No Community without Passion: Copenhagen Art Festival


Vision Forum contributors Klas Eriksson and Wooloo participate in this year's Copenhagen Art Festival.

The festival brings together the works of more than 50 contemporary artists from around the world in an exploration of the notion of communities in contemporary art and in society. Present conditions and developments such as globalization, new communication technologies and production practices, political upheaval, and environmental and economic challenges all affect our sense of belonging and contribute to the formation of new communities.

Opening programme
The festival launches on August 24 with a ten-day opening programme of events, including performances, artists' talks, film screenings, and much more. As part of a major outdoor commission, Jeppe Hein will, in collaboration with a number of other artists, explore the common, public space through a transformation of one of Copenhagen's main squares into a dynamic space of social interaction, drawing inspiration from traditional markets and fairs. Elsewhere in the city, Jeanne van Heeswijk will offer a series of workshops on behaviour in times of financial crisis, while Yuan Gong's fog installation will change the perception of space when passing through the city.

In a collaborative venture across disciplines, Copenhagen Art Festival has developed new projects with The Danish Film Institute, Danish Architecture Centre, Loppen, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, SNYK, ALT_CPH, and Arken Museum of Modern Art.

Public space
Klas Eriksson (SE), Yuan Gong (CN), Jeanne Van Heeswijk (NL), Jeppe Hein (DK), Invisible Playground (DE), J&K (DK/DE), Magnús Logi Kristinsson (IS), les gens d'Uterpan (FR), Marcello Maloberti (IT), Heike Mutter & Ulrich Genth (DE), Joanna Rajkowska (PL), Raqs Media Collective (IN), Georg Weckwerth (DE), Wooloo (DK), and more


Exhibitions

Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art
Beyond Good and Evil
24 August–30 September 2012
Jananne Al-Ani (IR), Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti (BR), Latifa Echakhch (FR/MA), Søren Thilo Funder (DK), Ann Lislegaard (DK), Carsten Nicolai (DE), Lea Porsager (DK), Arturas Raila (LT)

Kunstforeningen GL STRAND
Unfinished Journeys
24 August–11 November 2012
Yto Barrada (MA/FR), Song Dong (CN), Sofie Hesselholdt & Vibeke Mejlvang (DK), Isaac Julien (UK), Damián Ortega (MX), Kimsooja (KR), Pascale Marthine Tayou (CM), Vladimir Tomić (BA/DK)

Kunsthal Charlottenborg
Joachim Koester (DK)
Ruth Ewan (GB)
24 August–30 December 2012

Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center
Conversations
24 August–21 October 2012
Kutlug Ataman (TR), Mohamed Bourouissa (FR), Dias & Riedweg (BR/CH), Lise Harlev (DK), Otto Karvonen (FI), Katarzyna Kozyra (PL), Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (MX/CA), Manifest.AR (var. nationalities), Superflex (DK)

Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art
Yorgos Sapountzis: DEUS EX MACHINA
Hito Steyerl: THE KISS
24 August–21 October 2012

ARKEN Museum of Modern Art
All together now.... Works from ARKEN's collection
24 August 2012–mid-April 2013


Copenhagen Art Festival is an international festival for contemporary art organised and curated by Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Kunstforeningen GL STRAND, Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, and Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art, together with the festival office.

More info here.