Art Incorporated

25 September 2008 – 15 February 2009

In 2007 KØS and the Municipality of Køge launched a joint research initiative. At the museum this gave rise to the exhibition Art Incorporated. Bearing the subheading The Role of Art in Urban Development, the exhibition was about art and urban development viewed from an international perspective. The exhibition analysed a number of international examples of how strategies for implementing art in urban development work have been used in e.g. New York, London, and Münster. Such strategies might, like London’s The Fourth Plint project, experiment with temporary monuments that directly engage and activate citizens, or they might, like the sculpture project in Münster, combine permanent monuments with the temporary qualities of art festivals to brand an entire city.

The examples provided by the exhibition jointly outlined a portrait of a phenomenon undergoing a process of development and evolution – a process that takes place in a space where the boundaries between architecture and art are dissolved, mesh, and merge. The exhibition made ambitious strides in its critique and analysis of some of the various factors and motivations that may lay behind the desire to integrate art in urban development work. It also set out to describe and present some of the theories, concepts, and modes of thinking that are currently emerging within architectural theory, art history, urban studies, etc.

The project also served as a museological experiment. This aspect of the venture was based on collaboration between KØS and the Municipality of Køge – co-funded by Region Sjælland, The Danish Ministry of Culture, and the Danish Agency for Culture – and saw the museum helping to shape the concept behind a new urban development project in the Søndre Havn part of Køge, a former industrial harbour. Art and culture occupies a central position in this endeavour. Many of the recommendations made as part of this project also appear in the key values of the company Køge Kyst, which was subsequently set up to help develop the Søndre Havn area. The company is a joint venture created by the Municipality of Køge and the philanthropic area development company Realdania.

Sabine Nielsen (MA, Modern Culture) was in charge of the research project and curated the exhibition at KØS. Since 2011 Sabine Nielsen has been a PhD fellow with KØS and the University of Copenhagen, studying art and urban development.

The project was documented in the museum’s publication Art Incorporated, 2008, 88 pages. Edited by Sabine Nielsen and Christine Buhl Andersen. Contributions by Sabine Nielsen, Jane Rendell, and Malcolm Miles. The publication was sponsored by a research grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The project was also documented in the book Kulturplaner. Fra velfærdsplanlægning til kulturel byudvikling (Forlaget Bogværket).