toilets used by the U.N. Security Council in New York, erected on a beach in the Netherlands in 2010, and a video installation, made in 2009, that attempted to hypnotize viewers so that they might perceive climate change from the perspective of a cockroach—they are serious, patient and have a clear sense of their approach. Intent on challenging globalization and power structures, they call their works “tools,” suggesting a broader application beyond art.