Baroque Apocalypse
Anne Katrine Senstad
With a sound environment by JG Thirlwell
February 11–April 18, 2026OPENING: WEDNESDAY, February 11, 6–8 PMSWPK Gallery / The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Foundation
417 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor, NYC. www.swpk.org |
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| Anne Katrine Senstad, Music for Plutocracy - ELEMENTS V, 2021, with a sound environment composed by JG Thirlwell. Supported by NBK, Fond for Lyd og Bilde, and Kulturdirektoratet, Norway, Foundation for Contemporary Art, New York. |
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SWPK Gallery is pleased to announce Baroque Apocalypse, presenting a monumental light installation by Norwegian interdisciplinary artist Anne Katrine Senstad, with a four-channel sound environment by the renowned composer JG Thirlwell. The exhibition will be on view at the SWPK Gallery from February 11 to April 18, 2026. An opening reception with the artists will take place at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, February 11, 2026.
Anne Katrine Senstad works at the intersection of light, sound, and spatial perception, creating immersive environments that transform architecture into sensory experiences. Baroque Apocalypse presents ELEMENTS IX, the ninth iteration in her ongoing ELEMENTS series, inviting viewers into a space shaped by color, luminosity, and resonance.
Moving beyond spectacle, Senstad’s practice engages the ephemeral qualities of light, sound, and time. Vertical columns form a luminous colonnade animated by noble gases including argon, neon, krypton, xenon, and helium. Each gas produces a distinct chromatic intensity, from royal rose pink and cobalt blue to emerald green and Apollo’s yellow. Color becomes an active presence, surrounding the viewer and altering perception through movement and proximity.
The installation draws inspiration from the phenomenon of sonoluminescence, in which microscopic gas bubbles implode under intense acoustic pressure, producing a glorious, luminous emission. This moment of implosion and release serves as a metaphor for transformation, as light and sound emerge together through intensity.
Architecture plays a vital role in shaping the experience of Baroque Apocalypse. The vertical configuration recalls ceremonial colonnades found in ancient temples, cathedral interiors, and the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. As visitors move through the illuminated field, time appears suspended and walking becomes participatory. Conceived as a durational installation, the work unfolds through the organic behavior of neon, creating a tension between solidity and flux.
JG Thirlwell’s composition was created for ELEMENTS IX and premiers in 2026, as part of Baroque Apocalypse.
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Anne Katrine Senstad, ELEMENTS I, 2018 as part of the exhibition Through the Spectrum - A Light Art Survey, alongside James Turrell, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Robert Irwin, Leo Villarreal, and more.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTSAnne Katrine Senstad is a multi-disciplinary artist working with photography, video, neon sculpture, and site specificity, with a focus on the phenomena of perception and the cognitive system in response to the properties of light, sound, and color. She is concerned with sensorial aesthetics and the transformative—the transcendental ideas of art and philosophical practice. Senstad has exhibited widely internationally, including Galerie Floss & Schultz, Cologne (2025), Château de Montsoreau Museum of Contemporary Art, France (2024), Seinajoki Kunsthall, Finland (2021), Kai Art Center, Tallin (2020), He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen (2019), Bruges Art and Architecture Triennale, Belgium (2015), 55th and 56th Venice Biennales (Collaterali Eventi), (respectively 2013 and 2015). In 2020, Senstad was awarded the prestigious Arts Council Norway Governmental grant for artists. Her book NEON GUIDES ME was published in 2022, including texts by celebrated writers, thinkers, and composers (Praun & Guermouche, Stockholm). In 2025 she founded Temporal Spaces, an artist organized curatorial initiative in New York.
https://annesenstad.org/
http://annesenstad.com/
JG Thirlwell is an Australian-American composer, producer, and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. Thirlwell has released over thirty albums under his various pseudonyms including Foetus, Manorexia, Xordox and Steroid Maximus. JG has completed commissions for Kronos Quartet, Bang On A Can, Alarm Will Sound, and many more. He is a member of the “freq_out” sound-art collective, curated by CM Von Hausswolff, and has created several solo sound installations. JG performs live solo and with his own chamber ensembles. He has collaborated with Karen O, Noveller, Zola Jesus, Helm, Lydia Lunch, Tony Oursler, and many more. Thirlwell creates the musical score for the Emmy-winning FX show Archer, and Adult Swim / Cartoon Network show The Venture Bros.
www.foetus.org |
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ABOUT SWPK GALLERYSWPK Gallery — The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Art Foundation — is a non-profit organization committed to promoting East-West cultural exchange through the arts by sponsoring and hosting art exhibitions of national and international artists. For more information, visit: swpk.org
Baroque Apocalypse is produced in collaboration with the Donghwa Cultural Foundation. |
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