Dive into the dumpster darkness
The Danish artist Hannah Albert has created a full size model of a container in which both children and their grown ups can explore the adventures of container diving. Climb the container, dive in to it, grab the torch and search for the discarded but edible food in the container maze.

The work of a bin man
Until the 1980s bin men in Copenhagen had to swing the dust bins from the holder to their back. In the exhibition you can try on the dust mans leather cover and try to carry the 65 kilo heavy dust bin made out of zinc - or you can practise with the lighter foam rubber model.

Smell the 1930ies
To wander the streets of Copenhagen in 1930 was a smelly experience. Open the lid in the box and discover how a street in Copenhagen smelled 80 years ago.

Who picked what?
Rag pickers pick up the trash and find a way to reuse it. In the exhibition you will find a mobile with picked trash items. Pull the strings and find out who picked it. 

Puzzle the island of Amager
Copenhagen is built on thrash and several places the trash has left its mark in the shape of pollution. Until the end of the 19th century the Copenhageners cleaned their soil tubs at Amager, which is why the island is called “The Shit Island”. In the exhibition you will find a huge puzzle showing Amager. Try to locate the toxic areas, the old land mill spots and the spot where the Copenhageners god rid of their night soil.

Catch a recycle idea with the teddy bear catcher crane
Trash does not have to end its life in the container. In amusement parks you might be lucky and catch a teddy bear with the teddy bear catcher crane. You will also find a crane in our exhibition. Feed the crane with a token and catch a recycle idea.

From magazine to egg tray
Cardboard boxes, magazines, toilet paper, egg trays and newspapers are part of the same recycle chain - but in what order? Puzzle with the items in the exhibition and find the right answer.

Why were the things discarded?
When do guitar strings, bicycle locks or lipsticks become trash? Use the building blocks in the exhibition to show us what you think happened.

Discover the secrets in the chest of drawers
In the exhibition’s chest of drawers you will find items that should have been discarded but at some point were saved by their keeper. Discover the funny and weird stories. You might begin to think about what hides in your own chest at home.

 What do you discard next?
Does your cell phone need to be replaced? Or does your collection of shoes need a brush up? Write on our exhibition balls what you are going to discard next and throw your answer in the exhibition pillars.


Learn more about the exhibition TRASH!

Read about the TRASH! gift shop

On this page you will find examples of our TRASH! gift selection. The TRASH! Shop is open everyday from 10 am. to 5 pm. Feel free to contact our shop administrator Susan Dall Mahler on telephone + 45 3321 0772 or e-mail: mahler@kff.kk.dk 

Fridge magnets

Trash up your fridge at home with a magnet; the magnets display motives from Danish 1940s information campaigns against rats and household waste.

Price: 25 DKK each, buy 3 magnets for 60 DKK


Ceiling lamp by the designer Mette Bak Andersen

In Denmark plastic waste is incinerated instead of being recycled.  Merete Bak Andersen has an agreement with a refrigerator producer whereby she reuses their plastic waste for the production of lamps. Currently she is awaiting a new supply. As soon as the new supply arrives she will start producing new lamps and you will be able to buy the lamp in the Museum’s “TRASH! Shop”.

20% of the lamp’s price goes to the Danish Society for Nature Conservation’s annual waste campaign.

Price: Coming up 


‘Vi tog skraldet’ (‘We took care of the rubbish’)

For a 113 years the renovation station R98 handled the rubbish in Copenhagen. But in 2011 the company closed down. The book “Vi tog skraldet” (“We took care of the rubbish”) tells the story of renovation and the handling of rubbish.

Price: 299 DKK


Fly houses by Nicolai Juhler

A lot of animals both eat rubbish and spend the whole of their lives in dust bins. The street artist Nicolai Juhler has therefore built small fly houses out of post cards in order to offer the flies a more comfortable home. Buy a unique house for your own flies in the TRASH! Shop.

Price: 175 DKK


Write on recycled nautical charts

Nautical charts are normally used for navigating at sea, but these maps have been reused to create notebooks, post cards and envelopes.

Prices:
Notebooks: 45 DKK
10 post cards with envelopes: 35 DKK



Recycled paper pens

Available in different colours. From Eco Ego.

Price: 10 DKK



Rhino and elephant poo note books

Do your homework in a note book made of 100 % recycled paper. The paper is made out of elephant and rhino poo. From Eco Ego



Recycled pencils in different colors. From Eco Ego

The ecological recycled pencils are available in different colours. From Eco Ego

Price: 5 DKK



Recycle plastic purse

In the THRASH! Shop you can purchase purses made out of the material PET, that comes from plastic bottles. The plastic purses are decorated with environmentally friendly ink prints and they will suit your pocket money perfectly.

