Hello Denmark, an exhibition at the DAC, Copenhagen

Tourists love visiting Denmark, and Copenhagen’s sustainable urban planning model sets an example all over the world in this country that is often cited in international contexts as a role model when it comes to creating optimal living conditions for the population. It has been elected the world’s happiest country several times. But what is it that makes Danish people so happy? 
The Danish Architecture Center (DAC) in Copenhagen took up the challenge to seek answers to this question, working in collaboration with the Dutch experience design agency Tinker Imagineers to create the new exhibition called Hello Denmark. It pays tribute to the country’s architecture and design and enables visitors to explore what has made Denmark and Copenhagen popular throughout the world: the high quality of everyday life. DAC selected the Dutch creatives to develop the exhibition concept and co-design it around everyday life as a way of explaining Danish architecture and its essential role in improving the quality of life of the Danes. 
So visitors to the exhibition will enjoy and experience six installations. Each one represents a part of that everyday life which is so dear to the Danes that it influences how they build, and how they approach life in general. It is about the people’s close relationship to nature, the essential value of trust in Danish culture and society, ‘hygge’ and taking the time to enjoy the simple things in life, the unique bicycle culture, the design-led society, and the need to live near water. These are all things that the Danes often take for granted: a beautifully designed environment, life on a bike and a harbour in the capital city that is clean enough to swim in.
Hello Denmark, which opened on 8 June and will run until 18 October, is located in DAC’s Golden Gallery. Tinker Imagineers came up with an exhibition design that makes full use of the transparency of the glass and steel BLOX building by OMA Architects, by creating interactions across its façade to connect the inside with the outside, inviting visitors to come in and see the exhibition. Here, in stark contrast to the dark space around them, key Danish objects are presented in white frames. They provide the narrative for the origins of the typical Danish values in combination with animations and infographics.
This isn’t the first time that Tinker has delivered a project in Denmark. The agency for creative consultancy and experience design was also commissioned to design and produce the setting for the Tirpitz Museum, which opened its doors in 2017. The impressive museum is hidden in the dune landscape, connected with a WWII bunker of the Atlantikwall. Tinker is currently developing the new exhibition design for the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen and an exhibition at the new Stevns Klint World Heritage Visitor Centre.

Christiane Bürklein

Hello Denmark exhibition
from 8 June to 18 October 2020
Tinker Imagineers in collaboration with DAC
Images: Kontraframe
Find out more: https://dac.dk/en/exhibitions/hello-denmark/