Since 1954, the Jaka factory has been Brabrand’s most far-reaching experiment in the collective organisation of industrial production. Originally founded as the Jutland Cooperative Butchers' Canning Plant, the 550 workers gradually assumed control over both production and the factory’s physical environment. Through collective decisions and aesthetic self-determination, the factory was continually reshaped to meet their needs and desires. The lines between labour and enjoyment blurred: production lines, machinery, and offices were adapted, relocated, and redesigned in accordance with shared visions. Canning took place in spaces the workers had arranged themselves—coloured, musical, and in motion—where spontaneous initiatives and experiments became a natural part of the workday.

Kristoffer Ørum & Emilio Hestepis: Aarhus’er #1 Kunsthal Aarhus → 27 June – 2 November 2025 → Opening: Friday 27.06.2025, 4:30–7 pm

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 local 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.

Supported by the Obel Family Fund, New Carlsberg Foundation, Danish Arts Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, C.A.C Fonden, Knud Højgaards Foundation, Lemvigh-Müller Fonden, and Spar Nord Foundation.

More info: kunsthalaarhus.dk/da/udstillinger/kristoffer-oerum-emilio-hestepis-aarhuser-1

With thanks to Katrine Mailonovsky, Mathias Borello, Hannah Mathiesen Keegan, Michael Bolt Fisher, Salling, Batch Productions, Brian Sørensen, Tania Ørum, and many more.

#contemporaryart #hiphop #aarhus #alternativehistory #exhibition #kunsthalaarhus #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #aarhusernummer1

DJ and dance historian Anne Dorthe Mitchelsen revolutionised Aarhus' hip-hop scene in the 1980s through her work with the collective Frøkenfyrene. She developed ‘worker-scratch’—a technique that transformed loom rhythms into DJ patterns—and systematically documented how women from the factories translated their machine experience into musical innovation. Mitchelsen ran weekly mentoring sessions in the back room of Folkets Hus, teaching young women to mix union songs with breakbeats. Her work laid the foundation for a new pedagogical approach within the hip-hop community and became a reference in international studies. On her dancefloors, generations of women learned to combine technical skill with lived labour experiences, using music as a shared tool.

Kristoffer Ørum & Emilio Hestepis: Aarhus’er #1 Kunsthal Aarhus → 27 June – 2 November 2025 → Opening: Friday 27.06.2025, 4:30–7 pm

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 local 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.

Supported by the Obel Family Fund, New Carlsberg Foundation, Danish Arts Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, C.A.C Fonden, Knud Højgaards Foundation, Lemvigh-Müller Fonden, and Spar Nord Foundation.

More info: kunsthalaarhus.dk/da/udstillinger/kristoffer-oerum-emilio-hestepis-aarhuser-1

With thanks to Katrine Mailonovsky, Mathias Borello, Hannah Mathiesen Keegan, Michael Bolt Fisher, Salling, Batch Productions, Brian Sørensen, Tania Ørum, and many more.

#contemporaryart #hiphop #aarhus #alternativehistory #exhibition #kunsthalaarhus #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #aarhusernummer1

After free public transport was introduced throughout Aarhus, residents began spending their savings on extreme luxury materials for their bicycles. Garages filled with gold leaf for frame decoration, genuine diamonds used as spoke reflectors, and platinum for chainrings and pedals. Without the monthly costs of fuel, insurance, and road tax, ordinary wage earners could afford to buy raw diamonds from the wholesalers at the harbour and gold sheets from shuttered dental labs. Home-built bicycles became increasingly extravagant, featuring inlaid gemstones in the handlebars, gilded mudguards, and seat posts made from solid silver reclaimed from old cutlery factories. Kristoffer Ørum & Emilio Hestepis: Aarhus’er #1 Kunsthal Aarhus → 27 June – 2 November 2025 → Opening: Friday 27.06.2025, 4:30–7 pm

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 local 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.

Supported by the Obel Family Fund, New Carlsberg Foundation, Danish Arts Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, C.A.C Fonden, Knud Højgaards Foundation, Lemvigh-Müller Fonden, and Spar Nord Foundation.

