JONAS KJELDGAARD SØRENSEN^DK

When the Danish artist Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen lets the character The Weapon Grinder and his followers loose at Roskilde Festival it will be a thought-provoking experience at the campsite.

Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen's performance 'The Wagon of Mutter Courage' is a homage to the author and playwright Bertolt Brecht’s anti-war theatrical masterpiece 'Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder'. It is made specifically for this year's festival and centered around the fact that Denmark in 2023 began deploying the highly advanced F-35 fighter jet for military purposes.

An essential element in Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen's practice is his character The Weapon Grinder who neither makes weapons, nor uses them, but sharpens them. The artist insists that the concept of ‘peace’ is a false premise because we are always at war – either we fight it, or we prepare for it.

Dressed up in black sequin costumes, The Weapon Grinder and his followers will do a spectacular and roaming performance through the campsite, dragging an old wagon carrying a construction of the tip of a F-35 fighter jet as a main element of the performance.

Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen graduated from Funen Art Academy (Det Fynske Kunstakademi) in 2018. He works with contemporary plural imagination and creates newly situated historical fictional narratives. He lives and works in Haderslev, Denmark.

Jonas Kjeldgaard Sørensen’s work is presented at the festival in collaboration with Art Hub Copenhagen as part of Residency To Go 2024.