Kunsthal Charlottenborg is one of the largest and most beautiful exhibition spaces for contemporary art in Northern Europe
The exhibition space presents an ambitious program with international outlook featuring talents as well as established stars from both Denmark and abroad. Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents uncompromising and agenda setting art still understandable for everyone. The trendsetting exhibition program is supplemented with a large number of activities like artist talks, performances, concerts and film screenings.
Ever since Kunsthal Charlottenborg opened in 1883, the venue has hosted exhibitions featuring many of the leading contemporary artists of the given times, accommodating many different types of shows and activities. Charlottenborg now celebrates its long history with a large-scale exhibition featuring all-new and older works alike. Together, they will evoke and add nuance to the history of Kunsthal Charlottenborg, a venue without a collection or a historical archive. Embracing chaos, affinities and time glitches, the exhibition Full of Days forges intuitive connections between historical moments and less-remembered shows, stories and events. Through a cacophony of voices, contemporary and historical artists are framed into a reflection on the elusiveness of time and the multiplicity of its representations, offering a non-linear account of one the Kunsthal’s possible histories.
Special Exhibithions (Kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk):
Thao Nguyen Phan, Reincarnations of Shadows: 13.3 – 11.8 2024
Visual artist Thao Nguyen Phan (b. 1987) intertwines mythology and folklore from her homeland’s turbulent past with current pressing issues of excessive consumption and the destruction of the earth’s resources. The intersection between the documentary and the supernatural take centre stage in this exhibition, which evokes ghostly presences, lush landscapes and unofficial narratives.
Charlottenborg Art Books The independent bookstore offers a distinctive selection of books and magazines, including publications in the fields of fine art, critical design, typography, literature, and theory.Apollo Bar & Canteen Apollo Bar & Canteen are Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s bar and dining place by chef and creator Frederik Bille Brahe. Every weekday from Tuesday to Friday, you can enjoy a healthy and delicious lunch at the canteen, and all week you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or an exciting dinner or just a cup of coffee, a glass of wine or a drink at the bar next to the courtyard.
Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art
Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art is a must see in Copenhagen for anyone interested in art and architecture.
Den Frie is closed between exhibitions. Please check the website before going.
Den Frie was founded by artists in 1898 and is one of the oldest venues for contemporary art in Denmark. It is in itself a unique and very beautiful wooden building designed by famous artist J.F. Willumsen.
Den Frie’s fundamental aim is to present the very latest in contemporary art. We host exhibitions by national and international artists, all of which address current issues. The extensive programme of exhibitions and events are evidence of Den Frie’s role as an active platform for living art and art production, and the commitment to contribute to contemporary existence.
With its relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, Den Frie is also a popular meeting place for artists, students, tourists and the many locals who pass by. As a visitor you’ll feel welcome and enjoy having your interest in contemporary art stimulated, whether you’re an art connoisseur or a beginner. On top of which the architecture alone is well worth a visit.
Den Frie also houses the café, Polykrom, where you can enjoy a delicious lunch or a well-made cup of coffee.
Exhibitions:
Marie Lund & Rosalind Nashashibi: O Rose, 10.2.24-7.4.24
O Rose is a collective exhibition, which grew out of a collegial relation and friendship between Danish sculptor Marie Lund and British-Palestinian filmmaker and painter Rosalind Nashashibi. The two artists work in different media and with different aesthetics. But there turns out to be methodological overlaps in the way they conceive their works and in the way their works open up to and absorb the lived life in which they are created.
The conversation between the two artists takes its starting point in Rosalind Nashashibi’s film Denim Sky. In this domestic sci-fi film, Rosalind Nashashibi explores ways of forming a community around her single parent family through, amongst other means, journeys into space and non-linear time. With this film in mind, Marie Lund created a new series of sculptures, Daily, which, through repetition and variations, similarly collapses the expectation of a linear time. Made from residual materials, paper pulp and rubber granules, the sculptures – in their own way – also speak of fragility and strength.
Related Attractions
Nikolaj Kunsthal presents especially Danish, but also international contemporary art in unique historical surroundings in the middle of Copenhagen.
Nikolaj Kunsthal is located in the former St. Nikolaj Church, Copenhagen’s third oldest church with one of the tallest towers in the city – a unique setting for contemporary art Europe-wide. The beautiful architecture is part of an interaction with changing exhibitions, most recently by Ditte Ejlerskov, Nikoline Liv Andersen, David Lynch, HuskMitNavn, Leonard Cohen and others. Nikolaj Kunsthal focuses on Copenhagen’s contemporary art scene and is preoccupied with art meetings across genres, media and formats. The art centre also regularly presents concerts, performances, guided tours, dinners, talks, etc.
Exhibitions:
Rune Bering: Bycatch, 10.2.24 - 28.7.24
Taking the fishing industry as his point of departure – as a story about both catching and being caught – Rune Bering weaves fishing nets in copper cables that originate from the infrastructures of technology. He works sculpturally with how technology is closely connected with geology and nature. There is a pervasive and underlying ouroboros approach to his exhibition that examines the cycle of destruction, death and rebirth.
