Jenkin van Zyl – Lost Property

In 2025, we celebrate the opening of ARoS’ new subterranean gallery, a dedicated space for annual contemporary commissions. The gallery will be unique in Denmark in providing a dedicated space for artists working with film, video, installation, and performance to create site-specific works at formative moments in their careers.

The inaugural commission will be undertaken by Jenkin van Zyl (b. 1993), a London-based artist and filmmaker already widely recognized as one of the most compelling young artists working today. Van Zyl’s work seeks to question notions of individuality and collectivity, exploring how community-building can foster belonging, allyship, and resistance.

For ARoS, van Zyl is creating a major new work titled Lost Property: an ambitious video installation situated in an extraordinary immersive environment created in collaboration with his close-knit community of LGBTQIA+ identifying performers, dancers and musicians. The narrative unfolds over the course of 24 hours at The Bureau of Lost Property, a processing facility for the retrieval of lost memories.

With its playful approach to the body and time, Lost Property’s looping structure suggests that the arbitrariness of beginnings and endings can be a source of potential and creativity, rather than one of fear.

Curated by Ellen Drude Skeel Langvold

Front photo credit: Jenkin van Zyl - Lost Property ARoS 2025. Installationsphoto: Mads Smidstrup © ARoS 2025

Augustinus Fonden

Ny Carlsbergfondet

Ege Carpets