A lot of dignitaries were present at a promotional event for the culture Initiative Move the North, which brings together creatives from Denmark, Sweden and Germany, Nimb Restaurant took over at Tivoli yesterday.
A magnet for talent and tourists
Ramboll CEO Jens-Peter Saul, who is also ambassador for Hamburg in Copenhagen, spoke to those present and told them how important it was for governments and business to support culture – even in difficult times like the pandemic.
“Nothing brings people together better than culture. Churchill was famously asked to cut funding for the arts during the war, “Saul said. “To which Churchill replied, ‘What are you fighting for then?’”
During 2019, Move the North presented 100 days of cultural activity, including 30 individual events in Hamburg, Copenhagen and Malmö – such as theater performances, music performances, exhibitions and film events – but the pandemic interrupted its efforts in full stride.
Culture, Saul argued, can help regions attract the best global talent as well as tourists.
As the Fehmarnbelt connection is expected to bring the three countries closer than ever before within a decade, Saul concludes that the time has come to invest in culture.
Tireless work with a meager budget
Saul confessed that he is often surprised to know what modest budgets cultural initiatives work out of, and to draw up budgets that are one-twentieth of what one of our conference costs.
“I really should ask [Move the North project initiator] Jana [Pulkrabek] to organize the next one, ”he asked.
Pulkrabek has been busy since the lifting of the restrictions and organized several music performances on both sides of the Danish-German border and a two-week Scandinavian focus as part of Hamburger Kultursommer, which offered no less than 30 performances by 45 international artists.
Pulkrabek also appears herself, most recently with Vanessa Poole in John Foster’s new play ‘Hap’ under the direction of Paul Glaser, the artistic director of The English Theater of Hamburg.
The play was also performed at Malmö’s Bastionen Theater (including four sold-out performances), and a race is expected in Copenhagen later this year.
New game about Brexit is a perfect platform
Among her upcoming projects is ‘Don’t Mention the War’, a new play by Ben Hamilton on Brexit, which is intended to be a cross-border three-country project
“Art and culture thrive on movement and in interaction. Through encounters with other nations, new impulses and trends can emerge. Especially in challenging times, it is important to recognize and use the mediating function of culture to bring Europe forward together, ”Pulkrabek told CPH POST.
“‘Don’t Mention the War’ addresses the issue of Brexit from several angles. Consisting of three one-acters, each wanting a different director, it is the perfect platform for a true Move the North project, as it will bring artistic voices from three (or even more) countries together to reflect on the subject. ”
Also approved by former culture mayor
Last night, Pia Allerslev, the former mayor of culture in Copenhagen, was also present.
“If you want people to discover the similarities between different cultures, countries, religions and mentalities, if you want people to reflect and react – use theater, music and art,” she told the overall.
”Move the North combines all of these things and allows us to remember, and perhaps even reinvent, the close bond between our three countries – and our region. ”
Denmark’s best burger revealed
Copenhagen’s chain Gasoline Grill may have recently been named producer of the best burger in Europe, but it did not even get on the shortlist for the best Danish. That honor went to the restaurant chain Hungry Dane and its dandelion burger. The perfect burger should be “sour, sweet, salty and bitter,” explained Peter Kolos of Hungry Dane. The cheese at Dandelion Burger consists of cheddar, goat cheese and dry mozzarella, the bun is a brioche and the dressing is a combination of mayo, French mustard, smoked chipotle, Hungarian red pepper, jalapenos and Italian pecorino cheese.
English language content galore at this weekend’s Kulturhavn Festival
One of the highlights of this year’s Kulturhavn Festival will be ‘Den skjulte havn’, an outdoor, immersive theater tour around Sydhavn, which is arranged by Assemble Theater Collective. The project has drawn inspiration from stories from past and present residents to produce a series of intimate, site-specific scenes set in unique locations by the water. It sounds exciting, but unfortunately it is already sold out. Nevertheless, tickets are still available for another Kulturhavn Festival highlight: six performances on the go of a variation of That Theater Company’s ‘The Visit’, a play that tells how HC Andersen (Peter Holst-Beck) survived his welcome to the home of Charles Dickens (Ian Burns) in 1857. The action, featuring entirely new material, begins with the statue The Little Mermaid on 27-29. August at 12:00 and 16:00. But if you miss it, fear not, as That Theater is performing another round of ‘The Visit’ in the autumn from October 29 to November 27.
Gallery reopens with VR technology showcase
After a long enforced closure due to corona, The Prince’s Gallery in central Copenhagen reopens on 4 September from kl. 14:00. Gallery owner Eric Prince will premiere technology that is best experienced via a VR headset (Quest2). However, it will run on any device connected to your internet browser. More information can be found at www.artxr.io.
Creators of sculpture speak at the Statens Museum for Kunst this Friday
The artists La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers, the creators of ‘I’m Queen Mary‘sculpture in Copenhagen – the first public monument to a black woman in the Danish capital – speaks this Friday at State Museum of Art at the opening of ‘After the Silence – Women of Art Speak Out’, a new exhibition dedicated to powerful female artists, both present and past. It coincides with their launch of an international crowdfunding campaign d Indiegogo to raise funds to rework their statue in bronze and stone. Another sculpture is planned for the US Virgin Islands, which Denmark sold in 1917 after two centuries of running sugar and cotton-producing slave plantations on the islands.
Source: The Nordic Page
