On Thursday, Kunstmuseum Brandts once again hosted the annual municipal conference of the Danish Visual Artists' Association, which is primarily aimed at members of municipal visual arts councils, cultural consultants and professional visual artists who collaborate in many places in the country to create art projects and include art in the work of municipalities.
Today's moderator, BKF's representative Marie Thams, welcomed the gathering and was able to tell, among other things, that a recent count reveals that as many as 33 municipalities now have a visual arts council, compared to only 24 municipalities in 2017. The visual arts councils are involved in a wide range of tasks, including advising the municipality in connection with art projects, administering funds for artistic activities and projects, and coordinating artistic initiatives in public space.
Find the list of visual arts councils and arts committees in the municipalities here.
In her welcome, Marie Thams also presented the publication Demands for change, which was published in December and provides insight into very different ways in which artists work with climate and green sustainability - a publication that is also largely intended as an inspiration for municipalities to bring visual arts and visual artists into play in climate work and thereby create sustainable and complete projects.
The morning presented three art projects in the municipalities; Camilla Berner talked about her thoughts behind Ærø Art Forest, which is part of the creation of new forest on
Lea Guldditte Hestelund, Lone Bank, Camilla Berner, John Juul Henriksen and Pernille Holmskov
Ærø. The project, which will help make the forest part of the island's story, will run until 2027. Director John Juul Henriksen from Tarup-Davinde I/S and consultant Pernille Holmskov spoke about the development of a new interpretation of the traditional shelters – created by the artist group N55 with support from the Danish Arts Foundation and installed in Tarup-Davinde in a natural area southeast of Odense. Lone Bank from the artist duo Bank & Rau spoke about the duo's project TRANSFORMATIONS in Sønderborg, which has added color, adventure and humor to signs and other everyday recognizable shapes in the cityscape. And finally, Lea Guldditte Hestelund presented her art project The residents, which consists of a series of colorful sculptures placed along the Plusbus route at Gigantium in Aalborg.
After lunch, the municipal conference held its own take of Sara and the monopoly, the Municipal Monopoly. The monopolet consisted of Maria Work Nygård, cultural consultant, Aarhus Municipality, Simon Hansen, mayor of Guldborgsund Municipality, and Søren Taaning, visual artist and director, Deep Forest Art Land. Among other things, they discussed how to tackle the fact that the work commissioned by the municipality to symbolize diversity and unity among
Kirsten Justesen
citizens, instead creates resistance and division. Moreover, what do you stand for when the municipal art council has purchased a work that criticizes the asphalt industry, when the asphalt factory is the city's largest workplace and a major sponsor of cultural and leisure activities.
Otherwise, the afternoon was devoted to two presentations under the heading Female statues in public spaces – their role, meanings and potentialFirst, sculptor Kirsten Justesen spoke about the artistic choices behind her monument to Countess Danner and not least the difficult conditions,
Mette Haakonsen
projects to which these are subject. Then, art historian Mette Haakonsen took as her starting point the Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt's desire to install more statues of women in public space and gave an "advocacy for (statue) monuments in an expanded field" that rethinks the traditional, vertical and elitist statue that is primarily found in public space today.
As usual, the conference offered excellent opportunities to strengthen networks and relationships in the field, and will of course be repeated next year.
Top: Marie Thams, Søren Taaning, Maria Work Nygård and Simon Hansen in the Municipal Monopole