Danish cultural and business sectors in Australia

Danish furniture design, eye-opening installations and art exhibitions. All this is part of a new collaboration between Danish cultural and business sectors in Sydney and Melbourne from November 20th-24th. The collaboration involves business seminars, art exhibitions and other events. All of the activities being staged relate to sustainability and a “State of Green” and are aimed at generating specific images and experiences of these issues.

Curating Cities: Sydney-Copenhagen

Curating Cities: Sydney – Copenhagen brings together five influential projects which evoke the urban environment as an ecological system affected by human actions. The exhibition is produced by UNSW’s National Institute of Experimental Arts (NIEA at COFA) in association with the Danish Arts Agency. It opens on November 17th and will have its official launch on Sunday November 20th 2011

At Curating Cities: Sydney - Copenhagen one can, for instance, see a Danish installation which changes colour and emits different sounds in response to the fluctuating levels of carbon in the city. Atmosphere-the sound and sight of CO2 will be installed in the centre of the Customs House above the model of the city. Flooded McDonald’s is a stunning video installation by the Danish artists group Superflex which poetically evokes the impact of climate change on the sort of industries that have actually contributed to this problem. As an antidote to this apocalyptic vision, xClinic Farmacy by Australian artist Natalie Jeremijenko promises to turn any city dweller into an urban farmer (UFarmer). This event includes workshops where visitors can create their own Ag Bag, edible cocktails etc.

Practical information
What: Launch of Curating Cities: Sydney-Copenhagen
When: 1.00 pm, Sunday, November 20th, 2011
The exhibition will run from November 17th-24th with selected works remaining until December 15th
Where: Ground Floor, Customs House, 31 Alfred Street, Circular Quay
Read more

Conference at the Customs House: Curating Cities: Sydney – Copenhagen The role of art and culture in urban development will be discussed at a major conference attended by the Mayor of Copenhagen, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Jan Gehl, Jeppe Aagaard Andersen, Rosan Bosch, the Center for Digital Urban Living, Katrine Vejby and many others.

When: November 22nd 2011, 9.00 a.m.-5.00 p.m.
See conference programme.

Curating Cities: Sydney-Copenhagen coincides with a new campaign, entitled State of Green. Join the Future. Think Denmark, which aims to promote Denmark’s profile as a leader in the field of green energy technology.

Art and design at business seminars in Sydney and Melbourne

Danish furniture design, eye-opening installations and experimental conversation pieces on lunch tables – these are just some of the things awaiting more than 500 Danish and Australian top business people when they gather in Sydney and Melbourne for business seminars based on a theme entitled ‘State of Green. Join the Future. Think Denmark’. To tie in with the export drive’s business seminars on November 21st and 23rd, Rosan Bosch Aps has devised a number of sensory and structural elements to provide original and different settings for such seminars.

• The designing of furniture for the reception and registration area: these new furniture designs should help to give participants in the export drive a good first impression of Denmark and a clear image of Danish design. Twenty-seven separate table modules have been produced, which can be fitted together in different organic formations. For the export drive in Australia the tables have also been equipped with display panels on which Denmark’s new green brand is presented by the Danish Climate Consortium. 
• The creation of a Free Zone art project in the seminar building foyer: including, for example a Swap Tie Zone, a Frustration Zone and an Exchanging Business Cards Zone. The aim here is to present a picture of Denmark as a society in which humour also has a large part to play. 
• Fifty conversation pieces, replacing the standard floral decorations. These conversation pieces all constitute artistic reflections on the key elements of Denmark’s new green brand, points relating to energy, climate change and environmental issues. The conversation pieces will be on display during lunches at the business seminars. 
• Two sculptural chandeliers, 5 metres x 3 metres, containing film of different interpretations of alternative energy sources: wind, water, solar and biomass. These sculptural chandeliers have been created for the seminars’ common conference room.

3 Cultural events in public spaces

In order to involve the general public in discussions on the role of art and culture as regards sustainability and green thinking, local cultural institutions will be staging various events in public spaces. These events have all been selected from the programmes of Australian arts institutions which have previously visited Denmark.

Cultivating Green Art: Melbourne Conversations and Tipping Point Australia
The people of Melbourne discuss with Danish and Australian artists the role of art and its response to environmental and sustainability challenges.
This event includes contributions via Skype by Trevor Davies and Karen Blincoe and a presentation by Katrine Vejby.
When: November 24th 5.00 p.m.-8.00 p.m.
See full programme

Your Green City:
Children’s and schools event at ArtPlay in Melbourne Families and children from forty-five schools in Melbourne build their visions of the green city of the future. A collaboration between Lego, ArtPlay and the Danish Arts Agency.
When: November 19th-24th, ArtPlay, Melbourne
For more information see website.

Film screenings in Melbourne:
Melbourne International Film Festival, the Danish Film Institute, Federation Square and the Danish Arts Agency will present screenings of Danish films at an open-air film event at Federation Square. The screening includes four Danish documentaries about modern cities and the challenges facing them. Four directors have visited four different cities and examined them from four different angles: urban development, waste, traffic infrastructure and construction

Cities on Speed: A big screen experience of the world’s largest megacities, as they attempt to innovate around the problems of population, pollution and political process.

Shanghai Space: In a city growing by half a million people per year, space is a precious commodity. Shanghai’s rapid expansion is forcing officials to look at subterranean accommodation as a possible answer to its housing woes. (60 mins)

Mumbai Disconnected: With a population set to grow from 18 to 28.5 million in the next 10 years – 80% of whom currently catch the train to and from work each day – Mumbai is a city warping under its own weight. Two citizens and a politician push their own agendas in a city on the verge of logistical catastrophe. (59 mins)

Dreams in Copenhagen: Max Kestner’s beautiful ode to the urban landscapes of Denmark’s capital is an investigation of how people are what happens to the design of a city, and a beautiful here-and-now snapshot of a thoroughly modern Copenhagen. (72 mins)

When: November 24th 2011, afternoon and evening Venue: Federation Square, Melbourne
See full programme

Background

The collaboration between art, culture and commerce has been initiated by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish Ministry of Culture.  The Danish Arts Agency has collaborated with the Danish Embassy in Canberra, the Danish Consulate-General in Sydney, the Confederation of Danish Industry, the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, the Danish Trade Council and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Public Diplomacy Service on the development of a pilot project to tie in with the forthcoming export drive to Australia in November.  This project has been developed for the Danish Arts Agency by the art and design studio Rosan Bosch Aps.

The project is also funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Danish Ministry of Culture and the Foundation for the Marketing of Denmark.