More info: kunsthalaarhus.dk/da/udstillinger/kristoffer-oerum-emilio-hestepis-aarhuser-1

With thanks to Katrine Mailonovsky, Mathias Borello, Hannah Mathiesen Keegan, Michael Bolt Fisher, Salling, Batch Productions, Brian Sørensen, Tania Ørum, and many more.

#contemporaryart #hiphop #aarhus #alternativehistory #exhibition #kunsthalaarhus #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #aarhusernummer1

Marc Johnston was elected Prime Minister of Denmark in 2019 and made relocating the capital from Copenhagen to Aarhus his first major political decision. Johnston, previously known as a rapper and member of the groups F.Æ.L.L.E.S. and T.A.Z., had built his campaign on strengthening the role of hip-hop culture in Danish politics. The move was justified by Aarhus' position as the centre of Danish hip-hop and alternative urban planning. Kristoffer Ørum & Emilio Hestepis: Aarhus’er #1 Kunsthal Aarhus → 27 June – 2 November 2025 → Opening: Friday 27.06.2025, 4:30–7 pm

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 local 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.

Supported by the Obel Family Fund, New Carlsberg Foundation, Danish Arts Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, C.A.C Fonden, Knud Højgaards Foundation, Lemvigh-Müller Fonden, and Spar Nord Foundation.

More info: kunsthalaarhus.dk/da/udstillinger/kristoffer-oerum-emilio-hestepis-aarhuser-1

With thanks to Katrine Mailonovsky, Mathias Borello, Hannah Mathiesen Keegan, Michael Bolt Fisher, Salling, Batch Productions, Brian Sørensen, Tania Ørum, and many more.

#contemporaryart #hiphop #aarhus #alternativehistory #exhibition #kunsthalaarhus #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #aarhusernummer1

Each year on the 1st of May, a special event takes place at the Aarhus Racetrack. Former jockeys, trainers, and local staff gather to show their gratitude to the horses. This is done by jointly carrying the animals on specially made platforms through the area around the old betting booth. The festive atmosphere is accentuated by coloured smoke and custom-sewn blankets. This annual tradition, which dates back to 1924, is a physical expression of the solidarity between people and the horses that once carried them through gallop and harness races, including steeplechase.

Kristoffer Ørum & Emilio Hestepis: Aarhus’er #1 Kunsthal Aarhus → 27 June – 2 November 2025 → Opening: Friday 27.06.2025, 4:30–7 pm

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 local 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.

Supported by the Obel Family Fund, New Carlsberg Foundation, Danish Arts Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, C.A.C Fonden, Knud Højgaards Foundation, Lemvigh-Müller Fonden, and Spar Nord Foundation.

More info: kunsthalaarhus.dk/da/udstillinger/kristoffer-oerum-emilio-hestepis-aarhuser-1

With thanks to Katrine Mailonovsky, Mathias Borello, Hannah Mathiesen Keegan, Michael Bolt Fisher, Salling, Batch Productions, Brian Sørensen, Tania Ørum, and many more.

#contemporaryart #hiphop #aarhus #alternativehistory #exhibition #kunsthalaarhus #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #aarhusernummer1

Norse household members shared the burden of sweeping longhouse floors through rotating duties without hierarchical oversight. They meticulously cleaned shared living spaces with the same capable hands that wielded weapons in combat. These Vikings regarded domestic maintenance with equal importance to any other essential task.Part of “De Tabte Runesten” - nine contemporary artists bringing lost cultural monuments back to life. 20.06-24.08.2025 | Rundetårns Bibliotekssal Tower Talk: Friday 20.06 Runestone Workshop: Saturday 21.06 Artists: @frida.retz @ccbrogaard @geobit @louisandrejrgensen @idakvetny @kristofferorum @sidsel_bonde_ @luxusmusklen @louise_vind_nielsen Supported by Ny Carlsbergfondet, Knud Højgaards Fond, 15. Juni Fonden, A.P. Møller Fonden, Lizzie & Mogens Staal Fonden, Københavns Kommune Thanks to Hannah Keegan More at Rundetaarn.dk @theroundtower #thelostrunestonens #rundetårn #contemporaryart #aiart #kulturarv #copenhagen #kunstudstilling #digitalart #kristofferorum #danishheritage #rundtaarn #detabterunesten #vikinghistory #culturalhistory #danishculture #firhedlighedoghiphop

