Artists’ International Delegation 2019 to Denmark

Venue 3

Vermilion Sands
Tagensvej 85, kld., 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
Introduction with Kevin Malcolm

A bit about Vermilion Sands (from their website)
Located in Copenhagen, Vermilion Sands is an exhibition space for local and international contemporary art with an emphasis on experimental strategies of curation, mediation and access.

We aim to collaborate with artists and curators alongside practitioners from other fields with the intention to provide a supportive platform for cultural production. The intention is -by embracing a variety of voices, approaches and positions- to activate conversations in the liminal zones between conventional thinking and understanding.

Vermilion Sands is run by artist Kevin Malcolm & curators Nikolaj Stobbe and Malene Dam.

Winner of BKF Artist run space 2017

A bit about Vermilion Sands (from my notes)
Artists collaborate with art historians and curators to make spaces (This was the first time I had ever thought about artists working with curators and art historians, or for that matter heard someone talk about it). Wanting to put local artists into an international context. Trying to broaden the idea of what an artist run space is. There is no text for the exhibition, no open call, it’s straight forward as they only do what they want within the space i.e. as they don’t like doing admin they try to minimise this. They get real time feedback from guests within the space and people usually send stuff to them for submissions.

In the first and second year they received a startup fund. He felt as if some art spaces / institutions were becoming an entertainment spectacle trying attract certain audiences to increase footfall and reach audiences they wouldn’t normally bring in. Kevin only puts work on in the space that he wants to see. He thought CVs were only for curators, if you wanted to become a director of a gallery. Most of the writing they do is for funding applications. He asks why there isn’t just a space for art that’s not about upping footfall. Universities get so much money but you aren’t allowed to walk in and experience it.

After the financial crash there were more artist run spaces. He enjoys putting 2 artists together to make a show to see what happens (artists who’ve never met). Kevin had his studio upstairs so he could pop down easily to show people around. Funding is harder to get in Denmark if you are not from there. We heard more about this on day 2 venue 1 at the Ta Da space where the artist there was born in Denmark but went to study in the UK which she thought would be to her advantage. On returning she realised that funding favours the artists who were born, educated and stayed in Denmark over those who leave to study / work elsewhere.

Venue 2

Kunstscenen outdoor exhibition space
Tagensvej 147, 2400 København
Introduction with Magnus Thorø Clausen

A bit about Kunstscenen (from their website)
Please note: Kunstscenen.xyz is currently closed
Kunstscenen is an outdoor exhibition space by Magnus Thorø Clausen and Kåre Frang, located on an overgrown lot behind Bispebjerg Station in Copenhagen. It is built of a cast concrete floor and two walls making up a corner, yet does not have neither roof nor electric lighting. The exhibitions in Kunstscenen are therefore directly exposed to wind and weather, as well as natural light and shadows. The space brings to mind a section of a well-known gallery space or art fair booth yet here out of place and context. Over the next couple of months, we will launch transient exhibitions that will change in sync with the surroundings and maybe gradually disappear in nature. We are looking for ways of naturalizing the art context, to create a new space somewhere between art space, public space and nature, where the boundary to everyday life is less absolute.

Kunstscenen is open to all passers-by day and night. You can choose to only see the exhibitions in the night, or maybe early in the morning at sunrise.

See documentation photos here on this site or on our instagram account: kunstscenen.xyz

Feel free to contact us at [email protected]

A bit about Kunstscenen (from my notes)
A space mimicking the white cube gallery but their interest is to see what happens when it is left open to the public. They have no control over what happens when they are not there either to the space or the art. When we visited, there was graffiti which wasn’t part of the original artworks but they liked the outcome so left it there. Each time a new exhibition was on, they would reset the space by painting it all white again. The space was right next to some international student accommodation, 2 of the artists from the gallery collaborated with them on a piece creating work in the windows of the accommodation which you could see from the gallery space. Leading up to the space under a road, all of the signage and posters played an important part to the exhibitions.

To enter the space you have to step up onto it. The base is made of concrete which they received as free as the company wanted to test out a sample. Always worth ringing round for these things. When the space closed down however they did have to remove this concrete. The step up into the space gave a sort of defining barrier to being inside or outside of the gallery space. It also acted as a stage and guided people to where they ought to be if some wanted to make an announcement.

The exhibition on whilst we were there included a recording which you could download onto your phone to listen to in the space. It was quite funny seeing people walk around the space as if they were on their phones.

Venue 1

Art Hub Copenhagen
Art Hub Copenhagen, Halmtorvet 27, 1700 KBH V

Introduction with Helga Just Christoffersen, Executive Director
Three artists in residence Alexandra Hunts (NL/UA), Nina Nowak (DE/PL) and Rasmus Røhling (DK)

A bit about Art Hub Copenhagen (from their website)
The association Art Hub Copenhagen works to establish an international centre of artistic research, development and production in Copenhagen. The association is founded with the purpose of working to establish and manage Art Hub Copenhagen, including development and planning of the initiative as well as raising the necessary financial resources. Art Hub Copenhagen will be a dynamic house of artistic production, development and research that stimulates and challenges the professional artistic milieu, while focusing on the arts’ and artists’ engaged dialogue with the outside world.

From January 2019 Art Hub Copenhagen moved into its own space at the Meatpacking district in Copenhagen, and began working on activities with national and international partners. The space is temporary, why a search for a permanent place to realize Art Hub Copenhagen’s full potential is ongoing.

A bit about Art Hub Copenhagen (my notes from the visit)
Artists in residence were working with scientists. As a group we were impressed with how Helga treated the Artists in residence. As she said “they aren’t to here to be wheeled out like some sort of marketing material to talk about the space and their work.” She respected them and their space. She was direct and if she didn’t know an answer would just say so.

You can apply to hot desk there for a week or two, they are very social and enjoy lunch together. Artists in residence use the state workshop for woodwork, textiles etc. The space isn’t just about exhibitions but about the ideas, the process and the production. They receive / find project to project funding. In Copenhagen there are lots of opportunities for established artists but not so much for the emerging artists.

Helga believed it wasn’t useful to just give artists in residence a key to the space, she prefers to work with them. Helga curates the emerging section of the Chart Art Fair. They are supported by the Big foundation. Most art studios are out of the city, it’s a compromise between good location and underground / no windows sort of studio or move out of the city for a nicer studio. Art Hub is located in the Meat Packing district and has lots of windows.

Alexandra Hunts showed us around her exhibition which was on in the space at the time. Alexandra is from Amsterdam and was on a 6 month residency, she is interested in quantum physics.