COPENHAGEN.- Copenhagen’s upcoming festival for international contemporary art is literally taking art to the streets. With the clear ambition to blur boundaries between art institutions and public space, the festival will present an obvious transformation of Copenhagen’s inner city and invite the local population and visitors to renegotiate familiar city spaces. The festival opens 24 August, 4-8pm.

Major contributions to the cityscape includes Lise Harlev’s (DK) large-scale installation on the faces of a 13th century former church tower, visible from most of Copenhagen, and a thick scented fog will fill the open arcades of a well-known renaissance building in a piece by Yuan Gong (CH). In Copenhagen’s very centre on the Højbro Plads square the internationally celebrated artist Jeppe Hein (DK) functions as artistic director for a large new public art project, featuring more than 20 invited artists, architects, designers and students who collaborates on a large scale public art project.

Underlying the festival is an exploration of the theme of ’communities’, and more specifically the notion of social communities and the social ties connecting people. Globalisation, political uprising and changes all over the world, environmental challenges and economic crises, new communication technologies and production methods, all of these impact our sense of belonging and contribute to forming new communities. Contemporary artists have been quick to respond to the shifting nature of communities in our times, and at the festival the participating artists give their different takes on the conditions, challenges and opportunities that exist for communities today.

With seven exhibitions at the five Copenhagen art centres, the indoor exhibitions are just as riveting as the outdoor features. The Copenhagen Art Festival launches with an ambitious programme of international contemporary art, with works by more than 50 emerging and established artists from countries around the world, including Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cameroun, China, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The festival launches on 24 August with a packed, ten-day opening programme of events including performances, workshops, artists' talks, seminars, film screenings, and much more. The exhibitions will continue throughout the autumn.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Jananne Al-Ani (IR), Kutlug Ataman (TR), Yto Barrada (MA/FR), Mohamed Bourouissa (FR), Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti (BR), Dias & Riedweg (BR/CH), Song Dong (CN) Latifa Eckakhch (FR/MA), Klas Eriksson (SE), Ruth Ewan (UK), Søren Thilo Funder (DK), Yuan Gong (CN), Lise Harlev (DK), Jeanne Van Heeswijk (NL), Jeppe Hein (DK), Sofie Hesselholdt & Vibeke Mejlvang (DK), Invisible Playground (DE), Isaac Julien (UK), J&K (DK/DE), Otto Karvonen (FI), Joachim Koester (DK), Katarzyna Kozyra (PL), Magnús Logi Kristinsson (IS), les gens d'Uterpan (FR), Ann Lislegaard (DK), Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (MX/CA), Manifest.AR (various nationalities), Marcello Maloberti (IT), Heike Mutter & Ulrich Genth (DE), Carsten Nicolai (DE), Damián Ortega (MX), Lea Porsager (DK), Arturas Raila (LI), Joanna Rajkowska (PL), Raqs Media Collective (IN), Yorgos Sapountzis (GR), Kimsooja (KR/ US), Hito Steyerl (DE), Superflex (DK), Pascale Marthine Tayou (CM/BE), Vladimir Tomić (BA/DK), Georg Weckwerth (DE), and Wooloo (DK).