Exhibition

Bruno Zhu: Women Upstairs

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Bruno Zhu meticulously restyles everyday commodities and exhibition spaces, articulating parallels between institutional policies, Western European art history, and the aesthetics of fashion and commerce.

For his first large-scale solo presentation in Denmark, Zhu has created a dual exhibition that spans the country’s rural west—with the show Men at Work at Huset for Kunst og Design (HFKD) in Holstebro—to its metropolitan east—with the exhibition Women Upstairs at O—Overgaden in Copenhagen.

Between the two venues, the artist draws a hypothetical line across the country: a parade, or catwalk, of sorts. While Men at Work at HFKD features undressed male models mounted on flat stands, Women Upstairs at O—Overgaden presents nude, female mannequins posing inside structures that resemble life-size green emergency exit signs.

Within the four monumental cabinets at O—Overgaden, four female mannequins—a baby, a toddler, a teenager, and an adult—take the place of the exit sign’s classic pictogram figure. One hand of each mannequin has been modified to mimic a gun. These garish sculptural compositions thus operate like three-dimensional dioramas, directing us to both follow each protagonist and to ask how one might exit, or escape, the institutional mold—an infrastructure explicitly not molded for women.

Bruno Zhu (b. 1991, PT) is a visual artist working between Portugal and the Netherlands. Zhu graduated from Central Saint Martins, London (2014), and Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam (2016) and has previously exhibited at venues such as Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, Lisbon (2026); M HKA, Antwerp (2025); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2024); Veronica, Seattle (2024); What Pipeline, Detroit (2023); and Cordova, Barcelona (2022). Since 2016, Zhu has run the exhibition space A Maior in Viseu, Portugal. Zhu’s upcoming exhibition at O—Overgaden and HFKD will mark his first solo commission in Denmark.

Exhibition Text

bruno-zhu_handout.pdf

Nude baby mannequin wearing a fur hat lies on its stomach, head raised and propped on its forearms, in front of a green wall.

Bruno Zhu, Baby Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Green room structure with a white arrow pointing right and a white door. At left, a small nude baby mannequin in a fur hat lies on the floor.

Bruno Zhu, Baby Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

White wall structure with a closed white door on its left side, seen from the outside.

Bruno Zhu, Baby Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by Brian Kure.

Green room structure seen from a distance, with a white arrow pointing right and a white door. At left, a small nude child mannequin stands, one arm extended right.

Bruno Zhu, Child Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Close-up of a mannequin hand with cracks in its surface, shaped like a gun with raised thumb and extended index finger, against a green background.

Bruno Zhu, Child Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Bruno Zhu, Child Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by Brian Kure.

Green room structure with a white arrow pointing right and a white door. At left, a nude mannequin with dark hair kneels, one arm extended to the right.

Bruno Zhu, Teen Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Kneeling nude teenage mannequin with long dark hair in a ponytail in front of a green surface. One arm is raised, the hand shaped like a gun.

Bruno Zhu, Teen Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Close-up of a hand and forearm with extended index finger and raised thumb, pointing right, against a green background.

Bruno Zhu, Teen Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Bruno Zhu, Teenage Exit, 2026. Installationsview, O – Overgaden, 2026. Foto af David Stjernholm.

Bruno Zhu, Teen Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by Brian Kure.

Green room structure with a white arrow pointing left and a white door. At right, a nude adult mannequin stands with one arm extended to the left.

Bruno Zhu, Adult Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Large white arrow pointing left on a green surface. At right, a nude adult mannequin with long reddish-brown hair stands with one arm extended toward the arrow.

Bruno Zhu, Adult Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Close-up of a hand and forearm with extended index finger and raised thumb, pointing left, against a green background.

Bruno Zhu, Adult Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

White wall structure with a closed white door on its right side, seen from the outside.

Bruno Zhu, Adult Exit, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by Brian Kure.

Green room structure with a white arrow pointing right and a white door. A baby mannequin in a fur hat lies in front, with more such structures behind.

Bruno Zhu, Women Upstairs, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Close-up of a large white arrow pointing right on a green surface, next to a white door with a handle.

Bruno Zhu, Women Upstairs, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

Green room structure with a white arrow pointing right and a baby mannequin in a fur hat lying on the floor. Through a doorway, a second green structure is visible.

Bruno Zhu, Women Upstairs, 2026. Installation View, O—Overgaden, 2026. Photo by David Stjernholm.

O—Overgaden’s annual program is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, the Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation, the Obel Family Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation, Beckett-Fonden, and 15. Juni Fonden.

In addition, the exhibition Women Upstairs by Bruno Zhu has received support from the New Carlsberg Foundation, 15. Juni Fonden, and the Mondriaan Fund.