DENMARK IN TRANSITION

ROSPHOTO State Museum and Exhibition CentreDanish Cultural Institute in St.-PetersburgDanish Arts AgencyRoyal Danish Consulate General in St.-PetersburgEmbassy of Denmark in MoscowMinistry for Culture of the Russian FederationDENMARK IN TRANSITION10 September - 2 October 2011Opening reception 09 September 2011 at 18.00ROSPHOTO Front Building exhibition hall, 35 Bolshaya Morskaya, 2 and 3 floorsDenmark in Transition is an art project dealing with contemporary Danish landscape. Fourteen of Denmark’s best photographers traveled to every corner of Denmark – each in their own direction, to their own area, and at their own pace. Their assignment was to create a picture of the Danish landscape. Each photographer contributes a unique project with either a geographical or conceptual point of departure. The themes range from ‘boundaries’ and ‘coasts’ to ‘nature rehabilitation’ and ‘a belt across Jutland’.The photographers have interpreted, expanded and updated the landscape as an artistic and cultural-historical motif. We meet moors and toxic dumps, field boundaries and suburban architecture, motorways and playgrounds, coastal erosion and nature reserves. And in the images we find traces that bear witness to human interaction with the place. In other words, the exhibition reveals the aesthetic, sensed, material, social and political landscape as a place through which we understand ourselves and each other. The photographs in this exhibition make no claim to constitute a universal imprint of Denmark. Instead, they represent very different and highly personal experiences of and in the landscape.The photographs take a ‘slice of time’ and show images of countryside and town constructed on the basis of the aesthetic, conceptual or visual resources offered by photography. The all-new photographs illustrate how nature and culture work together in the landscapes that surround us. This is the first time Denmark has been thoroughly photographed by so many photographers and visual artists.The participating photographers are: Jørgen Borg, Peter Brandes, Christina Capetillo, Krass Clement, Joakim Eskildsen, Mads Gamdrup, Nicolai Howalt, John Jedbo, Astrid Kruse Jensen, Fie Johansen, Kirsten Klein, Janne Klerk, Henrik Saxgren and Trine Søndergaard.The exhibition is coincided with the State visit of the Queen Margrete II of Denmark and Prince Consort Henrik in the company of Crown Prince Frederik to the Russian Federation.