Price: 129 DKK



Jewellery made out of tractor tires


Merethe Spure has designed cool brooches and barrettes made out of discarded bicycle tubes, tractor tires and rubber wheels. Purchase her creations in the trash shop and trash up your look with recycled jewellery.

Prices:
Barrette: 50 DKK
Brooch with Christmas tree: 50 DKK
Star: 100 DKK



Build and play with maize building blocks from Playmais


The building blocks are made out of maize, water and fruit colour. Moisten the building blocks and they will stick together to create whatever your imagination leads you. The building blocks are 100 % biodegradable and therefore do not produce trash

Prices:
Medium box: 80 DKK
Large box: 130 DKK


Lean more about the exhibition TRASH!

Read about our children activities

TRASH!
Museum of Copenhagen, 14th of October 2011 - 31st of July 2012
Open every day 10 am - 5 pm
Adults: 20 DKK
Children: Free 

In the reception of the Museum you will find detailed descriptions of the displays in the exhibtition.
Download your own copy of the detailed descriptions here

Build out of trash and scavenged materials
The exhibition presents 300 items, more than 100 photographs, paintings, engravings and film clips as well as interactive installations, that invite you to participate and contribute your own story. The exhibition is built out of rubbish and trash, recycled and scavenged construction materials from the dustbins, dusty attics and forgotten hiding places of Copenhagen. Among the trash you can experience historical movie clips, beautiful photographs, funny games and peculiar items that tell the unexplored stories of waste.

There is no mapped out route but the exhibition contains four main themes that you can explore:  Landfill, Street, Backyard and Home. It is up to you to discover the stories that you are most interested in.

Glimps from the landfill theme

In Copenhagen, almost a third of our waste is incinerated. In the past, our rubbish was abandoned on open dumps, where gulls and pigs indulged themselves. In the Middle Ages there were no landfills: people simply left their waste in their backyards or in the street, and there it remains to this day. Excavations under Copenhagen’s surface will reveal our ancestors’ rubbish.

Watch the movie about Christana who is supporting herself by collecting bottles.

Glimps from the street theme

Wherever there is street life, there is street refuse. Once it was horse manure; now it’s mainly cigarette butts. Throughout time, the city authorities have attempted to help Copenhageners to resist throwing their litter all over the place by installing systems of refuse disposal transforming a network of stinking open sewers to rows of green dustbins.

Glimps from the backyard theme

Every morning, bin men collect over 500 tons of waste from Copenhagen backyards. It has been collected in this way for more than 100 years. There was a time when bin men had to contend with deep, dark backyards filled with toilets and garages. In contrast, most Copenhagen backyards nowadays bustle with activity and leisure; therefore people prefer to hide their rubbish from sight. But it’s still there, and it attracts others than those employed to remove it: from rats, flies and alley cats to human scavengers.

Glimps from the home theme

You throw away more than your parents did. Your parents threw away more than their parents did. Unlike our frugal grandparents who saved, patched and repaired, our generation tends to buy new things and throw away the old. Some Copenhageners, however, have rediscovered past practices through recycling and avoiding excess waste. Their motives are not so much driven by economics, but more importantly it is about caring for the environment.


Read about our TRASH! gift shop

Read about the exhibition’s activities for children

Opening of the exhibition “Citámbulos - Drifting Through the Mexican Megalopolis” the 27th of Maj 2011 at The Museum of Copenhagen. See photos here

Watch the trailer for the exhibition

Meet the Mexcian artist collaboration Ulima Hora, who builded ‘La Vojotrajinera’ for the exhibition ‘Citámbulos - Drifting Through the Mexican Megalopolis’

 
Watch the megalopolis being build and hear the thoughts behind the exhibition

Every Monday to Thursday an archaeologist from the Museum of Copenhagen crawl out of the excavations at Rådhuspladsen (The City Hall Square) and up to the surface to talk about the findings and the history of the city.

Free Guided Tours

Where: 
By “The Wall” at Rådhuspladsen, The City Hall Square.

When:
Every Monday to Thursday at 1 PM in Danish

Read more about the archaeological excavations in Copenhagen

Visit the exhibition ‘Underneath’ at The Museum of Copenhagen

See also findings from excavations in Copenhagen on The Wall

Read more about The Wall 

The exhibition ‘Underneath’ shows some of the findings the archaeologists have fund during til excavations for the metro cityring. Surrounded by the urban atmosphere, captured in huge photographies by KONTRAFRAME, the exhibition gives an insight in the history the archaeologist are digging in

Visit the exhibition ‘Underneath’ at Museum of Copenhagen in the beautiful gardenhall and get an insight in the history of Copenhagen.

