AARHUS.- ARoS has added a new, sensational work to its collection, which is on view in the exhibition ARoS Collection: 1960 – now: a sculpture of an oversized pink dildo, created by Danish artist Maja Malou Lyse.

The work Sex Is Not a Natural Act (2019) was created for ARoS’s exhibition Art & Porn, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the release of visual pornography. It was presented at both ARoS and Kunsthal Charlottenborg in 2019.

The work has now returned to ARoS and can be experienced in the collection exhibition alongside Ron Mueck’s Boy (1999) and works by Jenny Holzer, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Tove Storch, Nina Beier, and Liu Shiyuan.

“Maja Malou Lyse’s work brings both humour and urgency to the ways in which sexuality is shaped by culture, power, and representation rather than by nature alone. Welcoming this now-iconic piece into the ARoS collection allows us to sustain and deepen vital conversations about gender, the body, and desire that resonate strongly today,” says Museum Director Rebecca Matthews adding:

“Displaying it alongside some of the museum’s most significant works also reflects our commitment to collecting art that challenges norms and expands our visitors’ perspectives.”

The three-metre-long fibreglass sculpture, finished in pink car paint, depicts an enlarged dildo. The title, Sex Is Not a Natural Act, is borrowed from the 1994 book of the same name by American feminist author and sexologist Leonore Tiefer. In her work, Lyse draws on Tiefer’s argument that our understanding of sex is not biological or natural but shaped by social norms.

“With this work, Lyse draws attention to the historical trajectory from the oppression of women, through the liberation movements of the 1960s, to more recent concepts such as the ‘orgasm gap’ and the vast industry that the sale of sex toys has become,” says Chief Curator Stinna Toft, adding:

“Much has changed since pornographic images were legalised in 1969, yet sexuality and pornography remain surrounded by taboo. It is a complex reality, and art has the ability to open up conversations that would otherwise be avoided.”

About Maja Malou Lyse
Maja Malou Lyse (b. 1993) graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2022 and gained public recognition as the host of the television programme Sex med Maja on DR, as well as through her use of social media within her artistic practice.

She works across media – including video, installation, performance, and text – and her practice focuses on how visual cultures shape our identity, sexuality, and perception of reality. Lyse’s works critically examine the body’s relationship to the image and explore how this dynamic has become increasingly complex in the digital age.

Lyse has held solo exhibitions at O – Overgaden and Kunstmuseum Brandts, and has participated in group exhibitions at, among others, the National Gallery of Denmark, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and Moderna Museet in Stockholm. In 2026, she will represent Denmark at the prestigious Venice Biennale.