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Tower Talk: Meet Artists Christoph & Sebastian Mügge
Meet the German-Swedish artist duo behind the current exhibition “Lost Library Legends” in the Library Hall.
“Lost Library Legends” blurs the lines between truth and fiction as the artists humorously tackle themes such as our physical and digital remains, death and value systems or how storytelling and factual truths can be distorted.
Join the artist talk to hear the thoughts behind the exhibition and their distinct style as Christoph and Sebastian Mügge show around the site-specific installation on the opening.
The conversation takes place in English and is moderated by the Round Tower’s Head of History and Dissemination, Rasmus Agertoft.
About the artists
The brothers Christoph (b. 1983) and Sebastian Mügge (b. 1981) were born in Germany, but currently live in Sweden.
They are both trained visual artists and have collaborated as an artist duo since 2017. They often exhibit internationally – previous exhibition spaces include galleries and other art venues in the Faroe Islands, England, Greece, Austria and the Netherlands.
As a duo, they create large-scale site-specific projects based on a combination of found materials and their own styles and techniques, e.g. painting, drawing, installation and digital works. In a humorous way, their installations take on existential themes such as life, death, what we value and our physical and digital footprint on the world, and how factual truths and storytelling can be distorted.
“Lost Library Legends” takes place in the Library Hall from 22 June to 11 August.
Read more about the exhibition here.
The Tryouts
Which narratives do we need in a world that is burning? Filip Vest’s “The Tryouts” is an exhibition about alternative storytelling, activism, and escapism. Through a site-specific installation, film, and performance, the audience follows three interns cleaning up a theater storage room after a fire.
Amidst the burned scenographies and props, the interns attempt to pick up the pieces, creating new images and weaving alternative narratives from the charred, scattered remnants. Simultaneously, they navigate their own existential crises, identities, and the critical state of the world.
The exhibition draws inspiration from the period when the Library Hall served as a workshop for theater painter Carl Lund between 1905 and 1927. It reinterprets Lund’s romantic scenographies and endeavors to use them to tell new stories.
About the artist
Filip Vest works at the intersection of visual arts and performing arts. Through performance, installation, film, and text, Vest explores queer love, storytelling, capitalism, and the various ways we perform identities, roles, and relationships.
The exhibition is supported by Ny Carlsberg Fondet.
Generation WHY
A generation of Scandinavian voices is expressed in the traveling exhibition “Generation WHY,” where Nordic designers from Generation Y (born between 1977 and 1994) focus on various aspects of their existence.
Three curators from each Nordic country have selected a number of artists and designers from a generation of creators who address significant themes, taking life, their practices, and the planet seriously and personally. The chosen artists from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland convey the emotions, experiences, and perspectives of their generation through powerful, moving works.
They explore existential themes such as trauma, grief, physical ailments, gender and climate issues using textiles, glass, ceramics, metal, wood, pigments, dust, and fungal mycelium as materials.
From Denmark, exhibitors include
Maria Koshenkova, Morten Klitgaard, Astrid Skibsted, Jonas Edvard, Stine Bidstrup, Anne Brandhøj, Alexandru Murar, Carl Emil Jacobsen, Stine Mikkelsen, Maria Viftrup and Wang & Söderström.
From Norway, exhibitors include
Ina Vang, Håvard Kranstad, Renate Desiree Dahl, Ida Siebke, Ask Bjørlo, Steffen Andre Nilsen, Elin Hedberg, Lissette Escobar, Cato Løland, Marsil Andjelov Al-Mohamid and Marthe Minde.
From Sweden, exhibitors include
Karin Roy Andersson, Anna Nordström, Matilda Kästel, Maja Michaeldotter, Lisa Juntunen Roos, Milja Morset, Emilia Olofdotter Sundqvist, Fadhel Mourali, Maja Stjärna and Lotta Snijder.
From Iceland
Ýr Jóhannsdóttir.
The exhibition was initiated by the association behind the Norwegian Villvin Crafts Market in connection with the 300th anniversary of Risør city in 2023 and curated by Charlotte Jul, Marcia Harvey Isaksson og Vidar Koksvik.
