Cisternerne

Jakob Kudsk Steensen: Psychosphere

16. March 2025 - 30. November 2025

Billions of years ago, life emerged in volcanic vents deep beneath the ocean’s surface. This process serves as the point of departure for Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s immersive art installation, Psychosphere. The exhibition is based on the artist’s own fieldwork as it transforms the underground space of Cisternerne into a portal to the deep sea. Here, video projections, sound, light and sculpture form a narrative about the profound interconnectedness shared by all living species on Earth.

In Psychosphere, visitors are invited to move around in an immersive installation created specifically for Cisternerne’s unique space by artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen. Deep-sea volcanic landscapes come to life in a virtual interpretation. Fossils of long extinct sea lilies and ammonites appear alongside living fish species as well as an unknown form of life – perhaps an evolution, a future being that is neither plant nor animal.

For five years, Jakob Kudsk Steensen has documented and dived in various places to capture underwater volcanic landscapes. He has also collaborated with REV Ocean, where a new Arctic deep-sea volcanic landscape was discovered. This site was documented using advanced robotic technology, and Steensen has worked closely with this material, transforming it into captivating 3D worlds that offer new perspectives on life in the deep sea.

Sound plays a crucial role in the exhibition as it encapsulates the audience in a multi-dimensional experience. Steensen’s own recordings of underwater vents, along with archive material including samples from ocean species, are merged with manmade musical compositions and sounds of an accordion. Combined with projections, light and sculptures, this creates a psychosphere that spans across Cisternerne’s 4,400 square-meter subterranean space.

The exhibition explores the links between the physical and psychological worlds, and the shared heritage that resonates through all living beings.
Today, humankind has become the most influential force shaping the conditions for all life on Earth. Psychosphere intertwines consciousness, movement and the ocean’s many forms of life with human technology and presence. The exhibition thus encourages us to reflect on our own position in the evolutionary timeline and to take responsibility for life of the future.

About the Artist:
Jakob Kudsk Steensen (b. 1987, Denmark) is a visual artist working with storytelling through 3D animations, video games, VR and immersive installations. His works explore the relationship between natural phenomena, humans and technology by combining physical, virtual and imagined landscapes in interactive formats. With an exploratory approach, Steensen creates sensory works that both challenge our concept of nature and point to the world’s fragility and complexity as the basis of life.
The projects are often rooted in field studies of hidden natural environments while Steensen collaborates with scientific researchers and participates in interdisciplinary projects such as TBA21 and REV Ocean. Since 2019, he has documented underwater volcanic landscapes in the Azores, the Mediterranean and the Barents Sea.

Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s works have among others been exhibited at Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland, Mori Art Museum in Japan, Hamburger Kunsthalle in Germany and Serpentine Galleries in London. He was a finalist for the Future Generation Art Prize at the Venice Biennale 2019 and his works have been featured at Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW and CPH:DOX.
Jakob Kudsk Steensen Studio and Psychosphere foundational research is supported by Gaia Art Foundation.

The exhibition Psychosphere is made possible with support from:
Ny Carlsbergfondet, Augustinus Fonden, Spar Nord Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, Statens Kunstfond, Frederiksberg Kommune, Knud Højgaards Fond, Beckett-Fonden, Frederiksbergfonden, Hoffmann og Husmans Fond, Lemvigh-Müller Fonden, Bestles Fond, William Demant Fonden, Dansk Tennis Fond, Lizzi og Mogens Staal Fonden, Statens Værksteder for Kunst, Frederiksberg Forsyning and Arbejdernes Landsbank.