From Skagen painters to Damien Hirst
On 26 January 2008 the new ARKEN is opening. The premiere exhibitions offer new light on the Skagen painters, a solo show with the bright young thing Andreas Golder and not least: A new hanging of ARKEN’s Collection, now for the first time exhibited permanently and including a unique Damien Hirst room.
At last! After 2½ years of construction ARKEN can open wide its doors to the new extension. 5,000 m2 of exhibition space will be the end result – twice as much as now, making ARKEN one of Denmark’s biggest museums. The new ARKEN will continue the course of shedding new light on the classic modern art. At the same time the focus on contemporary art will be intensified through both special exhibitions and a permanent exhibition of the museum’s collection.

New light on the Skagen painters
THE SKAGEN PAINTERS – In a New Light is the title of one of ARKEN’s inaugural exhibitions. This exhibition presents 136 works by the famed artists, including seven newly restored festive cartoons by P.S. Krøyer which have never before been on display. Several of the works are privately held, many abroad, and thus rarely available to the public. Others are found in museums outside of Denmark. One of those is Krøyer’s famous Hip, Hip, Hurra! Artists’ Party (1888). The painting, voted top favourite in an art canon in 2005 by the readers of Berlingske Tidende, usually hangs in the Göteborg Museum of Art. Now for a while it is coming home to Denmark.
The Skagen painters yearned to portray their own time and the reality surrounding them. The well-known paintings are perceived by many as authentic testimonies of the life and beauty of bygone days. But what is truth and what is myth? ARKEN’s exhibition goes behind the myths and reveals how the Skagen painters stage themselves and their surroundings: In self-portraits with champagne and elegant attire they increase their social status as free, partying bohemians. Whereas the fishermen are presented as their opposites: Brave, strong heroes of the everyday – original people in harmony with nature, far from the modern metropolis. This is the first time that an exhibition underscores the Skagen painters as attestants in this manner.

International talent in solo show
The Skagen painters exhibition is on display in the museum’s new extension which will also hold ARKEN’s other opening exhibition with the young new talent Andreas Golder. Only 28, Golder is already a fixture in Berlin’s vibrant and creative artist milieu. He is regarded as a real wunderkind and is well under way in the art world. However, the ARKEN exhibition is his first solo show in a museum. This may very well become the artist’s international breakthrough.
The ANDREAS GOLDER exhibition presents 31 works, including a number of brand new paintings that Golder has painted specially for ARKEN’s exhibition.

Unique Damien Hirst room
The new ARKEN now has a total of 5,000 m² of galleries. This means that ARKEN can show the biggest ever presentation of its collection.
One of the high points is a unique Damien Hirst room. Hirst is one the absolutely seminal artists on the international scene of contemporary art. With eight key works, several of them on permanent loan from the Dresing Collection in London, ARKEN’s visitors will see a presentation of the artist’s works that is unique in Scandinavia. Among the exhibited works is the eight metres long The Four Elements (Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, Green and Blue) (2005) which consists of four vivid paintings with real butterflies affixed to them.
- The collection is the museum’s soul. It is the backbone of our activities. This is where our view on art is unfolded, where we can really research and contribute new insights, says Christian Gether.
– However, since the inception of the museum we have lacked exhibition space for the collection. Now we are finally getting that space. The entirety of our current galleries – except the new extension – will be devoted to it. It is wonderful and very necessary.
ARKEN’s Collection ranks among the most significant collections of contemporary art in the Danish museum world. Since the opening in 1996 it has grown rapidly. It is a milestone in the museum’s history that it is now possible to present it in an extensive and permanent display. And the museum has deliberately saved the new acquisitions and donations for “the premiere”.

COPENHAGEN: On 15 March ARKEN awards the ARKEN Prize for the second time.
The Prize comprises dkk 100,000. This year it is joined by two newly established Travel Grants of each dkk 50,000. The winners will be made public at the award ceremony.
Excitement is in the air until the very last minute. For the recipients of both the ARKEN Prize and the newly established ARKEN Travel Grant are not made public until the award ceremony. The only certain thing is that both the Prize and Travel Grant winners are persons working with and on the contemporary art scene.
Honouring contemporary art
ARKEN owns one of Denmark’s most significant collections of contemporary art. Thus it is natural for the museum to award a Prize and a Travel Grant complementary to the collection.
The ARKEN Prize is awarded a contemporary artist or artist group who has made an outstanding contribution to the international scene of contemporary art. It is a personal honour and to be spent entirely as the recipient sees fit. The Prize is awarded an artist who questions the fabric of modern society and what it means to be human.
Last year’s winner of the Prize was the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset whose uncompromising and innovative art has attained international notice and recognition.
The ARKEN Prize is established in 2006 by Annie & Otto Johs. Detlefs’ Philanthropic Foundation.
For the first time: ARKEN Travel Grant
Two grants of dkk 50,000 each: The value of the ARKEN Travel Grant handed out for the first time in connection with awarding the ARKEN Prize. This too is a natural part of ARKEN’s dedication to contemporary art.
The Travel Grant is awarded to professional artists and curators. With it ARKEN wishes to promote art’s fertile ground by enabling young artists and curators to go abroad to explore art, see exhibitions, do research, find inspiration, establish networks and exchange ideas and knowledge. The Grants cannot be applied for.
The ARKEN Travel Grant is established in 2007 by Annie & Otto Johs. Detlefs’ Philanthropic Foundation.
The award ceremony is held at ARKEN on Thursday 15 March.
The Prize and Grant recipients will be present. [ read more ]

