NO REGRETS CONGRATS SAM

At the time, Stalke Up North in Gothersgade presented the surprise group exhibition NO REGRETS, CONGRATS SAM.

Stalke Up North in Copenhagen was pleased to announce the opening of the surprise group show NO REGRETS, CONGRATS SAM, which celebrated Mr. Sam Jedig’s 50th anniversary. A selected group of artists, all of whom had exhibited at Stalke Galleri at some point since its opening in 1987, participated by contributing one artwork of their own choice.

Participating artists included:
Albert Mertz, Andreas Vind, Anja Franke, Anne Bennike, Ann Sophie Stærk, Anne Marie Ploug, Barbara Husar, Bella Angora, Cecilie Westerberg, Christian Falsnaes, Christine Melchiors, Christophe Dræger, Cordy Ryman, Deborah Sengl, Dove Bradshaw, Frank Busk, Frans Jacobi, Gudmundur Ingolfsson, Gunnar Örn, Jeannette Ehlers, Jonas Hvid Søndergaard, Judith Fegerl, Kaj Nyborg, Kristian von Hornsleth, Kristleifur Björnsson, Lars Bent Petersen, Lawrence Anastasi, Lawrence Weiner, Les Levine, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Lone Mertz, Marianne Hesselbjerg, Margrete Sørensen, Meir Tati, Michael Coughlan, Morten Tillitz, Nikolaj Recke, Nils Erik Gjerdevik, Olafur Eliasson, Peter Holst Henckel, Susanne Eybl, Søren Dahlgaard, Thomas Bang, Thorbjørn Beckman, Thorgeir Steen Hansen, Torben Ebbesen, William Anastasi, and William Anthony.

About Sam Jedig and Stalke Galleri

Since the mid-1980s, artist and gallery owner Sam Jedig, through his numerous projects, had been one of the most experimental figures on the Danish art scene. Reaching beyond traditional categories and conventions, he had, with critical enthusiasm, curiosity, openness, and generosity, led Stalke Gallery as a procedural work of art in constant evolution. This approach inevitably involved unpredictability and risk, but it also created opportunities for innovation in the gallery format itself and led to the discovery of new artistic talents.

Although he undeniably represented a kind of institution, Sam Jedig consistently refused to be established or governed by “business as usual.” He was always oriented toward what came next. As he stated in a newspaper interview in 1993, his dream was to travel around Europe with his surfboard on the roof of his car, making art projects along the way.

This attitude described the spirit of many of his initiatives, from Stalke Gallery, which opened in 1987 and remained the focal point, to the Stalke Collection and the gallery project Stalke Out of Space, launched in 1991. Other projects included Gallery Kirke Sonnerup (2002–2007) and Stalke Up North, which was opened in Copenhagen in 2008 by Sam Jedig and Camilla Rohde Madsen.

Later that year, he opened the project space The Black Cube, a 2 × 2 × 2 meter black-painted box located in the open landscape of Iceland, a place with which he had maintained a close relationship for many years. Sam Jedig also published the project Artstamp.dk, a mail art initiative in which stamps were used as a medium to address global political realities.

The common thread running through all these experiments was an irrepressible—and in many ways distinctly un-Danish—dedication to conceptual-based art in its many forms.

Expressions and Legacy

Sam Jedig’s exhibition program at Stalke Gallery encompassed both historical and contemporary expressions. He presented art pioneers from the 1960s alongside their rediscovery during the 1990s and the continuation of the contemporary generation. Artists from Denmark and abroad were represented in impressive breadth, defining a unique position in relation to both national and international art contexts.

Back to Stalke Galleri exhibition archive