COPENHAGEN.- CHART, the leading Nordic event for contemporary art, returns to the Danish capital for its 11th edition from 24 – 27 August 2023. Taking place at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in the heart of Copenhagen, CHART 2023 brings together 37 exhibitors from across the Nordic region, creating a single-entry point into the region's gallery scene. Building on Copenhagen’s stronghold of art, design and architecture, CHART 2023 will present an art fair, an art book fair and a public programme of talks, performances and architectural projects. Going against the grain of the global mega fairs, CHART gathers the entire ecosystem of the Nordic art scene to celebrate the local market and community in all its diversity. CHART, as a non-profit organisation, emphasises Nordic values that both shape and go beyond aesthetics; social awareness, democratic principles, forward thinking and collaborative practices.
CHART, a snapshot of the Nordic art scene
This year’s art fair will feature presentations by 37 exhibitors from across the Nordic region, including a new wave of Nordic female-led galleries such as palace enterprise (DK), Saskia Neuman Gallery (SE), Sharp Projects (DK), Þula (IS), Isca Gallery (NO) and Galleri Cora Hillebrand (SE). The fair will also showcase 8 young galleries, artist-run and alternative exhibition spaces in the Please Notice section of the fair including NEVVEN (SE) and Lagune Ouest (DK). Alongside presentations by established artists such as Catherine Opie (US), Ragnar Kjartansson (IS), Klara Kristalova (SE) and Fiona Tan (ID), galleries will also present work by a new generation of artists including Sandra Mujinga (NO), Giorgio Celin (CO), Birke Gorm (DK) and Tora Schultz (DK).
CHART will also showcase a unique collaboration between Kunsthall Oslo and Khartoum Contemporary Art Center (KCAC), who will jointly participate in the art fair with artists from KCAC's programme. KCAC is a conceptual art initiative, imagined by the artists Fadlabi and Karin Erixon, which aims to foster emerging artists from Africa and the Middle East, particularly Sudan. The Center took a physical form as a gallery and late-night bar in Oslo from 2017-2022, with a Pan-Africanist programme of exhibitions and events. Following the closure of KCAC's physical location, KCAC will collaborate with Kunsthall Oslo on a presentation at CHART 2023 that reaches from Luleå to Addis Ababa.
CHART in Tivoli, a 3-year partnership
Following the success of the first edition of CHART in Tivoli in 2022, CHART announces a 3-year collaboration with Tivoli Gardens, that will see a brand new exhibition of site-specific artworks presented inside the iconic amusement park, for 1 month every summer from 2023 to 2025.
Established in 1843, Tivoli Gardens is a cherished cultural landmark in the centre of Copenhagen that annually welcomes millions of visitors and hosts a wide range of cultural activities. CHART in Tivoli reimagines the traditional exhibition format by integrating art into the historic fabric of Tivoli Gardens. Throughout the month-long exhibition from August to September, visitors will encounter captivating site-specific sculptures, installations, and video works nestled alongside Tivoli's world-famous rides.
The 2023 exhibition in Tivoli Gardens will launch on 24 August, to coincide with the opening of CHART, and will run until 24 September. The project continues CHART’s mission of being an agent of positive change, challenging the traditional art fair format and bringing contemporary art to new audiences. CHART in Tivoli will feature new works by a diverse line up of 15 international emerging and established artists.
"CHART in Tivoli speaks to the core of our mission to bring the best of contemporary art in the Nordics out into the public space. With this new 3-year collaboration, we are excited to re-shape and re-define the space for contemporary art in our society today, making it more accessible and more inclusive for everyone. -Julie Quottrup Silbermann, Director, CHART
A new programme spotlighting ‘conscious collecting’
Under the leadership and vision of CHART’s new director Julie Quottrup Silbermann, CHART 2023 will expand the conversation around the idea of ‘conscious collecting,’ through a dedicated programme of curated talks as well as a new exhibition featuring artworks accessible for first- time collectors. Through the programme, CHART hopes to provide more transparency around purchasing processes and to shine a light on the social and cultural benefits of collecting as well as the moral responsibilities involved.
Start Collecting with CHART, a new exhibition in the foyer of Kunsthal Charlottenborg, will invite each of the participating galleries at CHART to present a single artwork by an established artist from their roster, priced below a fixed threshold of 20,000 DKK (2700 EUR). All of the prices in the exhibition will remain transparent and the exhibition will be open to the public, providing an opportunity for wider audiences to engage in collecting and support cultural production in the Nordics.
“Throughout time, collectors have played an important role in supporting artists and thus the entire artworld ecosystem. Subjective decision-making and experience of course often play a role in collecting, but I want to open up the discussion around the commercial art world, as a whole, to add insight and transparency about who is collecting, how they are doing it and why." - Julie Quottrup Silbermann, Director, CHART
Dedicated to bringing together the arts community across disciplines
CHART has expanded the concept of the art fair into an event that incorporates architecture, design and book publishing, public programmes that reach a wide audience, and a year-round presence through its digital platform, CHART Journal. The tradition of a generous public programme continues with performances and music acts in the courtyards of Charlottenborg, free and open for everyone, that turns CHART into a celebration of the arts in the heart of Copenhagen. For the first time this year, a series of free public performances will also be staged on the square at Kongens Nytorv during CHART.
CHART 2023 will also bring the return of CHART Book Fair for its third edition, taking place in Festsalen at Charlottenborg. The Book Fair creates a unique meeting point between the independent Nordic publishing community and the more established arts community of galleries, collectors and museums, to highlight printed matter by leading publishers from across the region.
Showing its dedication to collaboration and sustainability, CHART presents an architecture competition for teams of emerging architects, often in collaboration with designers and artists. This year’s theme is New European Bauhaus foregrounding the New European Bauhaus’s core principles of aesthetics, inclusion and sustainability. 5 proposals for innovative architectural structures, shortlisted by the jury, will be realized in the historic courtyards of Charlottenborg during CHART. Here they will provide social space or host bars and restaurants from some of Copenhagen's leading culinary establishments. The winner of the CHART Architecture competition will be announced on 25 August. This year’s jury includes: Gert Wingårdh, owner and creative director of Wingårdhs; Camilla Ryhl, head of the Universal Design Hub; Anders Lendager, founder and partner at Lendager; Ebbe Stub Wittrup, contemporary artist; Lise Gandrup Jørgensen, partner and project director at Dorte Mandrup; and Rong Guan, designer and in-house architect at Polestar.l board.