Rune Bering elaborates on the upcoming exhibition: ”In this exhibition, I work sculpturally with emotions which I believe are characteristic of our time. We know that we live in a way that can’t last, but at the same time the feeling is that we can’t change it. We live in structures that interfere with each other and that are too complex to really understand, change and get out of. It feels like we are caught in our own net”.
North Atlantic House is an art center where you can encounter North Atlantic art and culture. Here, people and artists from Iceland, Greenland, The Faroe Islands, Denmark - and the rest of the world - meet and inspire one another.
A visit to North Atlantic House is guaranteed to expand your horizon and stir your senses. You will find two exhibition rooms in which you can get a taste of North Atlantic culture through changing exhibitions, that shed light on the art scene of each of the three countries, in turn.
Furthermore, on specific days and evenings, you can experience everything from concerts, movies, presentations and events.
Explore North Atlantic art and culture in the beautiful warehouse from the 1700s. Built in 1767, North Atlantic House was the port for maritime traffic between Denmark and the North Atlantic for over 200 years.
Special Exhibitions (nordatlantens.dk):
GROUP PORTRAIT OF THE SELF, Hallgrímur Helgason; 10.2.24-26.5.24
In the exhibition Group Portrait of the Self, Icelandic painter Hallgrímur Helgason shows a series of works that put a new spin on the classic self-portrait.
For the past three years, Helgason has worked with the self-portrait as a way of portraying the many different voices or characters we may all find our minds populated by these days. There are people talking in there, and they do not always agree.
Here they stand side by side: the slow one, the brave one, the creative one, the livid one, the one who would rather have stayed in bed. Each portrait contains between six and sixteen figures, brought together like rock bands assembled by the brain’s crossed wires. Hallgrímur Helgason’s style is energetic, overwhelming, eclectic, fantastical, satirical and quite literally colourful.
The second half of the exhibition consists of works on paper from the 4Faced series. These fierce, imaginary portraits all contain four faces, visualising the multi-communicating human being that present-day society seems to demand. As Helgason himself puts it, it takes eight eyes to function in today’s world.
Hallgrímur Helgason (b. 1959) is perhaps best known in Denmark as a much-loved writer (60 Kilos of Sunshine being the latest published in Danish in 2021). But he began his artistic career as a visual artist and has maintained an active dual practice throughout. Focusing on new paintings and works on paper, the exhibition at the North Atlantic House is the first major presentation of Helgason in Denmark.
Authentic surroundings
These days, other ports serve the North Atlantic market, and the historic warehouse is now a thriving cultural centre, dedicated to the art and culture of Denmark’s former North Atlantic colonies Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland.
North Atlantic artists are often inspired by the landscapes, light, and nature sounds of their region, which lends a fiercely visual, bodily, and musical quality to their art.
The rustic, maritime spirit of the old warehouse with its raw plank floors and exposed rafter ceilings offers a unique and beautiful contrast to the artworks on the display.
Nordic food
Visit the cultural centre to get your own first-hand impression of this intriguing harbour front area. The North Atlantic House is open all year round and offers a lovely café where you can enjoy a good glass of wine or a cup of coffee.
On the Nordatlantens Brygge Harbour Front you will find the Faroese and Greenlandic Representations, the Icelandic Embassy, and the culinary treasures of Restaurant Barr.
Gl. Holtegaard is an art center with a programme of three to four ambitious exhibitions a year, both in the gallery of the main house and in the Baroque garden. The mission is to present contemporary and classical artworks that make history relevant and bring a fresh perspective to the age in which we live.
The gallery’s unique location in the historical buildings and grounds of Lauritz de Thurah’s Baroque complex is an integrated part of the exhibition profile. It is precisely this context that makes it possible to bring contemporary art into close contact with the historical material Gammel Holtegaard is made of.The Baroque garden is thus seen as an extended gallery, and exhibitions there are as carefully curated and presented as the indoor ones in the annual programme.
Gammel Holtegaard has a diverse year-round programme of events and activities relating to the exhibitions and to Gammel Holtegaard itself. These include artist talks, performances, talks, debates, garden tours, concerts, and much more.
Exhibitions (glhotegaard.dk):
'Across the Strait', Iselin Forslund Toubro; 8.3.24-12.5.24
Iselin Forslund Toubro’s solo exhibition Across the Strait unfolds as an total installation, with a cinematic narrative progression, which in interaction withsculpturel elements points to conflicts in both the past and present.
BIO:Iselin Forslund Toubro (b. 1990) is educated from The Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden, Emily Carr University of Film, Art and Design, Vancouver, Canada and The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark (2019). Toubro work in the field between art cinematic, performance and installation – very often in huge productions, which involves both actors, musicians and other contributors.
Transport
Gl. Holtegaard is located north of Copenhagen, and both entrance and public transport is included in COPENHAGEN CARD - DISCOVER. We recommend using journeyplanner.dk to plan your trip.