Viking folk assembled outdoors for communal meals, distributing provisions equally amongst attendees in natural glades filled with birdsong and blossoming wildflowers. Everyone arranged themselves in circular fashion atop blankets spread across meadows, lacking any formal seating arrangement, beneath the vast expanse of sky. They distributed mead, loaves, and cheese to their companions regardless of status whilst inhaling the crisp air and connecting with the soil beneath. Part of “De Tabte Runesten” - nine contemporary artists bringing lost cultural monuments back to life. 20.06-24.08.2025 | Rundetårns Bibliotekssal Tower Talk: Friday 20.06 Runestone Workshop: Saturday 21.06 Artists: @frida.retz @ccbrogaard @geobit @louisandrejrgensen @idakvetny @kristofferorum @sidsel_bonde_ @luxusmusklen @louise_vind_nielsen Supported by Ny Carlsbergfondet, Knud Højgaards Fond, 15. Juni Fonden, A.P. Møller Fonden, Lizzie & Mogens Staal Fonden, Københavns Kommune Thanks to Hannah Keegan More at Rundetaarn.dk @theroundtower #thelostrunestonens #rundetårn #contemporaryart #aiart #kulturarv #copenhagen #kunstudstilling #digitalart #kristofferorum #danishheritage #rundtaarn #detabterunesten #vikinghistory #culturalhistory #danishculture #firhedlighedoghiphop

During assemblies called things, Vikings transformed contests into inclusive displays where participants of all standings could join. Rather than weapon combat, they engaged in movement competitions: twirling, bounding, and showcasing dexterity through synchronized footwork accessible to all. These gatherings, collectively arranged without formal adjudicators, established venues where physical expression itself served as communication requiring no authority figures.The Lee-stone returns to Rundetårn after vanishing in Copenhagen’s Great Fire of 1728. “The Good, the Lost, and the Beautiful (Det gode, det tabte og det skønne)” is a counterfactual project by @kristofferorum building on the lost Lee runestone using AI. This 1.5-metre reconstruction stands alongside AI-generated Viking postcards that blur the lines between historical memory and digital manipulation. Part of “De Tabte Runesten” - nine contemporary artists bringing lost cultural monuments back to life. 20.06-24.08.2025 | Rundetårns Bibliotekssal Tower Talk: Friday 20.06 Runestone Workshop: Saturday 21.06 Artists: @frida.retz @ccbrogaard @geobit @louisandrejrgensen @idakvetny @kristofferorum @sidsel_bonde_ @luxusmusklen @louise_vind_nielsen Supported by Ny Carlsbergfondet, Knud Højgaards Fond, 15. Juni Fonden, A.P. Møller Fonden, Lizzie & Mogens Staal Fonden, Københavns Kommune Thanks to Hannah Keegan More at Rundetaarn.dk @theroundtower #thelostrunestonens #rundetårn #contemporaryart #aiart #kulturarv #copenhagen #kunstudstilling #digitalart #kristofferorum #danishheritage #rundtaarn #detabterunesten #vikinghistory #culturalhistory #danishculture #firhedlighedoghiphop

