Jakob Grosse-Ophoff at Gallery TM51

Jakob Grosse-Ophoff: From Viral Sensation to Gallery Debut

For years, Jakob Grosse-Ophoff has captivated millions online with his eerie, mesmerizing kinetic sculptures—wooden machines that breathe, saw, and endlessly labor in strange, humanlike ways. His work has gone viral across Instagram and TikTok, amassing more than 100 million views and a devoted following of 180,000. Until now, however, the German-born artist has resisted the commercial art world, selling only a handful of pieces directly from his studio. That changes this fall with “Machines Like Us”, his first solo commercial exhibition at Oslo’s Gallery TM51.

The show, opening October 16, 2025, marks the first time collectors worldwide can acquire Grosse-Ophoff’s works. Ten kinetic sculptures—alongside four paintings and sketches—will be available, bridging his viral digital fame with the analog, material intensity of his craft. Each piece is hand-built from wood, powered by motors, and imbued with unsettling repetition that reflects humanity’s uneasy marriage with machines.

Jakob Grosse-Ophoff: The Machines That Made Him Famous

The power of Jakob Grosse-Ophoff’s work lies in its combination of mechanical engineering precision and raw emotional resonance. After completing his engineering degree in 2019, Grosse-Ophoff began to fuse technical know-how with artistic inquiry, creating figures that feel caught between persistence and futility. His most viewed sculpture, “Kissbot”, generated 3.6 million Instagram views, while other works, such as “Self Love, Political Duty”, and “You Idiot”, earned millions more across platforms.

These machines stumble, breathe, and repeat their actions like tragicomic performers: a wooden hand sawing itself apart, a faceless head being forced to smile, or a torso hyperventilating into a plastic bag. They reflect both the vulnerability and resilience of the human condition, performed through wood and gears rather than flesh and bone. In this sense, Grosse-Ophoff’s sculptures offer an analog counterpoint to our algorithm-driven digital culture, grounding viewers in a tactile, imperfect reality.

“Machines Like Us” at Gallery TM51

Gallery TM51 has built a reputation for pairing emerging voices with established names, and Jakob Grosse-Ophoff’s debut commercial show fits squarely into that mission. The main exhibition runs at TM51’s flagship space on Fridtjof Nansens plass, with sculptures in motion during gallery hours. Simultaneously, TM51 Infill—a 3.5 x 3.5 meter window gallery on Parkveien—will project Grosse-Ophoff’s art into the streets of Oslo, where passersby can watch the sculptures come alive for ten minutes every hour.

“Machines Like Us” runs from October 16 to November 23, 2025, with an opening reception on October 16 from 6–8 p.m. For those who have followed Jakob Grosse-Ophoff’s rise on screens, this is the long-awaited moment when digital fascination meets physical presence.