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…