Cannonballs and burnt tiles

Starting in the four different parts of town, central to the buildings af the metro cityring, the exhibition shown an glimt of the history, that has characterized each place. The theme for the excavations under Kongens Nytorv are millitary objects. Right here there are traces from several generations fortifications. At Rådhuspladsen, where there once were a moat and dump, the theme is garbage from household. Under Gammel Strand the archaeologists are diving into the consumption of the elite, and the layers under Højbro Plads witness the many burnfires, that embossed the stocky housing.

Surrounded by the urban life of today

Huge photographies capturing the atmosphere of urban life of today, by KONTRAFRAME, makes the background for the exhibition, that tells a part of the story, that have been hidden ind the underground of Copenhagen.

The exhibition is open every day from 10am to 5 pm. Except monday to friday from 12 to 2 pm.
NOTE! It is not possible to book guided tours in this exhibition.

Read more about the archaeological excavations

With a humoristic and serious approach the exhibition paints a different kind of “close-up portrait’ of a city we all know by name, but who’s citizens and neighbourhoods we are rarely able to connect with particular faces, thoughts, values and names. In Mexico City it is not uncommon to see animals from the country on busy highways, “bless me with wealth spray cans” are available at the local store and citizens make their own mobile gardens out of old trucks when authorities refuse to prioritise new green areas. The city is chaotic and vulnerable yet also dynamic and resistant. It is a metropolis with huge contrasts in constant evolution.

A giant Pandoras box

Mexico City is often referred to as a giant Pandoras box consisting of all evils of the world. But if you take a closer look at the city and focus on elements besides pollution, traffic jams, corruption, violence and the risk of earthquakes you will find a city driven forward by the initiatives, creativity and funny ideas of regular people. Old road signs are reused as basketballnets, plastic bottles get new functions as garden sprinklers, and dedicated citizens turn into super heroes to rescue the city from further malice.

City resaerch and contemporary art

Citámbulos is a meeting between contemporary art and city research. The exhibitions capturres both the curiousness and uniqueness of this giant megalopolis while also dealing with the phenomenon of the big city in general. Increasing population, cultural diversity, environmental issues, weak integration between the different cultural and ethnic groups of the city are some of the challenges that Mexico City and the worlds other big cities are facing. The exhibitions underlines how Mexico City has become a central point of reference in the global discussion of the future of big cities and contributes to the international debate on how to deal with the problems of big cities today.

Mini-mega city in plastic crates

Around 800 plastic crates stabled on top of each other like Lego bricks will form the exhibition as a mini-mega city with streets, skyscrapers and plazas. Inspired by the metro system of Mexico City it is structured as a public transportation system inviting the audience to investigate the city through five thematic metro lines. On a journey through the metro visitors can stop at around 25 stations which open up the hidden stories of the city. Video, audio, creative maps, cultural objects, photos, installations etc. encourages everyone to dive into themes such as “city nomads”, “the magical carpet”, “camouflage”, and parachutist”.

Read more about the themes in the exhibition

Plan Your Visit

Multi culti

Mexico City is a place of many faces, reflecting the encounter between the Indigenous and Spanish peoples during the Conquista, as well as the regional and international migrations of the 20th century. However, the construction of the identity of the inhabitants of Mexico City is not only anchored in these multi-cultural origins. It is a process linked to the search for answers and interpretations of social phenomena that mark everyday life, such as socio-economic inequality, marginalization and discrimination.

Social contradictions

As such, speaking of identity in Mexico City means thinking about a network woven by the inhabitants to create mechanisms of affirmation and survival. The families of migrants to the United States, Indigenous groups, street children and the wider population import, mix and create their own cultural references. Some do so in silence, others make use of the streets to affirm themselves and to confront exclusion. Together, they compel us to face up to social contradictions and to search for ways to be more inclusive. 

Read more about the exhibition Citámbulos - Drifting Through the Mexican Megalopolis

Unconnected

Mexico City is notorious not only for its overpopulation but also for its internal fragmentation. At a metropolitan level, the city is divided between the northeast, where the poorest neighbourhoods and industrial areas are concentrated, and the southwest, where the majority of middle-class residential areas, green areas and cultural institutions are to be found. Zooming in, however, the distribution is more heterogeneous. A luxury apartment complex rises above a neighbourhood of self-built homes in a ravine: despite their proximity, they are unconnected.

Lack of urban planning

The geographical conditions, lack of urban planning and high levels of social segregation, together with a real increase in criminality and a widespread state of paranoia have led to the proliferation of fenced-off streets and gated communities in the city. In the face of this tendency towards physical and social isolation, and the limited provision of community spaces, it becomes essential to encourage the use of public space as a place for encounter, reconciliation and social integration. 

