Installation shot. Photo: Anders Sune Berg 01/16

In Denmark, we have long boasted of our democratic and tolerant welfare state. But there is an immense gap between the image that we foster and present of Denmark and the reality, now characterised by such phenomena as rising social and economic inequality.

Denmark 2010 – Instructions to the Nation of ‘the Happiest People in the World’ focuses on the sharp disparity that exists between the glossy ideal that dominates the Danish self-image and the less flattering picture that really represents the Kingdom of Denmark. How can the results of international surveys, which consistently rate the Danes as one of the world’s happiest peoples, be reconciled with the constant deterioration of welfare, the curtailment of civil rights, the restrictions on action in public spaces, the criminalisation of protest, the stigmatisation of foreigners and the direct exclusion of population groups? Why is everything that lies outside an ever-narrower definition of the normal regarded with suspicion?

Through works by both Danish and foreign artists, the exhibition presents a critical portrait of the state of affairs in Denmark in the year 2010, and examines the motives behind the widespread delusions about Denmark.

Participating artists: Kristina Ask & Tesnim Sayar, A.W., Jes Brinch, Nermin Durakovic, Christian Yde Frostholm, Gåafstand (Pia Rönicke & Nis Rømer), Joachim Hamou, Julie Edel Hardenberg, Maryam Jafri, Carsten Juhl & Ulla Hvejsel, Elsebeth Jørgensen, Ask Katzeff/Jeppe Wedel-Brandt, Pablo Llambias, Jørgen Michaelsen, Ellen Nyman, Olof Olsson, Karen Mette Fog Pedersen/Marie Bruun Yde, Share Your Country (Kevin Lytsen & Jonas Smedegaard Buus), Oliver Ressler, Åsa Sonjasdotter, Johan Tirén, Lars von Trier, Joen P. Vedel & Thomas Bo Østergaard.

The exhibition is curated by Kathrine Bolt Rasmussen and Katarina Stenbeck.

Download exhibition folder