Art as a method for change: Exhibition across Denmark shows ideas for possible future scenarios

Future Ours
Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale
10 June – 10 August 2025: Kunsthal Charlottenborg courtyard
30 June – 13 July 2025: Across Denmark
10 June, 16.00-19.00: Exhibition opening

Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents its fourth biennial, Future Ours, in collaboration with ART 2030. The international art exhibition can be experienced over the summer throughout the country.

Future Ours addresses the future of our planet and presents visions from twenty-one artists and collectives from around the world in the courtyard of Kunsthal Charlottenborg and in streets, train stations and bus stops across the country in the summer of 2025.

The exhibition is the fourth edition of Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale, which has previously presented the nationwide exhibitions It’s Urgent! (2019), Poet Slash Artist (2021) and Public Structures (2023).

“The ambition with the Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale is to bring contemporary art to the streets. In an unstable world under pressure from current wars, political turmoil and climate change, we believe that art plays a central role in encouraging dialogue and action. This is a time when it is more necessary than ever to consider new possible scenarios,” says Henriette Bretton-Meyer, curator at Kunsthal Charlottenborg.

In 2025, the exhibition is curated by an international curator team consisting of the Puchuncaví-based artist and educator Patricia Domínguez (b. 1984, Chile), the New York-based curator and cultural critic Jeppe Ugelvig (b. 1993, Denmark), and Hans Ulrich Obrist (b. 1968, Switzerland), who is director at Serpentine Galleries in London. The curators say about the exhibition:

“Future Ours was conceived in response to the 2024 Summit of the Future, the UN’s ambitious and concrete vision for the planet’s future. It is a vision that thinks expansively about who belongs and what matters in the planetary community—a community that, for the first time, included land, ecology, and climate. Future Ours responds to this spirit in forms of billboard advertisements by artist-run organizations, business, and social initiatives calling for a world of more play, experimentation, multispecies friendships, and solidarity across borders. The spirit of the project feels ever more pressing as it is reactivated on Danish soil – and we hope it will lead to new modes of engagement across the country this summer.”

Several of the works relate to the artists’ ongoing projects. This is the case with Irena Haiduk’s Yugoexport, an artistic company engaging with legal frameworks, commercial enterprise, research, and exhibitions to critique war, commerce, and identity. Yinka Shonibare shows his non-profit in Nigeria involving residencies for artists and a working farm. Eduardo Navarro’s work shows the artist dressed in a seal suit feeding orphaned seals. His organization FOCA invites artists to spend time in and by the ocean in Uruguay.

Other works engage the audience more directly to take action. Olafur Eliasson’s work says: “You are solar powered” and invites us to reflect on our own individual connection and responsibility for the planet. Maya Lin’s work features a QR code that links to her foundation’s website, which offers information on nature-based solutions to climate change.

The artists featured are: Baan Noorg Collaborative Arts and Culture, Canal Street Research Association, Congolese Plantation Workers Art League (CATPC), Eduardo Navarro / F.O.C.A., Futurefarmers, The Institute of Queer Ecology, MAHKU – Huni Kuin Artists Movement, Maya Bird-Murphy & Mobile Makers, Maya Lin, Mercvria, New Red Order with Riley Hooker, Newton and Helen Harrison / Center for the Study of the Force Majeure, NOMASMETAFORAS & Consejo de Mayores UAIIN-CRIC, Olafur Eliasson, Otobong Nkanga, Raqs Media Collective, Robert Zhao Renhui & The Institute of Critical Zoologists, Simone Fattal, Suzanne Treister, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Yugoexport

Future Ours was prominently showcased in New York during the Summit of the Future held in connection with the UN General Assembly in September 2024. Here, the exhibition was centrally displayed inside the UN Headquarters and at hundreds of bus stops across New York City.

ART 2030 is a non-profit organization that facilitates art projects connected to the UN Global Goals in collaboration with world-renowned artists and partners – including public events, art experiences, multi-platform communication, and educational activities – for all to engage with the plan for people, planet, and prosperity.

The Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale is an international art exhibition held in public spaces. The artworks are presented on advertising panels throughout Denmark, making the exhibition accessible nationwide. The Biennale takes place every two years, driven by the aim of bringing contemporary art to a wider audience. The exhibition will reach up to 85% of the Danish population exposed on the outdoor media provided by AFA Decaux.

Future Ours is initiated by Kunsthal Charlottenborg and ART 2030 in collaboration with AFA Decaux and curated by Patricia Domínguez, Jeppe Ugelvig and Hans Ulrich Obrist.

The exhibition is supported by the Augustinus Foundation, the Bikuben Foundation, the Danish Arts Foundation and the Obel Family Foundation.

Exhibition opening: Tuesday 10 June, 16.00-19.00
Free admission to Kunsthal Charlottenborg, everyone is welcome.

Programme:

16.00–17.00 Talk in Apollo Kantine
Welcome by Kunsthal Charlottenborg
Artist Irena Haiduk on Yugoexport
Curator Jeppe Ugelvig on art as a method for change
Director of ART 2030 Luise Faurschou on Future Ours in New York City
Please note: The talk will be held in English.

17.00–19.00 Courtyard
Explore a selection of artworks from the exhibition
Enjoy free draft beer from Apollo Bar (for the first 100 guests)
Music by Hasfeldt

Practical information
Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale: Future Ours
10 June – 10 August 2025: Kunsthal Charlottenborg courtyard
30 June – 13 July 2025: Across Denmark
10 June, 16.00-19.00: Exhibition opening, Kunsthal Charlottenborg
Further info here

For more information about the exhibition, please contact:

Anne Kruckenberg
Exhibition Coordinator, Kunsthal Charlottenborg
ak@kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk / (+45) 3374 4628

Press contact
Jeannie Møller Haltrup
Head of Communications, Kunsthal Charlottenborg
jmh@kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk / (+45) 3374 4629

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