Telepanic and no parking

In the theme you get to know how the limlits between private and public areas are non-existent. A special kind of crime develops in a city like this. Hear i.e. about the Telepanic. And how the population manages to handle the No Parking-rule covering the whole city.

Read more about the exhibition Citámbulos - Drifting Through the Mexican Megalopolis

Along the metroline ‘Urban Jungle’ you see the huge city from another surprising perspective. The country is present in the middle of all the chaotic pulsating urban life, inhabitants have rabits on the roof, and the rich biodiversity of this geografical area finds its way through the pavement tiles.

The urban threat

Urban ecosystems present one of the greatest challenges to the environmental sustainability of our planet. As well as consuming their own resources, cities require huge quantities of imported energy and materials, while they discharge their waste in distant ecosystems. Mexico City, with 20 million inhabitants and a barely-emerging ecological awareness, is still far from effectively reducing its environmental impact.

Cultural dimension

However, there is no use in reducing the urban world to the source of intractable ecological crises. While the existence and growth of cities is an irreversible process, it is essential that the solutions we formulate take into account not only the technological and economic dimensions, but also the cultural dimension, which defines the manner in which we conceive of our natural surroundings and how we relate to them. 

Read more about the exhibition Citámbulos - Drifting Through the Mexican Megalopolis

In the production of the exhibition “Citámbulos - Drifting Through the Mexican Megalopolis” are:

ARTISTS AND COLLABORATORS

Yásnaya Elena Aguilar

Benjamín Alcántara

Carlos Amorales

Sol Aréchiga

Matías Barberis

Humberto Berlanga

Dante Busquets

Nora Carrillo

Jose Castillo

Ramiro Chaves

Margarita Chavira de Pérez

Jeremy Clouser

Jinetes Sampleadores de Im@genes:
Orlando Jiménez
Agustín Martínez
Gabriel Rodríguez
Fernando Serrano

Colectivo Última Hora:
Uzziel Álvarez
Aarón Bárcenas
Jeremy Carbajal
Cristian Correa
Magnolia González
Marco Medina
Marco Osorio
Raúl Osorio
Juan Vázquez

Comando Santa Lucía:
Vlady Díaz
Omar Inzunza
César Mendoza
Jorge Patiño
Luis Sierra

Livia Corona

Bernard Corteggiani

Vlady Díaz

César G. Durán-Barrón

Francisco Elías

Carolina Elías

Fondo Regional Cualli Otli

Federico Gama

Francisco García

Pedro “Zulu” González

Manuel Grosselet

Miho Hagino

Leonardo Heiblum

Catalina Holguín

Nuria Ibáñez

Kirstin Krogh

Pablo Lach

Patricia Lagarde

Francisca López

Pablo López Luz

Onnis Luque

Víctor Mendiola

Carlos Mier y Terán

Armando Miguélez

Emiliano Motta

Leon Muñoz

Oscar Necoechea

Movimiento Ciudadano Bicitekas

Ramón Orozco

Paulina del Paso

Nirvana Paz

Gabriel Pérez

Carlos Ranc

Rodrigo Remolina

Lucie Roberts

Gabriel Rodríguez

Gerardo Rodríguez

José Antonio Rojas Loa

Betsabeé Romero

Enriqueta Romero

Pavka Segura

Sequemientes:
Óscar Hernández
Galo Hernández

Ulrike Stehlik

Diego Toledo

Conrado Tostado

UNESCO México

Laura Valencia

Rodrigo Vázquez

Lourdes Velasco

Tonalli Villaseñor

Katri Walker

Luis Winder

Claudia Wondratschke

Héctor Zamora

Taro Zorrilla

CO-PRODUCTION                                                  

• Citámbulos (a collective of urban researchers)

• German Center for Architecture (DAZ)

• Alfred Herrhausen Society (AHG)

• National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH-Mexico)

