Summer’s over, but there’s no reason to feel down. It’s time for some new special exhibitions at the museums, and if you’re lucky, it will be rainy and cold and give you plenty of time to visit them all.
As interesting as our selected exhibitions are, if there’s a prevailing theme this month, it’s their ability to cause offence – particularly if you’re American!
Detroit and the Donald
For example, the exhibition about the magical atmosphere of abandoned places might not please the good people of Detroit, while the inclusion of the US presidential candidates in a photography display will delight and dismay in equal measure.
Meanwhile, traditionalists (not hard to find in any country!) might disapprove that Thorvaldsens Museum is showing contemporary paintings side-by-side with its old artworks, and also of the risqué nature of ‘Sex & the Sea’, an exhibition about the sex lives of sailors.
Find more information at cphmuseums.com.
Homesick and longing
opens Sep 9, ends Aug 13, open Tue-Sun 11:00-17:00; M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark, Ny Kronborgvej 1, Helsingør; over-18s: 110kr, under-18s: free adm; mfs.dk/en
M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark’s new special exhibition Sex & the Sea focuses on the dreams, longings and sex lives of sailors. Its creators, the Dutch multimedia director Saskia Boddeke and British film director Peter Greenaway, encourage visitors to feel the same emotions of homesickness and sexual desire the sailors are faced with when they are at sea for months on end, only touching land (and whatever else they can) in unfamiliar ports.
Something old, something new
opened Aug 24, ends Nov 13, open Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00; Thorvaldsens Museum, Bertel Thorvaldsens Plads 2, Cph K; over-18s: 50kr, under-18s: free adm; thorvaldsensmuseum.dk/en
For the first time in the history of the museum, Bertel Thorvaldsen’s built-in marble reliefs are yielding space to eight paintings gathered under the title TEMPLATE. The young Danish artist Marie Søndergaard Lolk has made a series of new works specifically for selected galleries at Thorvaldsens Museum.
The galleries at the museum are not made for hanging paintings, so Lolk has worked both with and against Thorvaldsen. What happens when contemporary art is installed in such a special and colourful museum full of history and centuries-old sculptures? It promises to be somewhat spectacular, so check it out.
Po-po-po-pokerface and politics
opened Aug 26, ends Jan 1, open Mon-Sun 10:00-17:00; Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød; over-15s: 75kr, under-15s: 20kr, students: 60kr; dnm.dk
Are you into photography? The Swiss-US photographer Marco Grob has portrayed some of the world’s most prominent and influential people, and the Museum. The Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle is displaying a wide range of his works.
Marco Grob: Iconic Portraits includes politicians such as Barack Obama, former president George W Bush and the current presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump; actors such as George Clooney, Jude Law and Harrison Ford; musicians like Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Yo-Yo Ma; and innovators such as Steve Jobs and Stephen Hawking. Especially for the exhibition, the photographer has taken new portraits of HRH Crown Prince Frederik and HRH Crown Princess Mary.
Abandoned places
ongoing, ends Sep 11; Danish Architecture Center, Strandgade 27B, Cph K; free adm
There’s something fascinating about abandoned places. What happened? How did it use to be? Who was here? Over the past six years, Danish urban explorers Jan Elhøj and Morten Kirckhoff have visited and documented more than 1,000 abandoned places across the world and the result is Abandoned. Danish Architecture Center explores abandoned buildings and places around the world with an exhibition showing selected photos by the pair.
For more inspiration from the museums, visit Copenhagen Museums & Attraction at cphmuseums.com.
