A new podcast series for internationals launches today, featuring candid interviews on business and the arts with leading Danish creatives who have made an impact in the US.
In Danish Originals, entrepreneurs and artists from fields spanning visual arts, music, film, design, architecture, entertainment, fashion, sustainability and more dive into their work and play, and reflect on cultural exchange across the Atlantic.
Business in creativity, and creativity in business
Co-presented by The National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) and American Friends of Statens Museum for Kunst (AFSMK), the inaugural episode features businessman and skincare icon Ole Henriksen.
Though he has made a career out of tapping the Hollywood market, he notes that he is rubbing shoulders with an elite crop of creatives on the show.
“It was a great experience to be the first guest on Danish Originals,” said Henriksen. “The series has many impressive creatives speaking on the experience of being a Dane in the US, and it’s fascinating hearing about their journeys and endeavors. Each of them has carried with them a sense of ‘Danishness’, while creating a new adventure here,” he added.
Fresh ideas on Danish-US culture
In the coming episodes, airing every Wednesday, Henriksen is followed by Oscar-nominees director Nikolaj Arcel and producer Sigrid Dyekjær and Oscar-winning producer Kim Magnusson.
Season one will also feature conversations with actor Aka Niviâna, pastor Anne-Grethe Krogh Nielsen, car designer Henrik Fisker, Emmy-winning music producer Joachim Svare, florist Trine Dahl Klubien, and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Dan Lausten.
“We are breaking new ground with Danish Originals. We are inspired by this community of dynamic, visionary, and globally-minded contemporary Danish creatives, both US-and Denmark-based,” said executive director of AFSMK Hanne Støvring.
As a leader in a cross-border arts intiative, she sees the podcast as an important platform for cultural dissemination – able to brings sustained attention to Danish art and culture in the US.
The organisation has already run a successful 2022–2023 season of US collaborations with major institutions in the American art world The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Visit the artworks in the series
And there’s something special for Copenhageners too: every guest on the show selects and muses on their favorite artwork from SMK.
The museum, located in the centre of the Danish capital, owns the country’s largest art collection, comprising approximately 260,000 works – plus a formidable program of special exhibitions of giants of the art world, from Matisse to Giacometti.
Danish Originals is hosted and executive produced by award-winning journalist and Golden Globes Associate Tina Jøhnk Christensen, directed and executive produced by award-winning filmmaker Christian D. Bruun, and produced by Teresa Lai and May Eleven Projects.
Listen to Danish Originals on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other major platforms.