CURATING AND MUSEUM DESIGN

• Ana Álvarez

• Fionn Petch

• Valentina Rojas Loa

• Christian von Wissel

GRAFIC COMPOSITION

• Luis Rodríguez

PRODUCTION

• Vlady Díaz

• Alfa Sofía Hernández

PICTURE SCANNING

• Livia Radwanski

RESEARCH AND TEXTS

•     Citámbulos

•     Sol Aréchiga

•     Humberto Berlanga

•     Carolina Elías

•     Rodrigo Remolin

•     Gabriel Rodríguez

•     Claudia Wondratschke

DANISH TRANSLATION

•     Flemming Karlsen

PROOF READING AND SUB TITLING

•     Pernille Bärnheim

ACADEMIC CONSULTANT

• Peter Krieger

THANKS TO

• Martha Bárcena Coqui

• Doris Beiersdorf

• José Luis Bermeo

• Elena Cepeda de León

• Julieta Contreras

• Miguel Ángel Echegaray

• Tanja Hutt

• Martha Ladrón de Guevara

• Felipe Leal

• Eugenio López Alonso

• Diana Magaloni

• Alfonso de Maria y Campos

• Inti Muñoz

• Folco Näther

• Wolfgang Nowak

• Mariana Olivera

• Kristien Ring

• Rosaura Ruiz

• Luis Ignacio Sáinz

• Jette Sandahl

• Ute Weiland

• Klaus Wowereit

Juan Álvarez, Tania Álvarez, Luis Arau, Javier Areán, Uriel Aréchiga, Begoña Arregui, Sergio Raúl Arroyo, Arquitectura 911sc, Rubén Ávila, Julie Rose Bach, Rafael Balverde, Christina Barthel, Jessica Barthel, Isaías Espíritu Bautista, Ricardo Bautista, Alejandro Beltrán, Hernán Betanzos, Bernardo Bolaños, Néstor Braunstein, Angélica Breña, Elena Bruschi, Claudia Cabrera, Eduardo Campero, Tomás Canchota, Ciro Caraballo, Denébola Caravero, René Caro, Sebastián Castagna, Alma Rosa Castillo, Héctor Castillo, Thalía Castillo, Abraham Castillo, Lauretta Cavallari, Carlos Chávez, Lucero Chávez, Ana del Cid, Rosario Cipriano, Teresa Clark, Romina Coccio, Ubaldo Comi, José Luis Cortés, José Manuel Cuevas, Gloria Domínguez, César Durantón, Felipe Ehrenberg, Daniel Escotto, Raúl Espinosa, Antonio Esposito, Susana Estrada, Cristina Faesler, Camilo Falcón, Tatiana Falcón, Óscar Farfan, Charlotte Findeling, Natalia Fregoso, German Freiberg, Anja Fritzsch, Jessica Garbarino, Johanna Gardauer, Cristina Gil, Christof Goebel, Pedro “Zulu” González, Pável Granados, Verena Grimm, Grupo de Diseño Urbano, José Guevara, Daniel Guzmán, Aída Hernández, Lourdes Hernández, Honorio Hernández Sánchez, Carmen Herrera, Samuel Herrera, Allard van Hoorn, Alejandro Hosne, Anne Huffschmid, Iván de la Glorieta, Miriam Jerade, Erandi Jiménez, Beatriz Elena Jiménez Martínez, Ulises Junco, Lutz Knospe, Katrin Konrad, Kirsten Krogh, Julie Rose Bach Køie, Ayni Lacharmoise, Bernardo Lanzagorta, Alejandro Laviada, Sofie Marie Linde, Gustavo Lipkau, Ernesto López, Francisca López, Pilar López, Carlos Mackinley, Severiano López, Mauricio Maillé, Familia Mantilla Caballero, Víctor Mantilla, Carlos Martínez, Juan Carlos Martínez, Juan Martínez Díaz, Cuauhtémoc Medina, Soledad Méndez Cruz, Apolinar Mendoza Hernández, Lorea Mendoza, Arturo Mera Ortiz, Félix Merino Guzmán, Ivelin Meza, Armando Miguélez, Mercedes Moncada, Rozana Montiel, Camilla Mordhorst, Leonel Morgan, León Muñoz, Jenny Mügel, Arturo Negrete, Arturo Neri, Alejandra Núñez, María Olivo, Pamela Orgeldinger, Sandra Ortega, Arturo Ortiz, Leonardo Ortizgris, Roberto Palmeño, Camilla Panhard, Martha Papadimitriou, Tim Parsa, Jorge Patiño, Ludger Pels, Manuel Perló Cohen, Angélica Pino,  Esperanza Portilla, Sara Ramírez, Rebel Cats, Isabel Retuerto, Lucy A. Roberts, Mauricio Rocha Iturbide, Gabino Rodríguez, Gabriela Rodríguez, Rodrigo Rodríguez, Duilio Rodríguez, Carlos Rodríguez Bernal, Casandra Rodríguez de la Gala, Aurelia Roja Gómez, Juan Rojas, José Antonio Rojas Loa, Enriqueta Romero, Miranda Romero, Jorge Romo, Ana Rosas Mantecón, July Russek, Camilo Saavedra, Flora Salazar, Jorge Sánchez, Roger Sánchez, Jan Sánchez Castillo, Ida Sass, Sandro Schaffner, Daniela Schmidt, Daniel Silvo, Mario Schjetnan, Rogelio Sosa, Saidee Springall, Sputnik Studios (Benjamín Guzmán, Enrique Nieto, Emilio Coronel y Rubén Nava), Jorge Tamés y Batta, Alejandro de la Torre, Javier Toscano, Ángel Tovilla, Mónica Unikel, Urban Asymmetries, Humberto Valentín González, Anuk Varela, Soledad Vargas, Noemí Vargas, Roberta Vassallo, Rosario Vázquez, Edur Velasco, Lourdes Velasco, Jan Vermehr,  Ignacio Villamar, Villano V, Yael Weiss, Patricia Zapata, Oscar Zárraga, Manolo Zepeda, Gloria Zubieta.

