JACOB KIRKEGAARD

BIOGRAPHY

Jacob Kirkegaard (born 1975, Denmark) is a sound artist whose work explores ways of reflecting on complex, often unnoticed or inaccessible conditions and environments. He made his first sound recordings at the age of six, and in 1994 was introduced to the field of sound art. Since then, his practice has centered on using sound recordings to reveal the tangible dimensions of otherwise intangible themes.

Kirkegaard’s works have addressed subjects such as radioactivity in Chernobyl, melting Arctic ice, border walls in both geopolitical and metaphorical contexts, global waste management systems, and the processes surrounding human death. His recent compositions, created from recordings of firearms, grenades, and tanks, examine the sound of warfare in a work orchestrated for the Royal Lifeguard’s Music Corps. His current research focuses on the mechanical soundscapes of agriculture and food production.

Since 2006, Kirkegaard has also undertaken extensive research into otoacoustic emissions — tones generated by the human ear itself — which have become a recurring element in his artistic practice.

His sound works have been released by labels including Touch, Important Records, and The Helen Scarsdale Agency. Kirkegaard has presented his works internationally at museums, galleries, biennales, and concert venues, including Museum of Modern Art in New York, LOUISIANA - Museum of Modern Art and ARoS Aarhus Art Museum in Denmark, The Menil Collection and Rothko Chapel in Houston, Sydney Biennale, Aichi Triennale, and Mori Art Museum in Japan. He is represented by Galleri Tom Christoffersen.

Kirkegaard is also a member of the sound art collective freq_out, founded in 2003 by CM von Hausswolff. His works are included in the collections of LOUISIANA - Museum of Modern Art, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Museum Sønderjylland, and Bell Gallery in the United States.

Over the years, Kirkegaard has collaborated with artists including Philip Jeck, Alexander Hacke, JG Thirlwell, Phill Niblock, Else Marie Pade, Leif Elggren, CM von Hausswolff, and Lydia Lunch. Since 2013, he has collaborated extensively with Julie Martin, director of Experiments in Art and Technology.

In 2022, Kirkegaard received the Eckersberg Medal from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in recognition of his outstanding artistic achievements. In 2025, he received the prestigious New Carlsberg Foundation Artist Award.

Between 2001 and 2005, Kirkegaard completed an MA at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, where he studied under Siegfried Zielinski and Anthony Moore. In 2016, he served as sound artist-in-residence at St John's College, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. In 2022, he was appointed guest professor at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz School of Music, where he taught and conducted research on the sound of the internet, exploring the concept of the mechanical cloud as a trusted repository for contemporary life.

In 2018, Kirkegaard collaborated with UN-Habitat’s Waste Wise Cities Programme in Nairobi to create a series of works addressing the global challenges of waste management and informal waste sectors. The collaboration continued in 2022 and 2023, when he worked with the programme as both a sound recordist and consultant, producing awareness-raising material for the Global Plastics Treaty currently under negotiation by member states of the international community.

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