On March 17–18 the VDA will host Danish visual artist Ferdinand Ahm Krag as a visiting lecturer. This two-day program offers students and faculty an opportunity to engage with contemporary artistic practice, critical theory, and the philosophical dimensions of painting through the work and research of Ferdinand Ahm Krag. The lectures will be held in English.
About the Artist
Ferdinand Ahm Krag (b. 1977) is a Danish visual artist working primarily with painting and drawing. He graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2006. From 2017 to 2024, he served as Professor at the School of Painting and Image-Based Practices at the academy, and from 2024 to 2025 he held a Research Professorship with the project Landscape and Liminality. Alongside his artistic practice, Krag works as an art critic and essayist, contributing to the contemporary art platform Kunstkritikk (kunstkritik.no) and writing widely on contemporary art. He is also a co-founder of the artist-run exhibition space IMO-projects.
Lecture Programme
The lecture programme has been organized in collaboration with the VDA Sculpture, Painting and Site-specific Art department to provide MA students with the opportunity to engage with Krag’s artistic and theoretical work. Open to MA students and other members of the academic community.
Time: 11:00 - 12:30
Place: Auditorium 102 in the Doctoral department
Tuesday — March 17, 11:00
Location: Malūnų St. 3, Building C1, Room 102.
What is a black hole? From eyespots to the face of Christ, this lecture explores the evolutionary and aesthetic origins of what might be called the interior and its relation to the development of the eye. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s analysis in A Thousand Plateaus, I will argue that the black hole is constitutive of subjectivity and intersubjectivity alike. This theoretical framework will be brought into dialogue with the Fayum mummy portraits of Roman Egypt—precursors of Byzantine icon painting and, by extension, of the canonical face of Christ. Finally, the lecture will reflect on the mystical dimensions of icon-painting as they intersect with this genealogy of the interior.
Wednesday — March 18, 11:00
Location: Malūnų St. 3, Building C1, Room 102.
Liminal Being. Artist talk Ferdinand Ahm Krag. The artist will give an introduction to his artistic practice covering work in painting, drawing and installation. His work is informed by spirited thoughts on architecture, meditation and spaceflights. In his drawings he warps abstract geometric elements into perspective to catch a glimpse of the infinite, through layers of graphical patterns and with psychedelic intensity.