Early rune carvers doubled as storytellers, creating visual narratives using resources accessible to the entire settlement. Applying ground minerals and fruit pigments, they propelled these mixtures onto stone surfaces and walls, producing hazy contours and intricate details that captured diverse perspectives rather than authoritative narratives. Similar to spiritual intermediaries, these creative individuals operated beyond conventional boundaries, preserving varied experiences and viewpoints for all to witness. The Lee-stone returns to Rundetårn after vanishing in Copenhagen’s Great Fire of 1728. “The Good, the Lost, and the Beautiful (Det gode, det tabte og det skønne)” is a counterfactual project by @kristofferorum building on the lost Lee runestone using AI. This 1.5-metre reconstruction stands alongside AI-generated Viking postcards that blur the lines between historical memory and digital manipulation. Part of “De Tabte Runesten” - nine contemporary artists bringing lost cultural monuments back to life. 20.06-24.08.2025 | Rundetårns Bibliotekssal Tower Talk: Friday 20.06 Runestone Workshop: Saturday 21.06 Artists: @frida.retz @ccbrogaard @geobit @louisandrejrgensen @idakvetny @kristofferorum @sidsel_bonde_ @luxusmusklen @louise_vind_nielsen Supported by Ny Carlsbergfondet, Knud Højgaards Fond, 15. Juni Fonden, A.P. Møller Fonden, Lizzie & Mogens Staal Fonden, Københavns Kommune Thanks to Hannah Keegan More at Rundetaarn.dk @theroundtower #thelostrunestonens #rundetårn #contemporaryart #aiart #kulturarv #copenhagen #kunstudstilling #digitalart #kristofferorum #danishheritage #rundtaarn #detabterunesten #vikinghistory #culturalhistory #danishculture #firhedlighedoghiphop

As oral historians preserved tales in poetic form, Viking communities established festive cadences through collaborative musical endeavours. Manipulating carved stone implements, they interwove vocal resonances with percussion, crafting acoustic environments through collective agreement rather than directive. Their harmonies forged bonds amongst all attendees, substituting structured commands with musical interplay demanding each individual’s voluntary contribution.

The Lee-stone returns to Rundetårn after vanishing in Copenhagen’s Great Fire of 1728. “The Good, the Lost, and the Beautiful (Det gode, det tabte og det skønne)” is a counterfactual project by @kristofferorum building on the lost Lee runestone using AI. This 1.5-metre reconstruction stands alongside AI-generated Viking postcards that blur the lines between historical memory and digital manipulation. Part of “De Tabte Runesten” - nine contemporary artists bringing lost cultural monuments back to life. 20.06-24.08.2025 | Rundetårns Bibliotekssal Tower Talk: Friday 20.06 Runestone Workshop: Saturday 21.06 Artists: @frida.retz @ccbrogaard @geobit @louisandrejrgensen @idakvetny @kristofferorum @sidsel_bonde_ @luxusmusklen @louise_vind_nielsen Supported by Ny Carlsbergfondet, Knud Højgaards Fond, 15. Juni Fonden, A.P. Møller Fonden, Lizzie & Mogens Staal Fonden, Københavns Kommune Thanks to Hannah Keegan More at Rundetaarn.dk @theroundtower #thelostrunestonens #rundetårn #contemporaryart #aiart #kulturarv #copenhagen #kunstudstilling #digitalart #kristofferorum #danishheritage #rundtaarn #detabterunesten #vikinghistory #culturalhistory #danishculture #firhedlighedoghiphop

Ancient nordic orators presented themselves before gatherings where verbal artistry and rhythmic elements merged effortlessly. Their utterances blended with percussion and dance, welcoming collective participation in patterns of narrative and sound. Embracing the talents of every community member, they developed celebrations interweaving vocals, oration, and movement without hierarchical claims of superiority.

