high-end and inclusive at the same time

Art Copenhagen 18

The international Art Fair Art Copenhagen takes place on the 19-21 September 2014. Visitors will be welcomed to the fair by galleries from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bucharest, Lisbon, Paris, as well as by local Danish galleries.

Along with increasing the international diversity year on year, the fair is offering art within a greater price range as well. There’s going to be everything from the very affordable for the cost conscious, to works weighing in at reassuringly expensive prices.

The move towards being more audience inclusive is welcome, and it makes art something that more people can engage in, and collect, without it all losing its professionalism or lowering the standard of the art.

The notion not only fits into a deep-rooted Scandinavian sense of egality, it is also a mega-trend you might observe across several other European art fairs at the moment. Everyone loves it except the odd tunnel-visioned art critic, whose tunnel leads right up his own backside.

The inclusiveness manifests itself in other ways too. For one there is a free guided tour by Camilla Rohde Madsen, who will contextualise the event and talk about trends and tendencies in contemporary art. Secondly, there is plenty of opportunity for children to create their own art at the fair, and be able to take it home with them. The artist Charlotte Farup Ohrt runs the so-called Art Factory at the show leading the battle into colours, glue guns, wall paper and whatnot.

As per usual, there is a programme of stage performance and panel discussions of sorts. The performance artist Kjartan Hansen performs ‘hamskifte’ (which roughly translates into ‘shedding of snake skin’), all involving a clay mask to express some deeper connection to the Psyche of the Faroe Islanders.

The artist Pontus Kjerrman introduces us to ‘Drømmenes Hus’ (the house of Dreams), and Lars Lundehave, the light and media artist, presents ‘Eternal Storm.’

You can visit Art Copenhagen at the event venue Forum Copenhagen, Julius Thomsens Plads 1, 1925 Frederiksberg C.