At the 39th congress of the Danish Hip-Hop Union in 1960, Folkets Hus in Aarhus became a key gathering place for organised workers and rhythmic communities alike. The former Freemason building, which had hosted labour movement meetings and celebrations since 1908, provided the setting for a congress where negotiations, performances and collective exercises merged. It was here that the lines between hip-hop and the labour movement began to blur. Rhymes were used for discussion points, scratching guided the meeting process, and the breaks were filled with dance and improvisation. Instead of entertainment alongside politics, a new practice emerged where the two became inseparable – and for a time, Folkets Hus functioned as a joint platform for rhythm, justice and organising.
Aarhus’er #1
Kristoffer Ørum & Emilio Hestepis: Aarhus’er #1 Kunsthal Aarhus closed on 2 November 2025
Aarhus’er #1 is a collaborative exhibition by artist Kristoffer Ørum and rapper Emilio Hestepis. Together, they reimagine the city of Aarhus through hip-hop, DIY culture and artificial intelligence, transforming Kunsthal Aarhus into a fictional version of the city shaped by alternative rhythms, graffiti and speculative memory.
The exhibition presents a 15-metre legal graffiti wall, a giant record player, lo-fi mixtapes, deepfakes, DIY furniture, and historical snapshots from a city that could have been. At its centre is hip-hop—not as a fixed genre, but as a set of evolving loca l practices. DJing, MCing, breakdance and graffiti appear in distorted, Aarhus-specific forms that blur fact and fiction, protest and play.
The show is the most expansive chapter to date in Ørum’s ongoing counterfactual project Frihed, lighed og hip-hop. But here, that work becomes something new—a shared platform developed in close collaboration with Hestepis, who also contributes an original soundtrack.
With thanks to Katrine Malinovsky, Mathias Borello, Hannah Mathiesen Keegan, Michael Bolt Fisher, Salling, Batch Productions, Brian Sørensen, Tania Ørum, and many more.