The beauteous forms of Nature wrought
Two great Nordic painters are united this May when ARKEN opens its summer exhibition “Life in Nature”. This is the first time that Johannes Larsen and Bruno Liljefors are presented alongside each other in Denmark. Sunny, serene fields juxtaposed with the struggles in the dark forest; Danish lyricism versus Swedish drama. This is how the relations between the two painters Johannes Larsen (DK 1867-1961) and Bruno Liljefors (SE 1860- 1939) are described. In the summer exhibition “Life in Nature” ARKEN explores the philosophies of nature immanent in the two artists’ depictions of their local nature. [ read more ]

Reality’s hidden relations
What has D-Day to do with x-ray or Composition A with Y chromosome? For ARKEN’s autumn exhibition Jytte Høy has created a historical alphabet which dons a different pair of glasses, taking a playful look at reality. It all began with two words that kept echoing in the Danish artist Jytte Høy’s head: Composition A and D-Day. She had just finished reading about the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian’s abstract painting Composition A from 1920 and around the same time kept running into the word D-Day because of the sixtieth anniversary of the Allied invasion of the French coast in World War II. .. [ read more ]

COPENHAGEN: ARKEN Museum of Modern Art´s autumn exhibition is about dreams of paradise and urban ennui. It shows the visions of 13 of the best German expressionists, visions of a life in harmony with nature, away from the trammels of civilization. Among the artists are Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Franz Marc. Only a few of the 115 works in the exhibition have previously been exhibited in Denmark. Early German expressionism has given us some of the most colourful and positive works of art ever. Bathers and lush countryside, life in rural areas .. [ read more ]

Brush up on your favourite work: ARKEN presents its Collection on the web. National and international artists are introduced through analyses, interviews, art historical context and pictures. Clicking your way through arken.dk will tell you more about the art and the people behind it!
A nylon stocking sun, a giant orange balloon and a freaky hand truck: Contemporary art poses challenges. Now those who have needed a key to understand it can find assistance at www.arken.dk
34 artists and their works in ARKEN’s Collection have just hit the web in a new and improved form. Each artist is represented with a work analysis, illustrations, portrait, biography, links to other relevant pages, definitions of terms, references – several featuring sound and video. The pages are cross-referenced enabling you to travel multiple routes through the Collection, finally to end outside it, possibly in a gallery housing the artist you began with and displaying similar artists.

A virtual exhibition space
ARKEN’s Collection Online is an introduction to the museum’s ever-growing collection of Danish, Scandinavian and international contemporary art. Use it to prepare or expand upon your visit to the museum through interviews, video recordings, links and analyses. In other words, the virtual exhibition space enables you to explore aspects of works and artists that a visit to the museum does not permit. The web features include access to works which are now in storage and recordings of the artists relating what they themselves think of their works.
The revamped design and content is an expansion of the museum’s commitment to communication of the art which includes art guides, tours, presentation sheets and written introductions to the exhibited works. It is our hope that the virtual and interactive presentation at arken.dk will further increase the guests’ interest in contemporary art.

A work in progress
The 34 artists are Lars Arrhenius, Richard Billingham, Claus Carstensen, Superflex, Olafur Eliasson, Peter Holst Henckel, Jouko Lehtola, Sarah Lucas, Esko Männikkö, Shirin Neshat, Vibeke Tandberg, Wolfgang Tillmans, Jean Arp, Tilo Baumgärtel, Carin Ellberg, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Asger Jorn, Clay Ketter, Per Kirkeby, Jeff Koons, Elina Merenmies, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Tal R, Elisabeth Toubro, Troels Wörsel, Christian Boltanski, Dan Graham, Mona Hatoum, Tony Oursler and Bill Viola.
ARKEN’s Collection Online will be expanded regularly with more artists and works. Happy hunting at www.arken.dk/the_collection [ read more ]