Belly of the Beast from Josefin Arnell
Josefin Arnell’s solo exhibition “Belly of the Beast” presents a collection of films operating through dream logic and nightmare structures, populated by her characteristic figures shaped not by fantasy alone, but by institutional power, social conditioning, and the violence of normalization.
The works explore how institutions construct the “good girl,” the “good citizen,” the ideal subject: bodies trained to comply, identities shaped through discipline, submission, and endless self-correction. Perfection becomes a form of obedience. Improvement becomes control. The desire to belong, to fit in, to be accepted, to be legible, demands a continuous reshaping of the self, a constant performance of becoming better.
The exhibition extends this logic spatially through the use of construction mesh, a material usually employed to create façades, barriers, and temporary structures. Wrapped around the outside while maintenance work is being done on the inside, it becomes a surface of control, a skin, a membrane, a structure through which the body is disciplined and remade.
Flesh and architecture collapse into one another. The visitor moves through something both protective and oppressive, both shelter and trap. What begins as discipline becomes appetite. And inside the beast, we feast.
Josefin Arnell’s work explores how violence and social hierarchies shape everyday life. Using dark humor, she stages fragile, absurd situations in which characters struggle to navigate contemporary systems and their impossible demands. Storytelling is central to her practice, which often unfolds through participatory processes and collaborative encounters.
OPENING WITH THE ARTIST : 13-06 from 14:00 on
For the opening, we invite you to join a special DIY hobby horse-making workshop, starting at 14:00, followed by a barrier parcours “competition” from 15:30 onwards. The program is hosted together with artist Toni Brenner.
There will be a rosette for the winner, cake for the birthday girl and eggs for everyone interested.
Toni Brenner is an Aki student who has always been obsessed with horses. Taking this obsession into her practice she researches the parallels between horses and women as symbols and the relationship between the two.
link to RSVP
EXHIBITION IS OPEN from Saturday 13-06 to Saturday 25-07
on Friday & Saturday from 12:00 to 00:00
or on request for groups and tours (mail : marie@sickhouse.nl)