PARIS.- Jakob Kudsk Steensen (1987, Denmark) is the new guest of Open Space, the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s contemporary art program. On the occasion of this solo exhibition—his first in a Paris institution—the Danish artist presents The Song Trapper (2025), a new immersive installation including moving image, virtual performance, and spatial sound supported by the Fondation.
Jakob Kudsk Steensen is a multidisciplinary artist exploring ecological and psychological themes whilst challenging our relationship with technology. For more than a decade, he has experimented with game engines, generative systems, photogrammetry, and has combined this with environmental fieldwork to construct new virtual worlds. He is particularly interested in unknown, rare, or threatened ecosystems—from desert lakes to submarine volcanoes, from wetlands to glaciers. Each time the artist does so, he seeks to evoke different memories, stories and philosophies, drawing attention to how changes to our outer worlds impact our inner mental realms.
On the occasion of Open Space, Jakob Kudsk Steensen presents The Song Trapper (2025), displayed on multiple LED screens that have been arranged to respond to the spatial qualities of the Fondation’s Gallery 8. The video features the artist’s world-first character—The Song Trapper—the first in a series currently in development as part of an operatic project and video game, Evoker.
Originating from hand-drawn images by the artist using ink and watercolor, this character was transformed into 3D models, and then animated inside virtual worlds created by Steensen. Incapable of speech, the Song Trapper navigates these worlds by collecting sounds that they gather, remix, and play back using musical devices attached to their body—canisters, flutes, etc. The Song Trapper’s journey unfolds across deserts, marshlands, and saline landscapes in search of relics connected to voice and song. As in video games, these environments shift in response to the protagonist’s gestures, and vice versa; movement, sound, and landscape fall into rhythm. Steering the narrative, a free-verse poem by Steensen—appearing as subtitles in the video—reveals the inner workings and philosophies of The Song Trapper’s travels.
True to his approach, Jakob Kudsk Steensen has worked with a range of collaborators: Danish motion-capture specialists; actor Iris Thomsen for choreography; and Matt McCorkle together with vocalist Lyra Pramuk for the soundscape and environmental sounds. To preserve the performative, spontaneous dimension of the creative process, he invited them to respond directly to the text and images. Extending the atmosphere of the video, Steensen has bathed Gallery 8 in a greenish hue, where a fragrance—specially created with perfumer Yann Vasnier—floats in the air, blending aquatic and amphibian notes.
The exhibition Jakob Kudsk Steensen The Song Trapper is presented in partnership with Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, which will host a solo exhibition by the artist in spring 2027.
Curators: Claudia Buizza and Ludovic Delalande (Fondation Louis Vuitton).
