Financially Supported by HCA2005

Aarhus Museum of Art ARoS
The exhibition "Fairy Tales Forever" pays homage to Hans Christian Andersen. The Aarhus Museum of Art, ARoS, in association with Galleri Andersen has invited 25 internationally acclaimed artists from around the world to focus on the life and oeuvre of Hans Christian Andersen and on the universal powers of magic.
The homage from contemporary art to the fairytale storyteller features photography, video, installation, pictorial art, and sculpture by, among others, Eija-Liisa Athila from Finland, William Kentridge from South Africa, Mona Hatoum from Palestine, Mariko Mori from Japan, Ernesto Neto from Brazil, Jorge Pardo from Cuba, Tony Oursler and Tony Matelli from the USA, Hong Hao from China, Pipilotti Rist from Switzerland and Tal R from Denmark. With the exhibition title "Fairy Tales Forever" the museum seeks to emphasise the universality and timelessness of Hans Christian Andersen's tales but also to stress that the fairytale as genre is a constant source of artistic inspiration. With the exhibition the museum seeks to highlight which  existential and artistic issues - private as well as universal - that the poet and his fairytales gives rise to among modern artists of different background and with different approaches to art.
The exhibition will open during the Aarhus Festival on 27 August 2005 and will close 4 December 2005.
www.aros.dk

Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum
Project manager: Curator Christine Buhl Andersen, Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum.
On 28 May 2005, the art museum Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum in the town of Sorø will open an exhibition entitled "Skyggen" (The Shadow) with 20 artists from the global art scene, including Brazil, Japan and the USA. The exhibition, where Andersen's fairytale "The Shadow" is juxtaposed by contemporary art, will be featured throughout the museum and will include video art, installation, pictorial art, sculpture and photography. Several of the artists relate directly to Andersen's text and have created works especially for the exhibition.
"The Shadow" is one of Andersen's most complex and enigmatic tales and is a highpoint of Danish Romanticist literature. With the town's historic ties to Andersen and the age of Romanticism, the theme is an obvious choice for the museum.
The story is about the relationship between a scholar and his demonic shadow that leaves him during a visit to Italy. The shadow takes on the form of a doppelganger and gains the upper hand over the scholar, who perishes while the shadow marries a princess. The story reflects universal issues of existential torment, the struggle between good and evil and the relationship between illusion and reality. To a modern reader, the fairytale also reflects psychological and political dimensions of contemporary currency. While some of the exhibited works investigate the shadow as an aesthetical, visual phenomenon - such as photographical attempts to 'capture shadows' - others relate to the symbolic significance of the shadow. Here the encounter with the shadow, or doppelganger, may symbolise our demonic subconscious, for instance. Or the shadows are perceived such irrational phenomena as terror that worries people today.

The richly illustrated exhibition catalogue features presentations of the artist as well as essays. The museum also offers an extensive educational programme, which started in January and will reach peak activity in august 2005.
The final list of contributing artists will be publicised around 1 May 2005. The exhibition will close on 4 September 2005. The exhibition is also supported by the County of West Zealand.
www.vestkunst.dk

Brandts Klædefabrik
Project Manager: Director Karsten Ohrt, Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik.
The art museum Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik in Odense presents an international exhibition project entitled "Shadow Play" in association with Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum, Kunsthalle Kiel and Landesgalerie Linz. The exhibition will be on show in 2005-2006 in Denmark, Germany and Austria. The joint project draws its inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen?s fairytale "The Shadow" from 1846/47, which represents the pinnacle of Danish Romanticist literature yet is also one of Andersen's most complex and enigmatic stories. More than 25 Western and other international contemporary artists will exhibit works related to the fairytale. The artistic investigation centres on the doppelganger motif - or the shadow perceived as a trace of reality - as represented by the scholar in the tale who loses his power, love and life to his own diabolical shadow. Several of the art works have been created especially for the exhibition in dialogue with the text itself.
The exhibition seeks to survey the rich imagery of the fairytale and to juxtapose it with international contemporary art in a living dialogue. The two Danish institutions will each create their own exhibition. The entire museum space at Vestsjællands Kunstmuseum is devoted to the exhibition, just as the town of Sorø itself with its historic ties to Andersen and the age of Romanticism will also be incorporated in the exhibition. The exhibition features international video art, photography, installation, pictorial art, and sound art in dialogue with the fairytale. Artists from Asia, the USA, Europe and Africa will relate to the visual as well as psychological and political dimensions of the story, which are apparent to a modern reader.
The exhibition "Shadow Play, Shadow and light in contemporary art - a homage to Hans Christian Andersen" will be on show from 28 May to 28 August.
www.brandts.dk

The Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre
Project Manager: Director of exhibitions Elisabeth Delin Hansen; curator Ann Lumbye Sørensen.
The Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Centre will mark the 2005 Andersen bicentenary with an exhibition offering a contemporary perspective and reflecting the universality of Hans Christian Andersen across time and culture. The exhibition will feature works by concept artist Joseph Kosuth, who investigates the contextual relationship between language and images, and works by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, who deal thematically with memory and existence visualised by images, text and space. Joseph Kosuth was one of the pioneers within American concept art in the 1960s. His art works, where words and images are employed in an interwoven labyrinthine, are today points of reference within contemporary art. He is currently planning an installation for the upper gallery at the art centre. The artwork will establish a complex web of relations between Hans Christian Andersen and Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Furthermore, he is working on an outdoor project that employs a text by Andersen, which will be represented in white neon light on the outer walls of the art centre.
In the main exhibition room, which was formerly the nave of a church, Emilia and Ilya Kabakov have planned a project entitled "The Enchanted Night" where layers of reality, like a Russian doll, instil an uncertain balance between reality and fairytale.
Ilya Kabakov is celebrated as one of Russia?s most noteworthy artists on the international art stage, not least due to his ability to devise unique realms - just as Andersen himself.
The exhibition will be on show from 17 June to 28 August 2005.
www.nikolaj-ccac.dk

