Reduced to One: How 'no idea' Stole the Show

No Idea has been on quite a journey. It all started back in 2012 with my photo performance, Sign of Times @ Copenhagen. Teaming up with photographer Maher Khatib, we roamed Copenhagen on Maher's car for a day, holding up signs and asking passersby, “What pops into your mind when I say the word ‘No?’”

The responses were as varied as the people themselves—some funny, some thought-provoking, and some downright puzzling. Somewhere in that mix, No Idea was born—a phrase so simple, yet so full of possibilities.

Fast forward to 2022, during my residency at Fyns Grafiske Værksted / Funen Printmaking Studio in Odense. No Idea resurfaced as part of a text-based series silkscreened onto pages of an old Danish atlas. The combination of familiar phrases and intricate maps created a playful tension, inviting viewers to find connections between language and geography.

When it came time to exhibit the works at Kapallorek Artspace for my solo show In Between Worlds, nine pieces from the series made the initial cut. They were arranged on the wall, and the process of figuring out their placement became a project in itself. Enter Akmal Sabran, the ever-patient technician, and Anna Cuomo, the curator, who suggested mounting the works on boards to give them a cleaner, more polished look.

And then came the magic moment. Akmal placed No Idea right in the center of the wall. Anna and I looked at each other—both amused and intrigued. It just worked. Suddenly, it felt like the rest of the series was unnecessary. No Idea stood there, holding its own, commanding attention. Less is more, they say—and in this case, it couldn’t have been truer.

What started as nine works became one. Reduced to a single piece, the series transformed into a statement about simplicity, focus, and perhaps the power of a well-placed idea. It was as if No Idea was winking at us, saying, “I’ve got this.”

This unexpected twist got me thinking about how I might approach exhibiting the full series in the future. For now, though, I’m enjoying how No Idea managed to steal the show—proving that sometimes, the best ideas come from no idea at all.