With a unique location in Copenhagen’s historic centre, near tourist attractions, the harbour boats, design companies and galleries, Designmuseum Danmark is a working archive and the entrance to Denmark as a design destination.  Experience one of the world’s largest collections of Danish design, counting works by Finn Juhl, Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjærholm, Verner Panton and Hans Wegner. In addition, the collections cover applied art and design from Art Nouveau to contemporary Danish design and include glass, ceramics, fashion, textile and poster art. The museum, situated right next to Amalienborg, is one of the finest examples of rococo architecture in Copenhagen. It offers thematic design exhibitions, special events, guided tours and workshops. Visitors are also invited to explore our beautiful garden, the café with indoor and outdoor service, the museum shop, and library. New permanent exhibition: DANISH MODERN Danish design is known and loved – both at home and abroad. But what led to its success, which designs are central, and who are the major Danish designers of the 20th century? The exhibition 'Danish Modern' unfolds the story of Danish design from the 1920s to the 1970s, focusing on the creation of some of the most iconic Danish design objects. Special exhibitions:  Akut, series - 24. January — 21. April 2025 Welcome to an exhibition about what is happening on the design scene right now. AKUT showcases everything from trends and tendencies to design, which address current issues and provide new perspectives on design and crafts.

Art gallery, water reservoir and urban dripstone cave  The subterranean space beneath the green lawns of Søndermarken Park works as a breathtaking stage for contemporary art installations. The cold, humid and dark old water reservoir might remind you of long-forgotten cathedrals and gloomy catacombs – it is sparsely illuminated, and the atmosphere evokes fascination and enchantment in both children and adults.  Every year Cisternerne invite an internationally recognized artist or architect to create an exhibition particularly to this underground space – an exhibition in large scale that interacts with and emphasizes the unique architecture, climate, atmosphere and history of Cisternerne.The exhibition Psychosphere by Jakob Kudsk Steensen will open from the 16th of March.In March 2025, Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen will transform the underground chambers into an immersive and site-specific in-stallation.Drawing on fieldwork by the artist and scientific research into the origin of life in underwater volcanic vents, Steensen explores the emergence of intelligences beyond the human.You are invited to explore the deep sea, where the human merge with songs from the depths, revealing the profound connections we share with all life on Earth.  

ARKEN Museum of Contemporary Art in Ishøj south of Copenhagen presents exhibitions with Danish, Nordic and international art – from new, young talents to established names ARKEN is a great and monumental building situated in the artificial landscape Køge Bay Beach south of Copenhagen. The museum has one of Scandinavia's finest collections of contemporary art, and the museum's maritime architecture with the pointed stern, which majestically protudes into the terrain, has won recognition both at home and abroad since its inaugaration in 1996.  ARKEN's collection contains more than 400 works - Danish, Nordic and international contemporary art primarly from the period after 1990. The museum houses, among other things, one of Europe's most important collections of the British artist Damien Hirst. Experience the museum's evolving sculpture park, nine works by acclaimed German artist Anselm Reyle as well as a magnificent masterpiece by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.  Distinctive architecture The museum building is an attraction in itself. With its scenic location on Kunstens Ø, or ‘Art Island’, the building, designed by the architect Søren Robert Lund, resembles a beached ship. A lagoon meanders its way around the museum, with several bridges linking the museum island with the surrounding beach area. The museum café hangs like a lifeboat on the side of the building and through the large panoramic windows overlooks Køge Bay.The museum shop is the area's leading design shop with an inspiring mix of Nordic design, art books, and gift items. From the 6/2-25 until 21/9-25: ALL WALKS OF LIFE by Frederik Næblerød (arken.dk) ARKEN opens in 2025 the largest solo exhibition to date with the Danish artist Frederik Næblerød (b. 1988). He is known for his uncompromising art, where he challenges with great creative power our accustomed understanding of painting and sculpture in a raw, energetic and playful style.With his works ranging from painting, ceramics, bronze and drawing to large-scale installations, he has created a very special artistic universe that invites us inside into the spontaneous, absurd and humorous. The exhibition at ARKEN will be an intense and sensual encounter with Frederik Næblerød's art. The exhibition is full of surprising spaces, and on the way around you get very close to the artist and his gaze on the contemporary. Frederik Næblerød unfolds a unique, humorous and boundary-breaking idiom in his works, which are sampled from science fiction, myths, dreams and images that he sees in everyday life. Næblerød creates art out of a great inner necessity, and at ARKEN there is an exhibition where art and life flow together.  

