This year's festival theme is "Rewilding"
In 2023 Copenhagen is appointed the world capital of architecture, and the festival will be part of the celebration, which is dedicated to the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals. We have chosen the overarching theme of ‘Rewilding’ for this year’s open call to connect with the celebration, the sustainability theme and to build bridges to our own exhibition park situated in the urban wilderness of Beddingen on Refshaleøen, which used to be an industrial shipyard building site.
'Organiseret vildskab'
Maja Daniels
Lærke Posselt
Inuk Silis Høegh
Refik Anadol
Womankind
Imagined Futures
Rewilding
Rewilding solo artists 2023
‘Rewilding’ refers to a process of letting nature regulate itself without human interference. Instead of ‘caring’ for nature in a way that serves human purposes or profits, rewilding seeks to restore, repair or even cure nature in a sustainable way that serves nature in itself and aids our gasping climate and biodiversity. The concept has flourished in recent years and proposes solutions but also contests existing (man-made) structures and power relations. In the context of architecture, rewilding proposes new (or returning) perspectives on how to deal with the current climate and biodiversity crisis and as such it may inspire future (urban) landscape solutions and how we may perceive urban living in the future.
We asked the applying artists to explore the theme “rewilding” in the widest sense of the concept and the complexities it entails. From the rewilding of nature or architecture as mentioned above to the rewilding of other spheres e.g. art, individuals, bodies, society, social structures or photography in itself. What are the implications of “rewilding”?
Arken Museum of Modern Art
Refik Anadol, Nature Dreams
What does it mean to be human in a time permeated by artificial intelligence – now and in the future? In his giant digital installations, Refik Anadol (b. 1985) works with machine learning and artificial intelligence, utilising the data-driven algorithms found everywhere in our everyday life. His installations raise philosophical questions which point to a future where human existence is inextricably linked to data and advanced computer technology – to an even greater extent than today.
Refik Anadol will present three works at ARKEN, one of them created especially for this exhibition. The works take their point of departure in visual presentations of nature found online and on digital media. These gushing waterfalls, sunsets, forests and plains affect our shared ideas about what nature is and what it looks like. Anadol has collected millions of images of nature through the years, compiling vast sets of data. Through AI algorithms, Anadol’s works transform this data into completely new, partially abstract and ever-changing depictions of nature. The main work of the exhibition is the 7 x 7 metre data sculpture Nature Dreams from 2021.
M/S Museet for Søfart
Hyung S.Kim, Haenyeo - Havets Kvinder (Women of the Sea)
Haenyeo are women of the sea. Female free divers that dive both for animals and plants. They live in close union with the sea, the waves and the storms. The, more than thousand year old, haenyeo tradition is built upon togetherness, discipline, sustainable fishing and a spiritual connection to the goddess of the sea. In this special exhibition: Haenyeo – Women of the Sea, M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark dives right into the story of these female free divers on the Island of Jeju in the South of Korea.
Nordatlantens Brygge
Inuk Silis Høegh, The Green Land
“The Green Land” by Inuk Silis Høegh is a land art project in four stages, representing each of the four elements of the earth: earth, water, fire, air.
All four works are set in Greenland’s nature, and they explore man’s intervention with nature in a time where global environmental issues are knocking on Greenland’s door like never before.
In an ambitious land art project, renowned Greenlandic filmmaker and visual artist Inuk Silis Høegh applies his creative vision to Greenland’s diverse nature. The rugged mountains, deep fjords, majestic ice and lush lowlands all take centre stage, as Silis Høegh intervenes, rearranges, applies colour and adds smoke in an effort to question for how long the Arctic nature will remain untouched.
Landskrona
Des Oiseaux // Birds, as seen by thirteen internationally acclaimed photographers
Des Oiseaux // Birds, as seen by thirteen internationally acclaimed photographers: Albarrán Cabrera (ES), Roger Ballen (ZA), Graciela Iturbide (MX), Leila Jeffreys (AU), Rinko Kawauchi (JP), Michael Kenna (GB), Christophe Maout (FR), Byung-Hun Min (KR), Yoshinori Mizutani (JP), Paolo Pellegrin (IT), Bernard Plossu (FR), Pentti Sammallahti (FI), Terri Weifenbach (US).
This exhibition celebrates birdlife, as seen through the eyes of thirteen internationally acclaimed photographers. Their diverse perspectives invite the viewer to explore the sky and the creatures that inhabit it. From urbanspaces to exotic far-off lands.