“Generation WHY” opened in July 2023 at Risør Kunstpark in Norway. In 2024, the exhibition opens at the Round Tower before it moves on to Rian Designmuseum in Sweden, 2025.
The exhibition is open until April 28th at 16. The Library Hall will remain closed until May 4th when the next exhibition opens.
The exibition is supported by:
Augustinus Fonden
Statens Kunstfond
Knud Højgaards Fond
Ellen og Knud Dalhoff Larsens Fond
Konsul George Jorck og hustru Emma Jorck’s Fond
Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ – Politiken
Being Coral
Dive beneath the ocean’s surface as documentarian and video artist Maja Friis creates an intimate, moving and aesthetic encounter with the planet’s vanishing coral.
Using macro-optics and collaborating with coral researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Friis showcases these tiny creatures on a grand scale through individual video portraits. The beauty of the corals is captured in close connection with their quiet decay, offering a sensory experience that highlights the gravity of climate change.
“Being Coral” opens October 23th at 19:00.
The exhibition is accompanied by a series of events including talks, guided tours with artist Maja Friis and creative coral workshops:
- October 24th at 19:30
TALK: “Art and Science in Symbiosis” with artist Maja Friis and researcher Elena Bollati.
Get tickets. - October 31st at 17:00
GUIDED TOUR: Walk through the exhibition with artist Maja Friis.
Read more. - November 2nd from 10:00 to 16:00
DROP-IN FAMILY WORKSHOP: Clay Corals
Read more. - November 3rd at 16:00
GUIDED TOUR: Walk through the exhibition with artist Maja Friis.
Read more.
About the artist
Maja Friis is a documentary filmmaker and video artist. Her artistic practice explores the sensitivity, transformations, life, and non-life of nature with the vision of making research tangible and awakening climate awareness in the audience.
Other contributors
The research team that has contributed to the development of the project is led by professor of Marine Biology at the University of Copenhagen, Michael Kühl.
The creative team behind the exhibition is composed of Maja Friis as well as Audio-visual Installation Designer Nikolaj Dinesen and Project Coordinator Sofie Mønster.
The exhibition is supported by Statens Kunstfond.
From Science to Society
Through 200 years the Society for the Dissemination of Natural Science (SNU) has been a driver for scientists disseminating natural science and technology to the Danish public. The exhibition marks the 200th anniversary of SNU and demonstrates how scientific research has affected tangible change in our everyday lives – from H.C. Ørsted’s discovery of electromagnetism, which brought electricity everywhere in society and now enables efficient wind turbines and electric cars, to Niels Bohr’s atomic model, leading to new diagnostic methods in the medical world, nuclear power, and the modern electronics that surround us.
The Society for the Dissemination of Natural Science (SNU) was founded by H.C. Ørsted in 1824 with the ambition of giving everyone the opportunity to learn about the latest advancements in physics and chemistry. Several famous scientists and disseminators have led SNU over time – first H.C. Ørsted himself, who discovered electromagnetism, later oceanographer Martin Knudsen followed by Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr, and today astrophysicist Anja C. Andersen, who is currently the president of the society.
Explore the exhibition virtually here:
The exhibition is supported by
Novo Nordisk Fonden, Otto Mønsteds Fond, William Demant Fonden, Augustinus Fonden, Thomas B. Thriges Fond, Ellehammerfonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, Knud Højgaards Fond and Torkil Holms Fond.
“From Science to Society” closes on Sunday October 20th at 4PM.
Lost Library Legends
In the Round Tower’s former library, where books and shelves have long disappeared, you find yourself piecing together the fragments of a forgotten legacy. Step into a library of tangible collections, trash and treasures that weave together past, present and twisted tales that span centuries.
What truly endures as we depart this world? What is kept, what is lost and what fragments live on once we die? These timeless questions are at the center of “Lost Library Legends”. The exhibition by German-born artist duo Christoph and Sebastian Mügge is set in the historical Library Hall that was home to the University of Copenhagen’s book collection for two centuries.