Kunsthal Charlottenborg is one of the largest and most beautiful exhibition spaces for contemporary art in Northern Europe The exhibition space presents an ambitious program with international outlook featuring talents as well as established stars from both Denmark and abroad. Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents uncompromising and agenda setting art still understandable for everyone. The trendsetting exhibition program is supplemented with a large number of activities like artist talks, performances, concerts and film screenings. Ever since Kunsthal Charlottenborg opened in 1883, the venue has hosted exhibitions featuring many of the leading contemporary artists of the given times, accommodating many different types of shows and activities. Charlottenborg now celebrates its long history with a large-scale exhibition featuring all-new and older works alike. Together, they will evoke and add nuance to the history of Kunsthal Charlottenborg, a venue without a collection or a historical archive. Embracing chaos, affinities and time glitches, the exhibition Full of Days forges intuitive connections between historical moments and less-remembered shows, stories and events. Through a cacophony of voices, contemporary and historical artists are framed into a reflection on the elusiveness of time and the multiplicity of its representations, offering a non-linear account of one the Kunsthal’s possible histories. Special Exhibithions (Kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk):   Banu Cennetoğlu - BEING SAFE IS SCARY 19 mar – 10 aug 2025:Look forward to the first solo exhibition in Denmark by the Istanbul-based artist Banu Cennetoğlu. Through a series of works, the exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg moves from societal issues to more intimate spheres. Critical investigations of the daily press, the migration flows through Europe and the UN Declaration of Human Rights are brought to dialogue with an extensive private image archive, connecting the small and large events of everyday life with urgent global issues.Cennetoğlu is interested in how the production and distribution of text- and image-based information contributes to shaping our world. Her practice often involves extensive collecting, cataloguing and archiving of materials, which subsequently manifest in carefully composed works with wide-reaching perspectives. By processing various types of textual and visual materials, she examines the function of such signs, their politics of memory, and the underlying interests or power structures they reveal. Disobedience Archive 19 mar – 10 aug 2025:Dive into an expansive collection of video works that map out various artistic strategies of resistance – and apply a rich diversity of historical, geographical, and social perspectives. Disobedience Archive explores the relationship between art and political action by examining how struggles for resistance are translated into moving images, thereby creating a form of artistic visual activism.The archive consists of a comprehensive and continuously growing collection of films chronicling nearly fifty years of social struggles across different parts of the world: from Italy’s Parco Lambro revolt in 1977 and the anti-globalisation protests of the 1990s, to the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, as well as battles for labour rights in Southeast Asia, global climate protests, struggles for LGBTQ+ and migrant rights, and demands for decolonisation among Europe’s former colonies. By connecting otherwise separate justice movements, the archive makes it possible to view them within a broader political context across time and place.Disobedience Archive is curated by Marco Scotini and has been presented at institutions worldwide since 2005, most recently at the Venice Biennale in 2024.  Charlottenborg Art Books The independent bookstore offers a distinctive selection of books and magazines, including publications in the fields of fine art, critical design, typography, literature, and theory.Apollo Bar & Canteen Apollo Bar & Canteen are Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s bar and dining place by chef and creator Frederik Bille Brahe. Every weekday from Tuesday to Friday, you can enjoy a healthy and delicious lunch at the canteen, and all week you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or an exciting dinner or just a cup of coffee, a glass of wine or a drink at the bar next to the courtyard.

Copenhagen Contemporary (CC) is Copenhagen’s international art center showing installation art created by world stars and new emerging talents It occupies the magnificent former B&W welding hall offering a total of 7,000 m2 of beautiful industrial halls with plenty of space to show the technical and large formats in which many contemporary artists work: total installations, performance art, and monumental video works. Art that can often be entered and sensed with the whole body.  Copenhagen Contemporary is one of Scandinavia’s largest exhibition venues for contemporary art and a lively meeting place for a wide audience. CC creates collaborative partnerships and organises events with a number of different partners across cultural genres locally and internationally. You can attend art talks, art walks, concerts, creative workshops for children, visit CC’s own shop offering Scandinavian design, and experience the unique and historical city district of Refshaleøen.  Situated centrally in B&W’s iconic welding hall, CC is an international power hub in Copenhagen’s new cultural district. The special quality of this area continues to be defined by its industrial history: the area is raw and green with commanding views across Copenhagen Harbour. The district is a mix of first-class gourmet restaurants and small entrepreneurial initiatives; you can go for a dip in the sea, for a sauna, enjoy a glass of wine, and eat grilled food, buy quality bread and visit Copenhagen’s most popular food market with stalls from across the world and lounge areas by the water’s edge. Not forgetting the climbing, skating,and skiing activities, the flea market, and the theatre and music festivals, which are just some of the many activities this area has to offer.  Exhibtions (copenhagencontemporary.org): Marta Minujín: Intensify Life, 11.10.24 - 21.4.25The major exhibition of the autumn at CC will be Europe’s first retrospective of the groundbreaking Argentine pop artist Marta Minujín.Marta Minujín (b. 1943) is an iconic figure and one of the most prominent Latin American pop and conceptual artists of all time. Over the past 60 years, she has developed happenings, performances, installations, and video works that have influenced generations of contemporary artists in Latin America, the USA, and Europe.The exhibition at CC unfolds Minujín’s life’s work across periods and geography, showcasing several of her most recent pieces, including gigantic installations, soft sculptures, and large collage paintings covered in Minujín’s iconic neon stripes and illuminated with video projections. Thanks to CC’s close collaboration with the artist, the audience will also have the unique opportunity to explore archival material that highlights some of the most central parts of Minujín’s work from her over 60-year-long career.