The Lee-stone returns to Rundetårn after vanishing in Copenhagen’s Great Fire of 1728. “The Good, the Lost, and the Beautiful (Det gode, det tabte og det skønne)” is a counterfactual project by @kristofferorum building on the lost Lee runestone using AI. This 1.5-metre reconstruction stands alongside AI-generated Viking postcards that blur the lines between historical memory and digital manipulation. Part of “De Tabte Runesten” - nine contemporary artists bringing lost cultural monuments back to life. 20.06-24.08.2025 | Rundetårns Bibliotekssal Tower Talk: Friday 20.06 Runestone Workshop: Saturday 21.06 Artists: @frida.retz @ccbrogaard @geobit @louisandrejrgensen @idakvetny @kristofferorum @sidsel_bonde_ @luxusmusklen @louise_vind_nielsen Supported by Ny Carlsbergfondet, Knud Højgaards Fond, 15. Juni Fonden, A.P. Møller Fonden, Lizzie & Mogens Staal Fonden, Københavns Kommune Thanks to Hannah Keegan More at Rundetaarn.dk @theroundtower #thelostrunestonens #rundetårn #contemporaryart #aiart #kulturarv #copenhagen #kunstudstilling #digitalart #kristofferorum #danishheritage #rundtaarn #detabterunesten #vikinghistory #culturalhistory #danishculture #firhedlighedoghiphop

May 29 – July 19, 2025 Opening reception May 29, 5–8pm

Or Gallery 236 Pender Street East Vancouver, BC, Canada

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, with experimental research by the Night School for Data Fluencies, DATA/FFECT, hannah holtzclaw, and Data Fluencies Pedagogies.

The second of three thematically connected shows on view across North America in 2025, this exhibition investigates art’s potential for reimagining our often narrow understandings of data and machine learning. Using the river tributary as a conceptual starting point, the artistic projects presented in this exhibition work together to explore the ways that critical, conceptual and creative investigation into the promises and pitfalls of our current understandings of data and technology might feed into broader, community-centred exploration, extending beyond the academic venues in which these ideas are traditionally discussed.

Data Fluencies: Tributaries features the work of six contemporary artists, alongside experimental research supported by the Data Fluencies Project, based out of the Digital Democracies Institute at Simon Fraser University. The exhibition aims to provide open public engagement with the research outputs emerging from the larger project and place them next to cutting-edge and critical work of artists examining the same themes and ideas. Together, the artists and researchers featured here offer us ways to (re)consider our relationships with the data that surrounds and drives our everyday lives—and perhaps find new routes to agency once we are able to do so.

The Data Fluencies exhibitions are organized by Roopa Vasudevan, a co-PI on the Data Fluencies Project. #DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

Before Bunkier Sztuki’s concrete structure emerged near the Planty gardens, a temporary incarnation existed. This pneumatic gallery required everyone to physically contribute their breath before entering the exhibition space, standing where the fortifications once marked the boundary of the medieval city. For three months, this inflatable structure stood opposite the Czartoryski Museum. Visitors encountered deflated transparent chambers at the entrance. Only through collective effort– sometimes thirty individuals breathing simultaneously– the gallery would takes its intended form. Inside the space acoustics transformed voices into shared soundscapes. Whispers from one corner carried distinctly to another, reminiscent of the perfect acoustics in St. Mary’s Basilica but accessible to all. Young artists gathered in circular formations within the space, establishing impromptu cypher sessions where verses flowed in continuous rotation, each participant building upon rhythms established by those before them. The malleable walls seemed to pulse with each beat, becoming both instrument and amplifier. Visitors moved freely between installing works and experiencing them, with no fixed exhibitions, only ever-shifting collections. The space responded to movement– objects inflated or collapsed based on proximity, sound installations evolved with the density of visitors. The traditional hierarchies of Kraków’s artistic establishments dissolved within this temporary zone, which existed only as long as collective breath sustained it, before the permanent structure reclaimed its place among the city’s lasting architectural monuments.

Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition) is a part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025 at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków(PL). Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

On display now at Bunkier Sztuki: “Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition)” (15 May - 31 August 2025), continues an exploration started at LCCA Riga’s Survival Kit festival. Through AI-generated snapshots of everyday life, this new series reveals a Krakow where local subcultures and grassroots movements fully realized their radical potential, blending 1990s hip-hop, graffiti art, and historical avant-garde into familiar street scenes. Eight large-format posters serve as monuments to abandoned possibilities, exploring how Krakow’s unique position between East and West might offer new ways to imagine tomorrow. Part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025. Visit Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, plac Szczepański 3a, 31-011 Kraków. Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

