In Amager, a long-standing studio community in one of the capital's gradually preserved, small-scale industrial urban environments is about to be put on the street. Here, the private landlord wants to evict the artists, demolish the building and build parking spaces instead.
The artists' community, which is housed in a half-timbered building from 1920 at Strandlodsvej 6C, currently houses eight artists, and has existed for 22 years as a studio.
Studio community Strandlodsvej 6C. Photo: Torben Eskerod.
"We have a little gem of a house, and it hurts the heart that with just a stroke of the pen you want to demolish the building," says Torben Eskerod, who is one of the artists in the studio community. They now all stand to lose their jobs.
However, the building permit, and thus the demolition permit, has currently expired. This means that there is still time to reverse the decision, preserve the building, and integrate it into the planned sketch project instead of the parking lots, says Torben Eskerod.
"We hope that the local politicians can see that this plan is at odds with the municipality's political objectives to preserve small workshops like ours. And that there is a need to protect diversity and the city's soul," he says.
The artists quit when the money moves in
Together with his colleagues, he points out that the situation for the studio community on Strandlodsvej is part of the development called 'gentrification':
Studio community Strandlodsvej 6C. Photo: Torben Eskerod.
That artists move into unattractive, cheap districts, which over the years helps to make the districts attractive to private contractors and developers. After which the artists are thrown out to make room for wealthier residents.
"If we do nothing and oppose this development politically, Copenhagen will soon be depopulated of working artists because there will no longer be cheap workshops. The small-scale industrial urban environment is being demolished in great haste to make way for new construction. Soon, if it hasn't already happened, the small workshops where many artists live will be a thing of the past,” he says.
The Association of Visual Artists (BKF) warns against the development and calls on municipal politicians to take responsibility, both in terms of preserving unique, old urban environments and securing artists' workplaces:
"In big cities like Paris and Berlin, the politicians have adopted rules that oblige both public and private actors to secure workspaces for artists when they are demolished and new buildings are built. It is obvious for Copenhagen and other Danish cities to do the same. We run the risk of artists moving out of the cities altogether, because there are no longer workshops and studios that can pay. It will be devastating, because a city needs its artists, and the artists need the artistic environments that grow out of the studio communities," says BKF's secretariat manager Klaus Pedersen.
Studio community Strandlodsvej 6C. Photo: Torben Eskerod.
Earlier this year, one showed new study, that Copenhagen lacks artist spaces and that the existing ones are too expensive. According to the survey, the situation is so dire that 75 percent of those questioned express that they are considering leaving the capital for the same reason.
The survey was prepared by the Copenhagen Municipality's Council for Visual Arts, together with the Association of Visual Artists and UKK - Organization for Artists, Curators and Art Mediators.
At this time, BKF is focusing on several cases where artists are being forced out of studio communities in Copenhagen. Also read:
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