Rubbish, Relics and Alternate Realities
The site-specific installation guides you through the corridors of time where undocumented history is reconstructed, and the lines between fact and fiction blur. The exhibition playfully contemplates profound questions about life and death, the true meaning of legacy, and what holds value across generations. It whimsically addresses the challenge of dealing with a treasure trove of eccentric collections, piecing together scattered items and narratives in a melange of rubbish and riches, wisdom and whimsy, facts, confusion and misinformation.
Various art forms, including drawings and digital prints, are showcased alongside extensive collections of everyday items such as grocery lists, tin cans, toilet paper collections and cigarette packs. With humorous anecdotes, the Mügge brothers also stir up the history and characters related to the Round Tower, unveiling intriguing misrepresentations of iconic figures such as King Christian IV and Tycho Brahe.
As you navigate this immersive, evocative experience, be guided towards fresh insights into your own legacy – an amalgamation of the deeply personal and seemingly trivial, the sacred and even the blushingly embarrassing; facets that are often concealed from the public eye.
About the artists
Sebastian and Christoph Mügge are German-born artists who now reside in Sweden. As a duo they realise large-scale site-specific projects based on a combination of found material and their own distinct styles in a variety of techniques.
Their exhibitions explore themes such as how conflict affects our everyday lives, the remnants we imprint on the physical and digital realms upon our passing, the challenge of storytelling and distortions that can befall historical truths. Factual narratives are interwoven with humor and alternative realities, blurring the lines that demarcate truth from fiction.
The exhibition is on display at the Round Tower until August 11th at 16.00.
Past exhibitions
Gizmos and Thingamabobs
What is a thingamabob? And what are gizmos used for? Discover a whimsical family exhibition, where a purple landscape with sensory, interactive gizmos and thingamabobs invites children to play, dress up, move, and explore.
A mysterious, purple world has emerged in the Library Hall. With purple grass, striped stones, and soft, fuzzy tree trunks. In this realm live peculiar thingamabobs, whose true nature is a mystery. Embark on a quest to discover them among amusing hat thingies that sprout from a green thicket. Or hide away in the glowing orange cave-like structure.
”Gizmos and Thingamabobs” is a humorous, playful, and colorful exhibition created by artist Lærke Bang Barfod. Here, children and their adults are invited into an abstract world of shapes, colors, textures, sounds, and movement where it is perfectly okay to interact with the art – to play, feel, try on and experiment!
Lærke is inspired by the inner world of children and their amazing ability to imagine, play, and invent. Through sensory activities and imaginative staging, children are encouraged to experience and explore the art with both their bodies and their mind.
So take your adults by the hand and journey through the purple landscape together, and invent your own stories about the gizmos and thingamabobs that live here and what they might be used for.
Kids should be accompanied by adults in the exhibition. Please wear the blue shoe covers provided by the Round Tower.
Please note, that the exhibition may be closed for shorter periods on certain days due to special events or concerts in the Library Hall. Check the website before your visit.
On days with many visitors, queuing for the exhibition may occur.
About the Artist
Artist Lærke Bang Barfod works at the intersection of costume and accessory design, scenography, and installation. She draws inspiration particularly from the world of children, her own childhood memories, and nature as an endless source of inspiration for colors, shapes, textures, and compositions.
She creates multi-sensory works primarily in fabric, yarn, foam, and metal, with a background as a clothing craftsman, accessory, and costume designer. This is also evident in the exhibition, where you can experience various imaginative accessories such as gloves, necklaces, and socks.
Other Contributors
Compositions of sounds and music in the exhibition William Kjeldsberg
Dancer Fie Dam Mygind
Dancer Marlene Bonnesen
Choreographer Ida Cathrin Utvik
Production Assistant Alberte Hummelshøj Andersen
Costume Productions Assistant Frida Bang Barfod
The exhibition is generously supported by Statens Kunstfond, Beckett-fonden, Statens Værksteder for Kunst and Den Ingwersenske Fond.
Please Note that the exhibition might be closed due to special events in the Library Hall for shorter periods of time. Check the website before your visit.
Danes with Wolves
Why do wolves evoke such powerful emotions in us? Do we have room for wolves in Denmark? Do we even have room for wild nature? These and many other questions are put into perspective in our upcoming exhibition “Danes with Wolves” – Denmark’s first large exhibition about the relationship between humans and wolves.
