Maja Malou Lyse on Representing Denmark at the 61st Venice Biennale

Why It Matters

The exhibition spotlights the convergence of technology, sexuality, and art, challenging conventional critiques while underscoring the role of progressive cultural policy in enabling avant‑garde work at a global stage.

Key Takeaways

• Lyse's "Things To Come" merges science, fiction, pornography.
• Video work features porn actresses, explores marginalization and minor keys.
• Denmark pioneered legal porn, supports artists via grants and education.
• Biennale acts as cultural vibe check amid rising nationalism.
• Project probes how erotic images act on the body physically.

Pulse Analysis

Maja Malou Lyse arrives at the 61st Venice Biennale as Denmark’s representative, showcasing her interdisciplinary project “Things To Come.” The work oscillates between scientific research, speculative fiction, and explicit erotic imagery, reflecting a generation saturated by digital visual culture. By staging a video collaboration with DIS that casts well‑known porn performers, Lyse foregrounds the paradox of high visibility and cultural marginalisation. The piece dovetails with the Biennale’s theme “In Minor Keys,” interpreting marginal narratives as a literal and figurative minor key within contemporary art discourse.

The catalyst for Lyse’s investigation was a study linking virtual sexual stimuli to increased sperm motility, a finding that blurs the line between image and physiology. By pulling sources from scientific journals, TikTok streams, and a Danish sperm bank, she builds a narrative where erotic pictures do more than shape desire—they can trigger measurable bodily responses. This provocation challenges traditional art criticism, urging curators and collectors to consider how digital intimacy reconfigures labor, reproduction, and power structures. In doing so, Lyse positions erotic imagery as a site of both cultural critique and biological agency.

Lyse also reflects on the relevance of national pavilions at a time when cultural diplomacy collides with rising nationalism. Denmark’s early legalization of pornographic images and its robust public arts funding illustrate how progressive policy can nurture boundary‑pushing practices. The artist credits generous grants, free education, and state support as essential to her ability to work internationally. As censored pavilions elsewhere demonstrate, the Biennale remains a litmus test for how geopolitics shape artistic expression, making Denmark’s pavilion both a platform and a statement.