This exhibition is a collaboration between the German Centre for Architecture (DAZ), the Alfred Herrhausen Society (AHG), the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH-Mexico) and Citámbulos.

We gratefully thank the support of:

MEXICO - Secretaria de Cultura de la Ciudad de Mexico, Fideicomiso del Centro Historico, Red de Faros, Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Embajada de Mexico en Dinamarca, Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores and Fundacion/Coleccion Jumex.

GERMANY - Government of Berlin, Stiftung LOTTO, Goethe Institut-Mexiko, Ringo Plast.

DENMARK - Knud Højgaards Fond, Volkswagen, the Mexican Embassy in Denmark, Jakodan A/S.

One party for over 70 years

Mexican presidencialismo, which allowed the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to remain in power for over 70 years, impacted on Mexico City in many ways. 

Perhaps the most dramatic consequence was the loss, in 1928, of citizens’ right to vote for the government of their own city. The absence of a directly-elected local government to respond to citizens’ needs, together with their lack of awareness of their political rights - and responsibilities - meant the city was flooded with conflicts and contradictions.

New epoch of responsibility

In 1985 Mexico City suffered an earthquake that, in spite of the grave damage it caused, shook the citizenry out of their apathy and reawoke the ideas generated by the student revolt of 1968. The solidarity and self-organization that emerged amongst the citizens in the face of the tragedy paved the way for a new epoch in which inhabitants assumed their responsibilities and demanded better management from the authorities.

First democratic election in 1997

This societal self-organization helped to bring about the elections of the first City Mayor in 1997. Since then, the city has seen notable improvements and citizens have gradually discovered that their commitment and initiative are fundamental for the city to function.

At the ONOs and Crisis

At the six stations of this line you hear about i.e. the ONOs, an Objeto No Olvidable, or Unforgettable Object. ONOs can be rods, bolts and metal plates left rooted in pavements that serve no purpose except to demonstrate the negligence of those in charge of urban infrastructure as well as the con of a job never properly finished.

Another stop is Crisis. Accustomed to a crisis that has been going on for decades, the inhabitants of Mexico City have developed diverse ways of dealing with it, ranging from esoteric remedies to a whole range of informal activities. Thanks to its flexibility, employment-generating capacity and its ability to offer cheaper products and services, the informal economy is engaged.

Read more about the exhibition Citámbulos - Drifting Through the Mexican Megalopolis

Three times in history the Mexican basin has born witness to the existence of a great city.

Around 500 AD Teotihuacán brought together ver 200 000 inhabitants. In 1521 Tenochititlan, the Aztecs’ city on the lake, formed an urbanagglomeration of almost one million inhabitants. Now modern Mexico City, build directly upon the ruins of its predecessor and spread over five dried-up lakes, has grown to a megalopolis of more than twenty million inhabitants.

Lakes and canals

Overflow is one of the metrolines and central themes in the exhibition Citámbulos - a journey to the Mexican Megalopolis. The theme explores Mexico City from the wiev of overflow in several meanings. In previous times the city was covered with lakes and canals, today there is an overflow of people, houses, and streets. And furthermore the city is in constant danger of nature catastrofes as earthquakes and floods.

Vulnerable but resistent

All this combined with the deep socioeconomic inequalities fragmentingthe population, has created an apocalyptic image of the city in the imagination of both inhabitants and the rest of the world. Nevertheless, Mexico City, while vulnerable and chaotic is also resistent and dynamic. It is a city of contrasts in constant evolution.

The exhibition is shown at the Museum of Copenhagen from the 27th of May to the 14th of August 2011

Read more about the exhibition Citámbulos - Drifting Through the Mexican Megalopolis

See opening hours

City communities

Copenhagen is not merely a big city somewhere in the world. Copenhagen consists of a number of small, interconnected parts in the form of districts, individuals and communities that simultaneously reflect a local uniqueness and function as centers in complex, global network. Communities based on music, culture, home, language, civic virtue and resistance create and remodel the city’s many different cultures and help newcomers find their feet. At the same time, they reach beyond the city as a locality and connect the urban as a phenomenon together across borders and nationalities.

In the exhibition theme you can hear more about the city’s known and unknown communities through all times.

