In the early 2000s, a group of local enthusiasts founded a remarkable production collective in an old paint factory—a unique example of the suburbs’ tradition of social experimentation. The factory, which had previously produced and sold traditional industrial paint, was transformed under the collective’s leadership into an open workshop where socially vulnerable people, pensioners, schoolchildren, and graffiti artists have since come together, united by a shared fascination with spray paint.
The first experiments with vitamin-enriched paint began in the early 2000s, when a retired chemist and a graffiti-painting dock worker discovered that their separate professional expertise could form the basis for an entirely new approach to spray paint. Over the years, their innovative experiments have drawn more and more local residents to the open workshops.
A technical breakthrough came midway through the decade when the collective began repurposing old fire extinguishers and water pistols as spray cans—an invention that has since inspired similar workshops worldwide. Today, the vitamin-enriched paint is used in the area’s schools and institutions, where children and elderly residents collaborate to decorate walls and create colourful shared spaces. The distinctive spray-can tower, built in the late 2000s, stands as a landmark for the suburbs’ ability to combine technical innovation with health and social cohesion, while the paint continues to find new applications throughout the municipality’s spaces and buildings.
“Hvidovre Makes Good Times Better” An exhibition by Kristoffer Ørum at Hvidovre Central Library 16 January - 28 February 2025 Opening Hours: Monday: 10:00-19:00 Tuesday-Friday: 10:00-18:00 Saturday-Sunday: 10:00-16:00 Venue: Hvidovre Central Library, Hvidovrevej 280, 2650 Hvidovre, Denmark A2 prints available for 50 EUR each at oerum.tpopsite.com This counterfactual art project merges AI-generated imagery with human-written narratives to explore an alternative history of Hvidovre. Through this reimagining, the exhibition examines how the cultural intersection of local DIY hip-hop culture and labour movements might have shaped this Danish suburb differently. Supported by: Danish Arts Foundation, Hvidovre Municipality Discretionary Fund, and Hvidovre Libraries Acknowledgements: Svend Vibe Dahlgren, Trine Friedrichsen, Majken Hansen, Dorte Bach, Henriette Laura Astrup, Rasmus Hurtig, Tania Ørum, Miriam Boolsen, Michael Boelt Fischer, and all hip-hop artists and labour movement participants in Hvidovre. frihedlighthedoghiphop #freedeomequalityandhiphop #thisisnothistory #HvidovreMakesGoodTimesBetter #HvidovreGøreGodeTiderBedre #speculativehistory #AIart