“Danes with Wolves” is based on cultural and historical myths, current debates about wolves, rumors about wolf killings and research on the movement of wolves in Denmark. The exhibition inspires the audience to reflect on their own views on nature and offering insights into why the wolf splits the opinion among the population of Denmark.
The wolf’s close biological relationship with dogs is also brought into focus through an exhibition of wolves and dogs. In the meeting between wolves and Danes, the exhibition will provide insight into why the predators have come to Denmark, and most importantly, how they affect us.
“Danes With Wolves” is presented in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of Aarhus, and is generously supported by A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal, Aage V. Jensen Naturfond, Region Midtjylland, 15. Juni Fonden, Beckett-Fonden and Toyota-Fonden.
The exhibition has previously been shown at both the Natural History Museum of Aarhus and Holstebro Museum.
Please note!
The exhibition is aimed at all ages – children, however, should be accompanied by adults, as it features both dramatic scenes and sound effects as well as authentically preserved, taxidermied wolves and dogs.
The exhibition will be closed early or briefly on certain days due to special events in the Library Hall:
- On December 6 the exhibition closes at 18.30
- On December 7 the exhibition closes at 17
- On December 8 the exhibition closes at 16.30
Opening of Family Exhibition: “The Rose Cannon – the King’s Enchanted Garden”
Join us for the opening of the floral family exhibition “The Rose Cannon” – a Saturday full of surprises for the entire family awaits!
We are excited to present our upcoming family exhibition. “The Rose Cannon – the King’s Enchanted Garden” is an immersive exhibition for children, intended to stimulate the senses, awaken creativity and curiosity, and offer a poetic, enchanted version of the old tales about King Christian IV who built the Round Tower.
The exhibition opens on Saturday the 4th of February. Drop in early for some sweet snacks and refreshments, and take a garden stroll in the whimsical floral world created by artist Signe Kejlbo. Watch the dancing flower creatures, add your own paper flowers to the rose cannon’s floral explosion and see if you can catch a glimpse of old King Christian IV as he walks among the flowers in his lovely garden.
About the exhibition
Christian IV was a king who valued growth. Before letting the Round Tower sprout up in the heart of Copenhagen, he created the King’s Gardens where he placed his loveliest rose: Rosenborg Castle. He even made a cannon adorned with rosebuds!
With a spark of inspiration from his rose cannon and floral objects from Rosenborg Castle, Signe Kejlbo creates an enchanted garden where children and adults can immerse themselves in a secretive world of flowers. Here, paper flowers and poetic stories will unfold among breezy garden tents and secret pathways.
The exhibition is inspired by objects and locations from King Christian IV’s life and Rosenborg Castle. Experience “The Rose Cannon” in the Round Tower between February 4th and April 16th.
Read more here.
Regensen: 400 Years of Student Life
One of Denmark’s oldest colleges, Regensen, celebrates its 400th anniversary in 2023. The occasion is marked with an exhibition at the Round Tower. Visit the Library Hall and explore 400 years of student history.
The college known as Regensen was built in 1623. Since then, students from the University of Copenhagen have lived behind the red brick walls just across the street from the Round Tower. This exhibition tells the students’ spectacular stories, mirroring 400 years of change in Copenhagen, at the university, and in the life of students in general.
Through sound, tableaux, and installations, the exhibition stages the story of how Regensen has developed from a strict educational facility to a diverse social community.
Life at Regensen has changed dramatically as the servants moved out and the female students moved in. Through four centuries, the students have fought for the survival of their college in times of economic crisis, disastrous fires, and threats of demolition. They have also developed a distinct identity, which lives on at the college today.
The story of Regensen is also a story about the Round Tower: Here, the students have gazed at the stars from the Observatory at the top, pored over the books in the old Library Hall and listened to services in the student church Trinitatis.
“REGENSEN – 400 Years of Student Life” is produced by artist collective Vontrapp and historian Louise Depner and presented in collaboration with the Round Tower.
Regensen’s 400th anniversary is sponsored by:
A.P. Møller Foundation
Augustinus Foundation
Knud Højgaards Foundation
Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Foundation