Highlights from “Urban Communities”

Stories from the exhibition theme:

Time sphere

From 1868, this time sphere was what Copenhageners set their clocks after. With the help of a telegraphic wire and an electric device, the sphere could be raised and dropped from the observatory in the Round Tower at precisely 13.00 every day. This enabled people to synchronise their watches. The raising and dropping of the time sphere replaced the former system in which a flag had been hoisted since 1772. The time sphere was moved to Frihavnen in 1909, and was decommissioned in 1941. By then radio and the speaking clock had taken over the role of regulating time in Copenhagen.

Nyboder dogs

The dogs were put on display in the more prosperous Nyboder homes, just as they did in other maritime cities across most of northern Europe. According to one tradition, the dogs should face one other. The left dog was known as ‘the heart dog’, its task to protect wife and home and serve as a reminder of the husband when he was at sea. According to another tradition, the dogs should face the window when the husband was out, and in the other direction when he was home. In this way, the position of the dogs’ heads could inform potential suitors whether or not the coast was clear.

The youth center at Jagtvej 69

The youth center at Jagtvej 69 existed from 1982 to 2007. The activities in the house consisted of e.g. alternative music, community kitchen, experimental theatre and political meetings, including the planning of demonstrations and happenings. On 1st March 2007 the house was pulled down after a long showdown with the then owners of the building, Faderhuset, and negotiations with Copenhagen Municipality. The plot remains unused.

Other exhibition themes

Arrivals

Wanted-unwanted

Cosmopolitan Copenhagen

Read more about the Museum of Copenhagen’s previous special exhibitions.

Worldwide in Copenhagen

Copenhagen’s architecture, cultural life and supply of goods are a blend of inspiration from other parts of the world. In and around the city, you can still find traces of the colonial period when Copenhagen was the metropolis of a vast kingdom.

In the exhibition theme you can here more about people from the West Indies who have arrived as students, slaves, servants, workers and actors. While from the neighbouring western countries the city has found inspiration for the development and representation of Copenhagen as a metropolis. People from the Far East have been exhibited in the name of both education and entertainment, while blubber from whaling in the North has provided light for the city’s streets. The South leaves its mark on the African street life of Nørrebro and as prehistoric finds left by the first inhabitants of the area, immigrants from the South.

Highlights from “Cosmopolitan Copenhagen”

Stories from the exhibition theme:

Alberta at Vajsenhus School, 1908

In 1905, the children Alberta and Victor came from the Danish West Indies to Copenhagen. Shortly after their arrival, the children were settled in the West Indies section of the large colonial exhibition in Tivoli, from where they were subsequently sent to the Royal Vajsenhus Children’s Home on Nørre Farimagsgade. None of the children were to return to the West Indies, which were sold to USA in 1917.                               

In the exhibition you can learn more about Alberta and Victor.

“Julius” at the chinese exhibition in Tivoli 1902

When the exhibition ended approximately half of the 34 Chinese settled in Copenhagen, the majority on Studiestræde: according to Politiken newspaper at least, writing that a Mr. Ogonsohm and his wife had acquired a flat on the street. ‘On the same street reside many of the others, creating in effect our very first Chinese colony.’ The Chinese were employed in entertainment venues, circuses and tea rooms.

Jaw bones from bowhead whales gave lights in the city

Whale oil from jaw bones from bowhead whales, was used for lighting the Copenhagen streets until the mid-19th century. The processing of whale oil for was carried out in warehouses at Grønlandske Handels Plads (Greenland Trade Square) in Christianshavn. Some of the whales that were used to fuel Copenhagen’s street lights were found in the waters off the coast of Greenland.

Other exhibition themes

Arrivals

Wanted-unwanted

Urban Communities

Read more about the Museum of Copenhagen’s previous special exhibitions.

Wanted or Unwanted in Copenhagen

Throughout history, Copenhagen has been characterised by continuous immigration. By far the majority of this immigration has taken place unnoticed. But some immigrants have received special attention: either because they had special abilities or because they stood out from the rest of the population by way of religion, skin colour, or cultural practice. Sometimes the same groups have been simultaneously welcomed in some contexts and excluded from others.

In the exhibition theme wanted-unwanted, we take a closer look at different groups of immigrants: the Dutch on Amager, the Jews, the Reformed, and the migrant workers. At the presence of German language and culture, the unwanted Roma people, and Arab Nørrebro.

Highlights from “Wanted-Unwanted”

Stories from the exhibition theme:

The last Nap Hat in Copenhagen

Dutch family in front of the church in Store Magleby, 1904. The Amager Dutch came to Copenhagen at the beginning of the 16th century.The characteristic costumes with Nap Hats for the men and special dresses and headwear for the women were still in use in Copenhagen right up until the 1890s. Afterwards, the costumes were only worn on special occasions.

