Tue Greenfort’s work encompasses natural resources, cultural history and the socio-political structure behind them. His practice shows how the idea of nature has been constructed by scientific and cultural ideological systems. He makes use of solutions that derive from, and draw attention to, our immediate environment. Whether represented by means of animals living in the city or through the political and economic instrumentalisation of recycling and energetic self-sustainable processes, the Danish artist explores eco-systems adopting a site-responsive approach. Recalling artist such as Hans Haacke, Dan Peterman and Simon Starling, Greenfort’s concerns combine with Conceptual Art’s interest in social systems, working on the micro scale to expose how the smallest personal action can have repercussions on a bigger scale. In earlier works the artist has investigated animal habitats in the city by creating a pathway for ants leading to a specially-prepared meal (Social Organism, 2001), a camera triggered by sausages left for foxes (Daimlerstraße 38, 2001), or employing Coca Cola’s bottled water as in his work BONAQUA, Condensation Cube (2005), which formally refers to Hans Haacke’s seminal piece of the 1960s.

For his first solo exhibition in the UK, Greenfort’s new works in this exhibition respond to the businesses that run the length of New Bond Street. They query the function of luxury accessories, looking at how the notion of luxury has historically changed from the roots of capitalism to neo-liberalism. They also question the meaning of wealth and who benefits from their consumption. Diamond Watch (2006) displays three wristwatches on charcoal firebricks with diamonds on their hands that point at the time left to the natural resources employed to manufacture the piece. On a second reading, this work also points at the working conditions of the diamond mining industry in places like China. The installation Fur No Fur (2006) makes reference to the former function of the gallery as a fur shop. Placing on a clothes rail a silver fox and mink fur stitched together for visitors to try them on in front of a fragmented mirror, Greenfort has graphically visualised the economic transaction taking place between those who give up a coat to the international charitable organisation P.E.T.A. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to receive in exchange tax-exemption. He has also included a mink trap to address how the institutionalisation of anti-fur movements in the UK and the ban on mink farming has led to the industry moving to places like China where animal rights activism doesn’t exist. As a consequence, this shift has produced a disequilibrium in the bio-diverse ecosystem of the English countryside as, for the last two decades, minks have been endangering smaller rodents like water voles.

Greenfort (b. 1973, Holbäk, Denmark) lives and works in Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include Witte de With (The Netherlands), Kunstverein Arnsberg, Palais für Aktuelle Kunst Glückstadt and Johann König Gallery (all 2005, Germany). This year his work has been also presented in the group shows Momentum Nordic Festival of Contemporary Art, Moss (Norway), Apocalypse Focus Group at ALP galleri Peter Bergman (Stockholm) and 4 at Anna Helwing Gallery (Los Angeles). He recently completed an artist residency at Office for Contemporary Art, Oslo, and will open an outdoor commission for London’s Royal Society of Arts (Art & Ecology programme) in 2007.