Den Frie Udstillingsbygning

Name: Den Frie Udstillingsbygning
Address: Oslo Plads 1, København Ø, Copenhagen, 2100, DK
Telephone: +4533122803
Price range: £

Hjem
Danmark
Copenhagen
Den Frie Udstillingsbygning

Den Frie Udstillingsbygning er kunstnernes hus og byder på mere end 8 samtidskunst udstillinger om år F. Willumsen i 1898.

Den Frie Udstillingsbygning har særligt fokus på samtidskunstneriske fællesskaber, kollektive udstillinger samt eksperimenterende grupperinger og netværk. Den Frie Udstillingsbygning er et totalværk tegnet af billedkunstneren J. Huset er bygget af kunstnere til kunstnere og stræber i dag mod at sammensætte et interessant og varieret udstillingsprogram, der udfordrer udstillingsbygningens særlige a

rkitektur. Der vises årligt 8 udstillinger, hvoraf de fleste er gruppeudstillinger og to festivaler. Derudover præsenteres soloudstillinger af enten yngre lovende kunstnere eller kunstnere, der kunsthistorisk har ydet et betydningsfuldt bidrag.

10/08/2026

Step into Senga Nengudi’s ‘Sand and Water’, continuing until 27 September.

A central figure in recent American art history, Nengudi approaches the relationship between artwork and space through tension, rhythm, trace and energy, unfolding across our sub-level gallery OSLO in a new site-specific installation alongside a series of her iconic water sculptures from the 1970s, produced anew for the exhibition.

In the exhibition folder, Matilde Guidelli-Guidi, Curator and Department Co-Head at Dia Art Foundation, writes:

“Nengudi’s reflections resonate with broader artistic attempts, beginning in the late 1960s, to rethink sculpture as a set of relationships among bodies, materials, and environments. Yet unlike the hard literalism often associated with Minimalism and its aftermath, Nengudi approaches space as something affective and animate, a field of latent energies. Not simply architectural or institutional, her work turns the gallery into a ritual space—social, bodily, and atmospheric. “We are talking beyond ephemeral,” Nengudi wrote, “we are talking ethereal.””

Visit ‘Sand and Water’ in OSLO and read her full text, ‘Etherial Girl’, accompanying the exhibition.

Photos by Malle Madsen

31/07/2026

Now past the midpoint of its run, the exhibition of this year’s six recipients of Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat continues with free admission for the rest of the summer.

Experience works by Malene Bjelke, Olafur Eliasson, Uffe Isolotto, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Pernille With Madsen and Pia Rönicke across Den Frie’s upper galleries, and immerse yourself in six distinct artistic practices that have each made a significant contribution to contemporary sculpture.

While Olafur Eliasson explores light, perception, space and natural phenomena through installations, architectural interventions and immersive environments, Pia Rönicke engages with landscapes, archives and storytelling through film, objects and research-based investigations. Henrik Plenge Jakobsen brings together political, social and existential questions in conceptual installations, while Pernille With Madsen challenges the viewer’s sense of orientation through works marked by dissolution, imbalance and spatial dislocation. Malene Bjelke’s figurative sculptures uncover the inner landscapes of the human condition through encounters between body and space, while Uffe Isolotto creates narrative-rich worlds in which the body, technology and dystopia intertwine.

The exhibition is on view till 30 August 2026.

Photos by Malle Madsen

20/07/2026

One month ago, the exhibition of Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat opened at Den Frie, celebrating this year’s six recipients of Denmark’s largest honorary art award.

On view until 30 August with free admission, Malene Bjelke, Olafur Eliasson, Uffe Isolotto, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Pernille With Madsen and Pia Rönicke offer six distinct approaches to contemporary sculpture, each taking over one of Den Frie’s galleries with presentations spanning key works alongside new commissions created for the occasion.

While the exhibition unfolds at Den Frie, these video portraits take us into the artists’ studios, where they reflect on the works they have chosen for the exhibition and the ideas that inform their practice.

Swipe through to meet all honorary award recipients, and follow the link in our bio to watch the full films.

Videos: Christian Brems
Interviews: sif lindblad
Graphic design: Beate Bloch Christensen

08/07/2026

Become a Friend of Den Frie this summer and enjoy reduced annual pass prices, with even more benefits included.

Den Frie is built on friendship and sustained by those who support it, return to it, and help it thrive. As a thank you, we’ve expanded the membership to give you access to even more at Den Frie and beyond (swipe for details).

All annual passes purchased before September are valid until 30 August 2027.

Join Friends of Den Frie at the ticket counter and make yourself at home.

We hope to see you this summer!

01/07/2026

At Den Frie, we’re spending the summer with our doors wide open, offering free admission until 30 August.

With sculpture at its heart, distinct approaches to the medium take centre stage across the building, from the galleries upstairs and downstairs to our outdoor sculpture zone.

Experience Senga Nengudi’s first Nordic solo exhibition, this year’s exhibition of the recipients of the Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat 2026, and our new audioguide introducing the permanent sculptures surrounding Den Frie.

You’re also always welcome to settle beneath the trees in our garden with coffee, cold drinks, ice cream and snacks served from the foyer while we prepare Café .cph for the season ahead.

Best wishes for the summer from all of us at Den Frie.