On the edge of Copenhagen Harbour sits The Black Diamond as a beacon of culture. The Black Diamond is Royal Danish Library's cultural centre in Copenhagen with lots of exhibitions all year round. Storytelling, sensuous experiences and unique objects set the mind in motion when visiting exhibitions in The Black Diamond. With cultural heritage as an inexhaustible reservoir, everything from Søren Kierkegaard to contemporary art is staged, with particular emphasis on literature and photography. Exhibitions 2025: The Camera and Us Today, the camera is a constant companion in every aspect of our everyday lives. But what does the ubiquity of photography do to our perception of ourselves and our perceptions of each other? In The Camera and Us you can dive into more than 250 photographs from The Royal Danish Library's vast photo collection. From the first silver-plated metal plates to today's constant stream of images. Until 28.09.25. Lene Adler Petersen – Space and Things Discover one of Denmark's most prominent feminist artists, whose unique universe explores the home as a feminist battleground full of beauty, freedom and revolutionary action. The exhibition is a tribute to Adler Petersen's central role in Danish art and women's movement and brings together a large selection of works from her lifelong career. Until 11.05.25. Danish Press Photo of the Year 2024 Press Photo of the Year presents the dramatic, funny and memorable moments from 2024 – captured by Danish press photographers. Each year, the competition awards the best shots in several categories such as News Photo of the Year, Portrait of the Year, Sports, Photo of the Year and, and last but not least, Press Photographer and Press Photo of the Year. Until 11.05.25. Between Heaven and Earth – Magic books, alchemy and occult photography For as long as humans have existed, we have had a desire to understand the incomprehensible – from ancient alchemists and ritual phenomena to today's spiritualists and scientists. This year's major exhibition invites you into the most magical and mythical parts of our cultural history. Discover disease-curing spell books, occult photographs, alchemical experiments, love-inducing divinations, tales of fantastic beings, mystical manifestations and many other magical artefacts. Opens 19.06.2. The World around Us In The Black Diamond's new collection exhibition, we turn our gaze towards the landscape and everything that surrounds us. The exhibition takes us on a journey through the last 200 years of photographic history and focuses on how we have depicted and understood land and city through photography – from the romantic landscape photography of the 19th century to the Industrialisation's enthusiasm for cities and buildings to the climate challenges of today. Opens 19.11.25. Treasures in the Royal Danish Library An exhibition with library's most precious, beautiful, significant, and valuable treasures. From the oldest of manuscripts to the Internet's ever increasing digital cultural heritage. Explore gems from the collections of science, philosophy, cartography, music, and much more – or take a peek into the lives of a number of prominent Danes by reading Søren Kierkegaard's letter to his fiancé, Karen Blixen's own manuscript, or Hans Christian Andersen's diary. Permanent exhibition. Special feature on Sundays and public holidays Visit The Old Reading Room The atmospheric reading room in the original part of Royal Danish Library on Slotsholmen in Copenhagen is called The Old Reading Room. The reading room has remained virtually original since its inauguration in 1906 and is a true architectural gem. On Sundays, anyone interested can visit the reading room and experience its very special atmosphere. Visit to The Old Reading Room is included in the exhibition ticket and with a Copenhagen Card. Please note that only students and researchers have access to the library Monday to Saturday.  

Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art is a must see in Copenhagen for anyone interested in art and architecture. Den Frie is closed between exhibitions. Please check the website before going. Den Frie was founded by artists in 1898 and is one of the oldest venues for contemporary art in Denmark. It is in itself a unique and very beautiful wooden building designed by famous artist J.F. Willumsen. Den Frie’s fundamental aim is to present the very latest in contemporary art. We host exhibitions by national and international artists, all of which address current issues. The extensive programme of exhibitions and events are evidence of Den Frie’s role as an active platform for living art and
art production, and the commitment to contribute to contemporary existence. With its relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, Den Frie is also a popular meeting place for artists, students, tourists and the many locals who pass by. As a visitor you’ll feel welcome and enjoy having your interest in contemporary art stimulated, whether you’re an art connoisseur or a beginner. On top of which the architecture alone is well worth a visit. Den Frie also houses the café, Polykrom, where you can enjoy a delicious lunch or a well-made cup of coffee.  Exhibotions (denfrie.dk): OSLO: Amy O’Neill: This’s and that’s 07.02.25 — 04.05.25:This’s and that’s is American artist Amy O’Neill’s first institutional exhibition in Denmark produced in collaboration with artist Gianna Surangkanjanajai and curator Line Ebert. Inside the skeletal and reshaped structure of the previous OSLO show, a cinematic tableau of quilts, garments, and figures holding poses fills the exhibition space.