Hanne Nielsen & Birgit Johnsen
The New Carlsberg Foundation’s Artist Grant of DKK 175,000

From board member Morten Kyndrup’s speech at the award ceremony:

‘Whenever Hanne & Birgit do something, they go all in. An early art video of the two artists shredding onions is emblematic of their work in many regards. A mundane act turns urgent. Forms a space that you didn’t see coming. It takes on a character that is both intense and radical. As well as fragile and sensuous.’

Peter Linde Busk
The New Carlsberg Foundation’s Artist Grant of DKK 175,000

From board member Stine Høholt’s speech at the award ceremony:

‘Over the past 10 years, Peter Linde Busk has made his mark with a coherent artistic expression that is a result of his profound grasp of material properties and painstaking working processes. His works have great artistic substance by virtue of their multiple references to art history and literature but also a sense of lightness, life and irony intoned by unusual titles that condition our understanding of the works.’

Anne-Louise Sommer
Carl Jacobsen’s Museum Professional Grant of DKK 175,000

From board member Christine Buhl Andersen’s speech at the award ceremony:

‘With Anne-Louise Sommer at the helm, Designmuseum Danmark has assumed its rightful place in the Danish museum landscape. The professional profile has been strengthened. Considerable external funds have been secured for both exhibitions and building renovation activities. The number of visitors has increased fivefold. And together with the museum staff, Anne-Louise has created an impressive series of temporary exhibitions and a more contemporary presentation of the museum collection.’  

About the New Carlsberg Foundation’s Art Awards

Brewer Carl Jacobsen, the founder of the New Carlsberg Foundation, was born on 2 March, and every year, the Foundation marks the occasion by celebrating Danish art at a reception attended by fellow museum professionals and artists in the Assembly Hall at the New Carlsberg Glyptotek. With the art awards the Foundation recognizes individuals who make a special contribution to the Danish art and museum landscape. Appreciating and highlighting the achievements of artists and museum professionals over time benefits the Danish art scene at large, and thus, the award events are a natural element of the Foundation’s work.

About this’s year’s grant and award recipients

Hanne Nielsen and Birgit Johnsen both graduated from Det Jyske Kunstakademi (The Jutland Art Academy) and have worked together since 1993. Their work includes video art, installations, documentaries and photography and often examines stereotypes, gender topics and seemingly banal everyday situations, in many instances addressed in grotesque and humorous scenarios that seem likes parodies of modern life. Hanne & Birgit have exhibited frequently both in Denmark and abroad, and their works are represented in several Danish museums.

Peter Linde Busk graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in London and currently lives and works in Faxe, Berlin and Athens. His work is similarly diverse and includes the media of painting, collage, graphic art, sculpture and drawing. Busk’s visual universe is often peopled by twisted, distorted figures and deals with transitions, disparities and boundaries. Ugly and uncontrolled elements thus typically appear in stark contrast to the painstakingly ornamented and carefully crafted materiality of Busk’s works.

Anne-Louise Sommer has been the director of Designmuseum Danmark since 2011. Prior to this post, she was an associate professor of art history at Aarhus University, and an associate professor and later acting rector at The Danish Design School. In the latter position, she oversaw the process of upgrading the school to an institution of higher education leading up the merger with the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture. At Designmuseum Danmark, Sommer has strengthened the link between research and communication in relation to both temporary exhibitions and presentations of the museum collection. In addition to this focus area, the museum has also initiated an extensive effort to improve its audience facilities, including extensive renovations of the old museum building in Bredgade in central Copenhagen.