30/06/2026

Explore the work of six remarkable sculptors with free admission all summer until 30 August in this year’s exhibition of Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat!

The Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Grant is Denmark’s largest honorary art award, presented biennially to artists whose work has made a significant contribution to contemporary sculpture. This year, Malene Bjelke, Olafur Eliasson, Uffe Isolotto, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Pernille With Madsen and Pia Rönicke each take over one of Den Frie’s galleries with presentations bringing together key works and new commissions created for the occasion.

Obsolete telephones receive unexplained calls; a light-filtering intervention in the architecture of Den Frie; marble slabs and concrete reliefs; mammoth and narwhal tusks surrounded by shimmering silver curtains; monuments to bodies that rarely occupy the pedestal; and collages and video works composed of newspaper clippings are just some of the experiences awaiting visitors to this year’s exhibition. Together, these six artistic practices reflect the breadth and diversity of approaches, materials and lines of inquiry shaping sculpture today.

The exhibition is on view till 30 August 2026.

Photos by Malle Madsen

20/06/2026

Free admission all summer!

Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat is Denmark’s largest honorary art award and is presented every other year in recognition of artists whose work has made a significant contribution to contemporary sculpture. Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was among the most important sculptors of her time and part of the circle surrounding the founders of Den Frie in 1893. She exhibited regularly with the association for more than five decades and helped pave the way for new artistic movements.

The close connection between Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen and Den Frie remains at the heart of the recurring exhibition accompanying the Grant, which traditionally presents works by the honoured artists. This year, Malene Bjelke, Olafur Eliasson, Uffe Isolotto, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Pernille With Madsen and Pia Rönicke each take over one of Den Frie’s galleries with presentations spanning key works and new commissions created for the occasion.

The exhibition invites visitors to immerse themselves in the artists’ individual practices and offers insight into six significant artistic careers that, through widely differing approaches, have expanded and challenged the conventions of sculpture. Obsolete telephones receive unexplained calls; a light-filtering intervention in the architecture of Den Frie; marble slabs and concrete reliefs; mammoth and narwhal tusks surrounded by shimmering silver curtains; monuments to bodies that rarely occupy the pedestal; and collages and video works composed of newspaper clippings are just some of the experiences awaiting visitors to this year’s exhibition. Together, these six artistic practices reflect the breadth and diversity of approaches, materials and lines of inquiry shaping sculpture today.

12/06/2026

Closed until Friday, 19.06.2026.

Due to flooding from yesterday’s heavy rain, Den Frie is temporarily closed, including our café Pegasus, while we address the affected areas.

We can’t wait to reopen our doors on Friday at 16:00 for the opening of the exhibition of the 2026 recipients of Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat, and welcome you back to our café Pegasus and the exhibition ‘Sand and Water’ by Senga Nengudi.

See you under clearer skies!

10/06/2026

Free admission across all floors!

While ARK Journal presents the third edition of DESIGN / DIALOGUE in our upper galleries and Café Pegasus through 13 June as part of , Senga Nengudi’s ‘Sand and Water’ remains open in our lower-level gallery OSLO.

For more than five decades, Senga Nengudi has developed a distinctive practice that moves across sculpture, performance, dance, and language, connecting humble everyday materials with philosophical and spiritual ideas. At the heart of the exhibition is a new site-specific installation for Den Frie, where materials such as sand, metal, glass, textiles, sound and found objects come together in a fragmented landscape shaped by memory, labour, nature and transformation. Alongside it, Water Compositions – sculptures of pigmented water contained within transparent plastic forms – appear as fragile, uncanny bodies suspended between the organic and the artificial, the fluid and the fixed.

‘Senga Nengudi: Sand and Water’ is on view until 13.09.26.

Photos by

05/06/2026

Last chance this weekend to experience Vienna–Copenhagen: Den Frie Udstilling 2026 and discover works by 170 artists from artists’ associations Wiener Secession and Den Frie Udstilling.

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the artists’ association model. The idea of an artist-run exhibition community on the artists’ own terms – independent of institutional agendas and the market forces of the gallery world – resonates with a renewed interest in artist-curated exhibitions, self-organised exhibition spaces and other collective formats. Artists’ associations have, however, often been perceived as a local Danish phenomenon. With this exhibition, Den Frie Udstilling aims to demonstrate that both historical and contemporary international parallels exist.

“Vienna–Copenhagen” Den Frie Udstilling 2026 is organised by Kristoffer Akselbo and Henrik Plenge Jakobsen from Den Frie Udstilling, and Sofie Thorsen, Michael Part and Jun Yang from Wiener Secession, assisted by Clemens Battisti.

The exhibition is generously supported by Federal Ministry for Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport Republic of Austria, Bildrecht, Østrig; Statens Kunstfond; Augustinus Fonden; Dansk Tennis Fond.

Photos by

Adresse

Oslo Plads 1, København Ø
Copenhagen
2100

Hvad er åbningstiderne?

Tirsdag	12:00 - 18:00
Onsdag	12:00 - 18:00
Torsdag	12:00 - 21:00
Fredag	12:00 - 18:00
Lørdag	12:00 - 18:00
Søndag	12:00 - 18:00

Telefon

+4533122803

Internet side

http://www.denfrie.dk/

Underretninger

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