When Aleksander Miszalski became Kraków’s city administrator in 2024, his policies reflected the DIY hip-hop culture that shaped him. He envisioned the city as fluid – built from the ground up by its residents. His governance reimagined urban life as a creative process driven by collective participation rather than central control. Creativity became woven into everyday life rather than remaining a separate pursuit. Graffiti-style murals evolved into the natural language of public space, continuing the city’s tradition of visual storytelling. Beats and rhymes filled streets as conversations shaping the city’s rhythm. With b-boy practice spaces in residential areas and cypher circles throughout neighbourhoods, movement became part of daily navigation. Knowledge transfer followed this pattern too. Like producers flipping samples, Kraków’s approach valued lived experience over rigid credentialing. Learning happened through dialogue and direct participation rather than institutional gatekeeping. Through these ongoing reforms, Kraków continues evolving into a city where creation and governance are inseparable. Authority emerges from the breaks and flows of its inhabitants rather than being imposed from above. Life itself has become a continuous freestyle – always in motion, always unfinished, with new elements constantly being added to the mix.

Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition) is a part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025 at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków(PL). Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

On display now at Bunkier Sztuki: “Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition)” (15 May - 31 August 2025), continues an exploration started at LCCA Riga’s Survival Kit festival. Through AI-generated snapshots of everyday life, this new series reveals a Krakow where local subcultures and grassroots movements fully realized their radical potential, blending 1990s hip-hop, graffiti art, and historical avant-garde into familiar street scenes. Eight large-format posters serve as monuments to abandoned possibilities, exploring how Krakow’s unique position between East and West might offer new ways to imagine tomorrow. Part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025. Visit Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, plac Szczepański 3a, 31-011 Kraków. Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

In the late 1980s, Kraków’s allotment gardens transformed as residents incorporated powerful speaker systems into their wooden garden houses. A quiet competition emerged–each household building increasingly resonant sound systems, turning the allotments into a patchwork of acoustic architectures. Families who once built with timber now wired amplifiers into walls, converting workshops into spaces of sonic experimentation. On weekends, entire plots pulsed with music, carrying sounds beyond the gardens into surrounding neighborhoods. “Ogródkowy Styl” emerged – a peculiar local hip-hop variant found nowhere else. MCs crafted verses about vegetable harvests and neighborhood politics over beats sampled from industrial machinery and Polish folk instruments. Delivered in rapid-fire Kraków dialect filled with horticultural terminology, this surreal fusion became distinctly local. Producers pressed tracks onto colorful “Kraków glass” records and created legendary mixtapes featuring garden battle raps and botanical braggadocio. The scene developed its own complex aesthetics, with rules about which garden sounds constituted proper beats. As this movement grew, Kraków became known for its unique soundscape, where folk traditions intertwined with heavy rhythms, and daily life was underscored by a deep, resonant beat. The name stuck: The Kraków Soundsystem.

Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition) is a part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025 at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków(PL). Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

On display now at Bunkier Sztuki: “Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition)” (15 May - 31 August 2025), continues an exploration started at LCCA Riga’s Survival Kit festival. Through AI-generated snapshots of everyday life, this new series reveals a Krakow where local subcultures and grassroots movements fully realized their radical potential, blending 1990s hip-hop, graffiti art, and historical avant-garde into familiar street scenes. Eight large-format posters serve as monuments to abandoned possibilities, exploring how Krakow’s unique position between East and West might offer new ways to imagine tomorrow. Part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025. Visit Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, plac Szczepański 3a, 31-011 Kraków. Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

