inter.pblc

FANATICS is Kneer’s first solo exhibition in Denmark, premiering a new series of works.

In FANATICS, Julian-Jakob Kneer stages a series of vitrines that function as both shrines and crime scenes—repositories of cultural residue where pop relics are transformed into charged evidence. These forensically and meticulously presented displays house devotional objects drawn from fandom memorabilia, moral panic, kitsch, and controversy. Disney plush meets black metal merch; Precious Moments objects bear the marks of ideological defilement.

Kneer collapses supposedly opposing mythologies—childhood and cult, innocence and transgression, nostalgia and propaganda—revealing that their shared architectures are not just parallel but structurally aligned and mutually dependent. Meaning is not fixed; it is performed, warped, and reshaped by context.
By aestheticizing contradiction, Kneer refuses the binaries of morality and immorality, letting ideologic alambiguity speak for itself.

Each vitrine invites projection, discomfort, and desire—an associative zone where emotional legibility begins to blur. His clinically stark displays paradoxically heighten, rather than neutralize, the emotional and symbolic charge of these artifacts, compelling viewers toward active, critical engagement. Here, pop culture become spathology, mass-produced sentiment gets weaponized, and the sacred is always, just barely, unholy. FANATICS is not a warning, nor a celebration—but an ambient exposure of destabilized belief systems.

– Laurie Rojas

______

JULIAN-JAKOB KNEER is a Swiss artist based in Paris and Berlin.
Through crossbreeding ready-made opposing narratives, Kneer’s practice riffs on themes of morality and the narcissistic self. Sifting contemporary zeitgeist artifacts through the lens of ancient lore, and inexorably returning to the foundational principles of the human psyche, he digs up and confronts our conceptions of supposed socio-cultural binaries such as right / wrong, beautiful / ugly, sick / healthy. Kneer breaks them downinto their constituent parts, and releases them for recasting in a value-free queer space.
His work has been presented internationally at institutions such as Kunsthalle Basel, Schinkel Pavillon Berlin,Julia Stoschek Foundation Berlin, Kunsthalle Kosice, Blue Velvet Zürich, Liste Art Fair Basel,
Miettinen Collection Berlin, and NADA New York, among others. Kneer has received grants from Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt and the Patronagefonds of Kunsthalle Basel. Since 2018, he is co-founder, creative director and main curator of Gruppe Magazine, an independent publication dedicated to contemporary art and critical discourse.

______

Julian-Jakob Kneer

FANATlC (1), 2025
Archival Inquisition zip jacket and Disneyland Resort t-shirt, cast rubber and acrylic glas vitrine
106 x 76 x 22 cm

Julian-Jakob Kneer
FANATIC (2), 2025
Archival Misanthropy Records hoodie and Philipp Plein x Disney t-shirt, cast rubber and acrylic glas vitrine
106 x 76 x 22 cm

Julian-Jakob Kneer
FANATIC (3), 2025
Archival Walt Disney Imagineering and Burzum hoodie, cast rubber and acrylic glas vitrine
106 x 76 x 22 cm

Julian-Jakob Kneer
FANATIC (4), 2025
Archival gloves and Precious Moments figurine, cast rubber and acrylic glas vitrine, plinth
115 × 54 x 76 cm

Julian-Jakob Kneer
FANATIC (5), 2025
YEEZY „Bully“ hoodie, Minnie Mouse plush toys, archival cassette and VHS tapes, Precious Moments figurine, cast rubber and acrylic glas vitrine, plinth
115 × 54 x 76 cm

‍

‍