Art accessible to all at Copenhagen Art Week

Hosting dozens of festivals in little over one month, Copenhagen can feel like a magical carnival ride of culture, music, food and fashion. This week, it is art’s turn to take over Copenhagen with over 60 galleries, museums and art spaces taking part with openings, exhibitions, parties, talks, guided tours, and art fairs featuring national and international galleries.

With numerous events scattered across Copenhagen, from a lunch that combines gastronomy and art in Frederiksberg, to a guided art tour in the trendy meatpacking district, Kødbyen, it was once considered a stroke of luck to stumble across an event opening, let alone finding one that wasn’t VIP.

But fumbling over several creased flyers is no longer required. This year, kunsten.nu has created Copenhagen Art Week to help place the various viseral events that coincide with major art fairs under just one umbrella. The aim is to shine a specific light on what’s happening in art in Copenhagen with a comprehensive events guide accessible for all. This means less time spent with a highlighter in hand, and more time viewing  the fine brush-strokes of local and international artists.  

Among the events featured in Copenhagen Art Week are existing exhibitions, collaborations with galleries and kunsten.nu, and new projects and exhibitions that are making the most of the annual spotlight on art that comes from the three art fairs, the pinnacle of Copenhagen Art Week: Art Copenhagen, Alt_Cph and CHART | ART FAIR.

What’s truly unique about Copenhagen Art Week is the strong emphasis on including as many audiences and art lovers as possible, and this also extends to galleries and artists. The local and the international, the big and the small, the galleries and the project spaces – the festival will reveal the myriad of angles of art in Copenhagen.

Its head of press, Anne Riber, passionately describes Copenhagen Art Week as “an occasion to see something you may not usually see, and have it communicated into a language you can understand”.  

One of Copenhagen’s many charming traits is its eagerness to open its arms to everyone and ensure that events that may be perceived as elitist are rebranded as inclusive and down-to-earth. Scrolling through the programme, what is striking is the omission of VIP or invite-only events.

This is as sentimental as it is strategic, and Riber believes it is about opening up art and ”the success indicator is allowing people to find out what they like.” With parties, talks, openings, gallery tours and performances, there will be something for everyone – from the street art enthusiast to the fine art aficionado and the trendy 20-something searching for a free glass of bubbles.

Top Picks:

Alt_CPH
Alt_Cph, Copenhagen’s independent art fair, promises a loud and vibrant programme for 2013. On Saturday, after listening to what is sure to be a stimulating debate about the technological revolution, enjoy pop-up party by Science Friction and FAT Lab followed by parties and djs that will take you well into the early hours of Sunday.

Fabrikken, Sundholmsvej 46, Cph S; starts Fri, ends Sun; www.altcph.dk

POST – Ricardo Valentim
Copenhagen Art Week concludes with the creative concept POST, series of exhibitions whereby artists were invited to send artworks and materials via snail mail. Tea and cake will be served, making it the perfect way to end the festival.

Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Nyhavn 2, Cph K, Sun 16:00-18:00; free adm; www.kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk

CHART | ART FAIR
New  to the Copenhagen art  scene is CHART | ART FAIR, the first art fair in Denmark to focus exclusively on contemporary art. The grand opening party on Friday is open to all and will feature music by artists such as Vinnie Who, Lust for Youth, Synd og Skam and Hvad Kishore as well as drinks and food stalls in Charlottenborg’s courtyard. Another highlight of the fair is the Special Projects section where large-scale projects, installations and other special works can be viewed.

Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Nyhavn 2  Cph K; starts Fri, ends: Sun; www.chartartfair.com/program

Art Copenhagen
While the lectures and talks will be in Danish, you may still peruse over 50 international and Danish galleries featuring painting, sculpture, graphics, photos and more. New to the fair this year is ART START, an initiative whereby all the participating galleries can contribute an original work at a fixed price, making sure that all those who want to buy art can find something within their price range.

Forum Copenhagen, Julius Thomsens Plads 1, Frederiksberg; starts Fri, ends Sun; www.artcopenhagen.dk

Performance Night: ONE NIGHT ONLY
A performance event where GL STRAND’s courtyard transforms into a stage hosting a variety of performances and live acts by several international and Danish performances, including Henrik Vibskov, whose exhibition is being simultaneously displayed at GL STRAND.

GL STRAND, Gl Strand 481, Cph K; Thu (Aug 29) 16:00-22:00; free adm; street food can be purchased on site; www.copenhagenartweek.com/en

Various venues in Cph; started Aug 23, ends Sun; www.copenhagenartweek.com/en

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