GL STRAND
Project manager: Helle Behrndt
In February 2005, the art association GL STRAND in Copenhagen will open a labyrinthine  exhibition featuring light, sound, images, text and five actors. The exhibition, entitled "Hans Christian Andersen's Labyrinth", offers an unorthodox approach to exhibition presentation and turns the three-floor exhibition centre into an evocative total installation.
British artist Steven Scott's installation allows the audience to journey through the labyrinth - a metaphor for Hans Christian Andersen's winding road through life towards fame and fortune. In the rooms within the labyrinth, five actors will embody Hans Christian Andersen in flesh and blood accompanied by personalities who Andersen chanced upon during his life. "Hans Christian Andersen's Labyrinth" evokes all senses and offers a novel way for the audience to get close to Andersen; his life, thoughts and fairytales. The exhibition will also be featured in Berlin.
The exhibition in Copenhagen will open 19 February and will close on 24 April 2005
www.glstrand.dk

The Chinese Academy of Fine Arts / Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum
"Body Temperature" is the name of an exhibition by the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts which will be featured during the Andersen bicentenary. 25 selected Chinese artists have drawn inspiration from the life and work of Hans Christian Andersen, reflecting his humour, wit and imagination. Part of the exhibition will be featured in Denmark at the Aalborg Kunstmuseum under the title "H.C. Andersen på kinesisk" (Hans Christian Andersen in Chinese) from 8 April - 5 May 2005.
www.nordjyllandskunstmuseum.dk


Logo Cooperations

Forlaget Fortuna A/S
Project Manager: Frank Guldhammer.
The Danish publishing house Forlaget Fortuna will organise a major exhibition of paintings created by Danish artists who have drawn inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen. The art works were originally created for a perpetual calendar. The exhibition will be featured at the Danish Culture Institute serving the Benelux countries. Contributing artists include Jens Birkemose, Jørgen Boberg, Jeppe Eisner, Jes Fomsgaard, Thomas Kluge, Bjørn Nørgaard, Lars Nørgård, Ole Sporring, Arne Haugen-Sørensen, Kurt Trampedach, Bjørn Wiinblad and Susanne Aamund.
www.forlagetfortuna.com / www.nivaagaard.dk

La Maison du Danemark, Paris (France)
Project Manager: Gitte Neergård Delcourt.
A photo exhibition at La Maison du Danemark on Champs-Elyseés by the celebrated photographer Sarah Moon representing free interpretations of the fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen. The exhibition was shown from 19 January to 27 February 2005.
Subsequently an exhibition is planned for 11 March - 10 April 2005 that will feature original drawings by Danish cartoon artist Peter Madsen (creator of 'Valhalla') for "The Story of a Mother", which was published in French in November 2004. Peter Madsen will give a short speech about his work on the opening day.
21 and 22 February 2005 La Maison du Danemark also hosts a fairytale musical, based on Andersen's fairytale "The princess on the pea". Baby Théâtre produces the performance "Jazzy Joe et le petit gentil pois", with music by Pierrick Hardy and text by Chantal Lavallée in collaboration with Violaine Donadello. All three participate, together with Thierry Colson.
www.maisondudanemark.dk

Art & Photo / Andy Warhol
Project Manager: Evan Frederiksen
Shortly before his death in 1987, Andy Warhol created an artistic interpretation of 3 of Hans Christian Andersen's paper cuts. A number of trial prints were made, which are now to be publicised in connection with the Andersen bicentenary. The exhibition will be featured in China and Denmark.
www.artandphoto.dk 

The Danish Poster Museum
Project Manager: Director Peder Stougaard
In August 2005, the Danish Poster Museum in Aarhus will host an exhibition entitled "H.C. Andersen på plakaten" (Hans Christian Andersen on the Poster) that features Andersen's fairytales, poetry and witty eloquence in visual form. The museum collects posters from all around the world. The exhibition will moreover feature a wide number of oddities inspired by Andersen, such as books, magazines, ornaments, little mermaid figurines, needlework and china plaques. The exhibition will be featured as an enchanted cave - a place of discovery for children and the young at heart. The carpeting will be the new Hans Christian Andersen carpet design created by Ege Tæpper.
27 August - 23 October 2005.
www.plakatmuseum.dk

The Academy of Art at Universidad de la Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain)
Exhibition and seminar on Hans Christian Andersen (Andersen cruz el Atlántico. Larga travesía de un Bello Cuento. 1805-2005)
Exhibition:
The Academy of Art at the University of La Laguna in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (the Canary Islands) has initiated an exhibition featuring new illustrations for Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales. All illustrations are by former or present students of the academy on the island. The exhibition is devised as a touring exhibition and will be featured at different venues on the Canary Islands. The exhibition will be inaugurated at the art museum in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 1 April and will be on display here until 15 April.
Seminar:
The seminar will be headed by professor of educational method and teaching of art, Francisco Aznar Vallejo, and seminar coordinator, assistant professor María Luisa Hodgson Torre, who heads the illustration department at the academy. The seminar will take place 4 - 8 April 2005 and will include talks and lectures by scholars of art and literature from a number of Spanish universities. Among the contributors is Professor Jaime García Padrino, who headed the HCA seminar at the international university Menéndez Pelayo in June 2004 where Danish scholars Torben Weinreich and Johan de Mylius also gave talks.
www.ull.es