The inaugural exhibition at ALL PROJECTS presents the work of Kristian Kragelund and Emanuel de Carvalho. Preoccupied by the mechanisms through which information is perceived and gathered, the artists consider how our bodies decipher, manoeuvre inside, and are detected within physical, technical and archival space. In doing so, the exhibition interrogates mechanisms of spatial and discursive control, considering how the body is regulated by and resistant to their metabolic rhythms of power.
Emanuel de Carvalho’s sculptural installation, lack skill II, is the second iteration of an archival structure, first presented in London in 2024. The sculpture adopts the anticipated form of the archive: constructed from mild steel and sheet timber with slate black patina, its six-metre long form promises storage, legibility and retrieval. Yet, upon closer inspection, this expectation is upturned. Running the length of the structure, shuttering ply planks conceal a work on paper; a drawing made from signifiers of his research with Catherine Malabou. By placing a clear limit on our access to knowledge, lack skill II underscores the autonomy of the archive over its user. Through this visual manoeuvre, de Carvalho alludes to the bifurcated potential of the archive: simultaneously an instrument of hegemonic coercion, which organises bodies through its orchestration of historical narratives, and a site for subaltern subversion. By safeguarding culturally sensitive knowledge from outside intrusion, his practice challenges the Western epistemological assumption that knowledge should necessarily be free, immediate and total. A soundscape recorded from the resonance in the paper accompanies the structurce, alluding to the fact that while some conditions of access shift, sound persists beyond the thresholds of containment.
Similarly concerned by the construction of meaning, Kristian Kragelund ruminates on its distortion. Maintaining his characteristic redaction of material debris, Kragelund’s works are constructed from fibreglass – a composite of petrochemical waste (resin) and sharp, fibrous glass strands. Viewed from across the room, these materials take on an unlikely delicacy, resembling layered pieces of gauze. This deception is the result of Mach bands, a visual illusion triggered by the optic nerve’s edge-detection processes which saturate and desaturate adjacent gradients to exaggerate their boundaries. Whilst registered through sight, this illusion produces distinct temporal effects. Indeed, by aiding our ability to detect an object’s periphery, Mach bands catalyses our body’s reaction to oncoming threats. Yet, when arising in radiology, the same effect can distort the appearance of damaged tissue, delaying or preventing the diagnosis of fatal medical conditions. By drawing attention to these distinct phenomena, Kragelund mimics Mach bands’ hyperbolic effect to highlight the disparate forces which act upon the body, as momentary rupture or covert lapse.
Emanuel de Carvalho works across painting, sculpture, and sound. He holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art alongside a PhD in Medicine from the University of Amsterdam and postgraduate studies in neuro-ophthalmology at University College London. Recent exhibitions include Galerie Molitor (2025, solo 2026); Perrotin, Paris (2025); Hauser & Wirth, Somerset (2024); X Museum, Beijing (2024); Duarte Sequeira, Braga and Seoul (2024, solo 2023); Nir Altman, Munich (2024), Gathering, London (2023, solo 2024, 2026); Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai (2022) and The Sunday Painter, London (2022). He lives and works in London, UK.
Kristian Kragelund is a Danish artist based in London, UK. He received his BA (Honours) in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in London, UK and MFA from Columbia University in New York City. His work has been exhibited widely internationally and his work is held in several private and public collections including The Danish Arts Foundation and as a permanent public commission in Whitechapel, London.