Can art help create a better world? Exhibition across Denmark shows ideas for new possible future scenarios

Future Ours
Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale
10 June – 10 August 2025: Kunsthal Charlottenborg
30 June – 13 July: Across Denmark

Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents its fourth biennial, Future Ours in collaboration with ART 2030. The international art exhibition can be experienced over the summer on streets, train stations and bus stops 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 Denmark 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). 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 explores how art can serve as a unique tool for critical world-building by proposing new social, political and economic models, reweaving a dialogue between social, economic, and ecological equity for the planetary community at large.”

Several of the works relate to some of the artists’ ongoing projects. This is the case with Yinka Shonibare’s work, which shows his non-profit in Nigeria involving residencies for artists and a working farm. In Eduardo Navarro’s work, we see the artist dressed in a seal suit feeding orphaned seals. His organization FOCA, the Spanish word for ‘seal’ and an acronym for the Foundation for the Oceanic Contemplation of Affection, invites artists to spend time in and by the ocean in Uruguay. The Congolese Plantation Workers Art League (CATPC) uses the profits from the sale of their works abroad to reclaim their ancestral land and transform it into biodiverse agroforests in their native Congo.

Other works engage the audience more directly to take action. Olafur Eliasson’s work says: “You are solar powered” and invites reflection 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 poster tells us that we can reduce and offset annual climate emissions by up to 90 percent while protecting and restoring biodiversity around the world. The nonprofit organization Mobile Makers encourages reflection and conversation about positive change in the built environment.

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 an even wider audience.

Future Ours is initiated by Kunsthal Charlottenborg and ART 2030 in collaboration with JCDecaux 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.

Practical information
Kunsthal Charlottenborg Biennale: Future Ours
10 June – 10 August 2025: Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen
30 Juni – 13 July 2025: Across Denmark
Further info here

For more information about the exhibition, please contact:

Henriette Bretton-Meyer
Acting Director and Curator, Kunsthal Charlottenborg
hbm@kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk / (+45) 3374 4680

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

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