During the summer of 2025, Amant presents the large-scale sculptural installation SHELL by Copenhagen-based artist Esben Weile Kjær.

SHELL’s centerpiece is a 37-by-20-foot castle that will occupy Amant’s outdoor lot at 316 Ten Eyck Street throughout the summer. Resembling a children’s toy, the faux-concrete structure playfully scales up the fantasy of a miniature castle back to its source dimensions. While retaining the benign appeal of a toy, the shift in scale conceals a structure associated with aggression and violence and transforms it into an object of play.

Reprising an architectural motif from several of Kjær’s recent exhibitions, this castle also draws on the defensive bunkers built along Denmark’s coastline as part of the so-called “Atlantic Wall” during World War II. Many of these abandoned bunkers were later repurposed as gathering spaces for youth sub- and countercultures, including the underground parties where Kjær was active as a DJ in his early career. Outfitted with a new series of lightbox sculptures and LED blink lights evoking a network of signal towers, the installation simultaneously recalls a medieval stronghold, an oil rig, and a post-apocalyptic billboard. The installation fuses Kjær’s characteristically wry, irreverent, and playful take on contemporary culture with the urban landscape of East Williamsburg, connecting the exigencies of the present to recent history and a speculative future.

Accessible for public exploration during Amant’s opening hours, the installation will also function as a stage for performances by Kjær and invited artists, as well as additional events throughout the summer.

Esben Weile Kjær, SHELL is commissioned by Amant with additional support by:
Danish Arts Foundation
Beckett Fonden
Knud Højsgaards Fond
New Carlsberg Foundation
Consulate General of Denmark in New York