In the exhibition you can learn more about The Amager Dutch and see more photographs
                                           of wanted and unwanted immigrants.

Amager Common and the Roma, 1972

In 1972 69 Roma were allowed to settle on Amager Common. The group came from Poland via Norway. In the wake of the residence permit, there followed a number of debates about how and to what extent the Roma and they way of life could be integrated in Danish society. Finally, the Roma were granted asylum and live today in Helsingør.
Photo: Julie Rønnow. 

In the exhibition you can see more historic photographs of Romas in Copenhagen throug 
                                           all time.

Moritz Pheifelmann (1720-1805) known as Obligirt

Moritz Pheifelmann was Jew and he made his living from selling ribbons for wigs and other knick-knacks to passers-by in the district around Læderstræde and Højbro Plads, calling everyone who bought something from him ‘Sir’. Trading ribbons and used garments, the production of tobacco and selling jewels belonged to the kind of trades that the Jews were allowed to do. However, they were excluded from the craft guilds (until 1787) and universities. The Jews also had their own poor relief, butchers and, from 1779, their own policeman, intended to keep an eye on illegal immigration of poor Jews.

                                           In the exhibition you can learn more about the Jews in Copenhagen.

Other exhibition themes

Arrivals

Cosmopolitan Copenhagen

Urban Communities

Read more about the Museum of Copenhagen’s previous special exhibitions.

at the Custom House were as follows:

Woher kommen Sie? Was bediene Sie?

The German reception once made a

French officer, who made the journey

with me from Helsingborg to Helsingør,

so astonished that he said, ‘My

dear Sir, what country have we arrived

in now?’”

“The city kept coming closer as a picture, language, sound smell, movement, atmosphere and music - topography, labyrinth, condition, home ground, way of life…” Søren Ulrik Thomsen, 1972. (danish writer).

The first glance of Copenhagen

The first encounter with the city is an important moment. Regardless of whether it takes place from a horse drawn carriage with a view from Valby Hill, from a ship sailing towards the harbor jetties or from the escalator leading right into the chaos of voices and impressions at the central station. The excitement of the encounter with the possibilities and freedom of the big city is matched with the concern of its dangers and vastness, as well as your own situation. Where to live? What to be?

In the exhibition theme arrivals you can cross physical boundaries, town gates and security checkpoints that are no longer as comprehensive as before. However, the decoding of the city’s language and codes has, if possible, become even more complex. How long can you actually live in Copenhagen without becoming a Copenhagener?

Highlights from “Arrivals”

Stories from the exhibition theme:

Søren Ulrik Thomsen’s school photo from Sølvgade school, 1972

Søren arrived in Copenhagen from Stevns in 1972, aged 16. He moved into a backyard on Store Kongensgade. He is a writer and has written several books about Copenhagen. He describes the encounter with the big city in the essay The Road between two Schools. He describes the division between Copenhagen and the friends back on Stevns, the trials of school and youth, and how he finally began to feel at home in the capital.

In the exhibition you can learn more about Thomsen’s meeting with Copenhagen.

Helen Clara Hemsley and her warm socks

Helen came to Copenhagen in 1998. Originally, she comes from Durban in South Africa, but left in 1989. Since then, she has lived in the US, England and Scotland before ending in Copenhagen. A conceptual artist, she has lived in Vesterbro ever since she arrived. She treasures the district’s multicultural composition.

“I like the fact that I don’t feel particularly Danish: partly because Danish is difficult. But I feel like a Copenhagener. I AM a Copenhagener.”

                                           In the exhibition you can hear more personal stories of arrivals in Copenhagen.

The bridges and the ravelin in front of Nørreport

The drawing shows the way in which the city’s defenses were constructed by means of ramparts, a moat and protruding posts. The irregular approach to the gate gave the soldiers time to observe approaching people.

In the exhibition you can see more pictures of Copenhagens old city gates and ramparts.

Other exhibition themes

Wanted-Unwanted

Cosmopolitan Copenhagen

Urban Communities

Read more about the Museum of Copenhagen’s previous special exhibitions.

Copenhagen was the hometown of Hans Christian Andersen from 1819, when he arrived in town to become famous, till his death in 1875. Throughout his life he found inspiration in his surroundings. In his works one recognizes a Copenhagen in rapid development - from a small town hiding behind the ramparts to a sprawling modern city.
The exhibition took the shape of a walk through the capital following in the footsteps of Hans Christian Andersen. Along the way doors were opened and we were introduced to the Copenhageners he shared the city with. Original artefacts and pictures told the real fairytale of the author and the city for children and adults alike.