We line up in front of the light, take the picture and hashtag #installationart — but what, exactly, did we just experience? Copenhagen Contemporary has become the place where contemporary art and social media culture clash so hard that you’re left wondering whether you should take a position — or just take the shot.
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Disclaimer: Apropos Magazine received access or a review copy. As always, we share our own impressions — unfiltered.
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There’s something fascinating about wandering through a vast hall on Refshaleøen, surrounded by flashing lights, distorted mirrors and video projections that look like something you saw at Roskilde Festival in 2015 — on your way home after one beer too many.
And don’t get me wrong: It’s beautiful. It’s overwhelming. It’s also easy to share. Because Copenhagen Contemporary increasingly feels like an Instagram paradise disguised as a cultural offering.
You can get a selfie in the reflection of a giant sphere, a drone shot of your girlfriend in slow motion in front of an artificial rain installation, and maybe even a close-up of your feet in front of a neon work reading “You Are Here. Are You?”.
But are you?
Between art experience and selfie opportunity
The question is not whether Copenhagen Contemporary makes beautiful art — it does. The question is whether audiences still show up to see it. Or just to take the proof home.
It’s hard not to become a little cynical when you see a group of friends queueing up to photograph the same work — from the right angle, in the right light — and then moving straight on. Without reading the artist’s name. Without asking a single question.
And it’s not only the audience’s fault. For years, contemporary art has flirted with the spectacular. The bigger, the better. The more “immersive,” the more hype. But in trying to make art accessible, have we also made it superficial?
Experience versus reflection
Of course, there are exceptions. Works that make you stop. That tap something inside you. But they’re often hidden among all the visual filler. What makes the most noise wins. Not necessarily what says the most.
It’s as if we’ve started confusing being present with being documented. And that’s where CC’s greatest strength also becomes its biggest weakness. They’re good at creating experiences — but we’ve become bad at taking them in.
So what?
Copenhagen Contemporary is not the problem — it’s the mirror. They show us something beautiful, something alluring, something potent. And we use it as a backdrop. Maybe it’s just a symptom of the times. Or maybe it’s time to ask ourselves whether we dare to meet art without a filter.
You may not be moved. But you’ll definitely be tagged.