The photographs bear witness to the variety of environments populated by birds and remind us of the threat posed by climate change.
At the same place, if you want to see more of one of our headliners you can also visit Craig Ames’ outdoor exhibition
Galleri Format
Maja Daniels, On the Silence of Myth
Within this series I use photography as a tool for myth making. A myth can be used to make sense of the world and oral traditions are often based on myths and folklore as a way of learning and sharing, but these myths exist within the boundaries of the unspoken.
They are open to interpretations but refuse to be fully locked down or understood. In some ways they are resisting. Photographs function in a similar way. The core of what is expressed in an image lies somewhere in the unseen or in its silent associations.
The myth and the photograph thus have a powerful, but also dangerous potential in their trickster way of silently stating the ‘obvious’. What I try to do in this series is to play with these notions by allowing them to join forces.
Harbo Bar
Yana Wernicke, Companions
Harbo Bar presents a selection from the series Companions by the Praised photographer Yana Wernicke. Her latest project persistently draws our attention in, shares rare and special moments of empathy and caring with animals that are called and kept as productive livestock. Yanas images offer a perspective, documenting situations that create a longing and a revelation. Instead of presenting familiar cuteness or horror, she leaves space for a poetic, possible reality.
Womankind
Barbara Nolsøe, Womankind
In this Live photoshoot experience, 10 female strangers will be photographed together naked, walking together as a beautiful herd of the same species. The framework for the project is based on the premise “if we connect, we cannot compare”, and in that it explores what happens to women’s self-image and comparison with others when, under the same premise, they are naked together. The photoshoot will be accompanied by live music, and shortly after thephotoshoot, a digital exhibition will be shown.
Johannes Larsen Museet
Janne Klerk, Spejlinger
Janne Klerk’s depictions of the landscape of Denmark are practically classics. This time she focuses on natural phenomena that are experienced at close range, but which involve broader perspectives. Her project, “Reflections at the Foot of Heaven” consists of photographs taken of one particular pond that measures 100 m. in diameter and takes 5 minutes to walk around. The core message of the exhibition consists of a series of photographic reflections which bring humans and the cosmos into play and bring nature right into the exhibition space. A book accompanies the exhibition, by Janne Klerk, with texts by author Gitte Broeng and astrophysicist and professor Anja C. Andersen. The exhibition at the Johannes Larsen Museum puts Janne Klerk’s newest project into meaningful relation with some of her earlier photographic projects from Denmark and other countries; it gives a perspective to her occupation with reflections as a varied phenomenon.
Vandrehallen Kunsthal
Lærke Posselt - Søren R.Fauth, Jeg vender mig om og ser
In the exhibition, Lærke Posselt enters into an artistic dialogue with the poet Søren R. Fauth. Together and separately, through photography and words, respectively, they have investigated what it means to see. To see the other. To see oneself and the world through the other. The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke is for both of them a point of reference in the question, is it possible to see the world anew and thereby change one's life?
Big Bio Nordhavn
Wei Weng, Water Refuge
In her latest project Water Refuge, visual artist Wei Weng creates new fables based on literary concepts, such as The Little Mermaid (H. C. Andersen) and The Master Thief (Søren Kierkegaard) in Danish storytelling, as well as the idea of immortal beings (神仙) and utopia (桃花源) in Chinese legends.
Following open water swimmers along the coasts of Copenhagen for the past two years, Wei often blurs the lines between her human subjects and their natural landscapes through double exposure, creating multiple layers of meaning. She uses open sea swimming in her work to visualize an intense form of rewilding among her subjects as they expose their bodies to the natural elements and experience the rejuvenating power of cold water.
The project currently takes the form of a photo exhibition at Big Bio in Nordhavn, and will culminate in a series of cross-cultural events, a photo book and further international exhibitions.
Bien Contemporary
Imagined Futures, Transit Corridors in High Mountains Asia - The Ancient Silk Road
Imagined Futures: Transit Corridors in High Mountain Asia – The Ancient Silk Road is a photo exhibition that sheds light on the challenges between modern development and traditional ways of life.
The exhibition explores possible futures taking the historical, cultural and ecological significance of rural mountain communities as a source of inspiration. The viewers are prompted to question how these communities can overcome the challenges they face today, while imagining how developed societies might be inspired to “rewild” their own way of life.
Separated into three sections – past, present and future – the exhibition includes genres from photojournalism to conceptual art photography, with materials ranging from text, maps, photo prints, projections to audio recordings.