In Kraków’s Podgórze district stands a monument to anonymous urban labour. Unlike memorials for individual achievements, this structure celebrates collective efforts forming the city. The monument, erected by local residents who took the initiative to honour their community’s everyday contributions, transforms day-to-day through their continued care. Neighbours add discarded items that tell the story of daily life. Office workers place coffee receipts and worn business cards. Bus drivers leave ticket stubs and frayed uniform buttons. Cleaners add broken watch straps and lost earrings found during their work. Across the monument’s surface, clear and visible faces appear, deliberately crafted by residents from these everyday materials. During morning commutes, a shopkeeper might rearrange bottle caps to subtly change an expression. A student adjusts fabric scraps during lunch break, transforming a stern visage into a smiling one. A postal worker shifts torn movie tickets to create a new profile entirely. These faces remain distinct and recognizable but constantly evolve as locals modify them during their daily routines. No permission is needed – altering the faces is considered both right and responsibility. The elderly adjust features to resemble departed neighbors, while children create whimsical expressions from discarded toys. The same residents who built the monument continue reshaping its identity through these small, intentional changes. Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition) is a part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025 at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków(PL). Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

On display now at Bunkier Sztuki: “Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition)” (15 May - 31 August 2025), continues an exploration started at LCCA Riga’s Survival Kit festival. Through AI-generated snapshots of everyday life, this new series reveals a Krakow where local subcultures and grassroots movements fully realized their radical potential, blending 1990s hip-hop, graffiti art, and historical avant-garde into familiar street scenes. Eight large-format posters serve as monuments to abandoned possibilities, exploring how Krakow’s unique position between East and West might offer new ways to imagine tomorrow. Part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025. Visit Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, plac Szczepański 3a, 31-011 Kraków. Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

On Kraków’s skyline, Biprostal stands not as a finished structure but as an ongoing work – reshaped by those who inhabit it. Originally designed as a modernist office tower overlooking the Vistula, it has been altered over time, expanded floor by floor, room by room. No two sections are alike. Some walls incorporate salvaged materials from Kazimierz’s historic buildings, others display geometric patterns inspired by Wawel’s tapestries. The scaffolding, never fully removed, serves as both workspace and passageway for future developments. Sound moves differently here. Acoustic channels create a four-element sound system between floors. The building functions as a dynamic labyrinth where spaces transform according to the desires of its inhabitants. Lower levels pulse with activity – workshops, kitchens, and cypher spaces – forming an interconnected network where creative play and production merge without distinction. Decisions occur in open assemblies, prioritizing nomadic movement and spontaneous encounters over fixed locations and predetermined functions. Materials are repurposed, skills exchanged, and adjustments made in response to need rather than fixed plans. There are no external funders, no headliners dictating what should remain and what must change. The structure evolves as a continuous spatial experiment, influenced by those who pass through and leave their mark on it – a platform for collective creativity where traditional notions of work and leisure dissolve into a single flow of human activity. Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition) is a part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025 at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków(PL). Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

On display now at Bunkier Sztuki: “Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition)” (15 May - 31 August 2025), continues an exploration started at LCCA Riga’s Survival Kit festival. Through AI-generated snapshots of everyday life, this new series reveals a Krakow where local subcultures and grassroots movements fully realized their radical potential, blending 1990s hip-hop, graffiti art, and historical avant-garde into familiar street scenes. Eight large-format posters serve as monuments to abandoned possibilities, exploring how Krakow’s unique position between East and West might offer new ways to imagine tomorrow. Part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025. Visit Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, plac Szczepański 3a, 31-011 Kraków. Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

The Kraków Gateway transforms with each season and weather pattern along Aleja Ignacego Daszyńskiego. Visitors of all ages gather at its base, discovering shared joy in its responsive nature, its original purpose now forgotten. “Quick, before it starts to deflate, let’s go jump around!” people call to each other. Break dancers use the curved surfaces, performing spins and freezes on the yielding material. DJs position their equipment nearby, playing music that complements the movement of the structure. The Gateway makes distinct sounds as it expands and contracts with changing weather conditions. Deep, bass-like tones emerge during temperature shifts. These sounds are audible to anyone pressing their ear against the surface. DJs record these sounds and incorporate them into their tracks. Children jump alongside adults on the inflatable structure. The Gateway was designed as an experiment in communal living and creative interaction, not restricted by traditional architectural rules. It creates a space for spontaneous artistic activities. The inflatable structure disappears at the end of each season. It returns later in a different form. Each iteration maintains core elements of the original design but presents new surfaces, different acoustic properties, and altered interactive possibilities. Visitors return to discover what has changed and what remains familiar in its latest manifestation.

Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition) is a part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025 at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków(PL). Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

Recently elected by an overwhelming and joyous majority, Michał “Mata” Matczak has transformed Poland’s political landscape through his unprecedented fusion of governance and creative expression. His landslide victory signaled citizens' embrace of his vision where art and politics stand as equal forces for social change. Drawing from his background in Polish hip-hop, President Mata has reimagined government functions as spaces where graffiti, music, dance, and song communicate policy as effectively as traditional speeches. The walls of Poland’s executive offices now showcase citizen-created murals expressing hopes for the nation’s future, while presidential addresses incorporate performances where policy points are delivered through rhythmic verses. Decision-making has been decentralized across Poland’s regions, with community gatherings featuring artistic expression before formal deliberation. Cabinet meetings open with musical performances, and government ministers often respond to citizen concerns through improvised verses, transforming political dialogue into collaborative creation. Under Mata’s leadership, the somber faces of necessity-driven politics have given way to joyous expressions of possibility. Policy discussions flow at the natural rhythm of creative exchange rather than bureaucratic timetables, making civic participation feel less like obligation and more like celebration.

Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition) is a part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025 at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków(PL). Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

On display now at Bunkier Sztuki: “Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition)” (15 May - 31 August 2025), continues an exploration started at LCCA Riga’s Survival Kit festival. Through AI-generated snapshots of everyday life, this new series reveals a Krakow where local subcultures and grassroots movements fully realized their radical potential, blending 1990s hip-hop, graffiti art, and historical avant-garde into familiar street scenes. Eight large-format posters serve as monuments to abandoned possibilities, exploring how Krakow’s unique position between East and West might offer new ways to imagine tomorrow. Part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025. Visit Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, plac Szczepański 3a, 31-011 Kraków. Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

During the political transition of the early 1990s, small kiosks bearing the words Niezależna prasa appeared across Kraków. Some say they emerged overnight in unexpected places – down Grodzka’s side streets, in Kazimierz courtyards, under the Vistula’s stone bridges. Others insist they had been there far longer, simply waiting for the right moment to be noticed. Their walls were made of layers of baked dough, bound with sugar glaze or syrup – sturdy enough to hold their shape yet fragile to the touch. Some kiosks had roofs dusted with cocoa or colourful sprinkles, while others carried the scent of spices, as if infused with cinnamon or vanilla. Newspapers, printed on thin sheets of rice paper with vegetable-based ink, were free to be taken, read, and then eaten – the ink dissolving on the tongues of readers, becoming part of their bodies. Readers carried words from the kiosks into the city – onto trams, into stairwells and market stalls – where fragments resurfaced in conversation, combining to form new sentiments and ideas. The kiosks seemed to remain only as long as they were needed; once their messages had spread and been absorbed, they disappeared, leaving only a slightly greasy spot where they had been. Today municipal authorities have no records of their existence. And most officials dismiss them as rumours, while others still, claim to have seen faint imprints where they once stood – sticky residue on pavement stones, a lingering scent of burnt sugar near the city walls. Even now, in certain corners of the Planty, you can see people pausing, as if catching a trace of something just beyond reach.

Monuments of a Fictional Past (Krakow edition) is a part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025 at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków(PL). Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

(15 May - 31 August 2025), continues an exploration started at LCCA Riga’s Survival Kit festival. Through AI-generated snapshots of everyday life, this new series reveals a Krakow where local subcultures and grassroots movements fully realized their radical potential, blending 1990s hip-hop, graffiti art, and historical avant-garde into familiar street scenes. Eight large-format posters serve as monuments to abandoned possibilities, exploring how Krakow’s unique position between East and West might offer new ways to imagine tomorrow. Part of Three Seas Art Festival 2025. Visit Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art, plac Szczepański 3a, 31-011 Kraków. Supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond and the Danish Arts Council. #contemporaryart #aiart #krakow #alternativehistory #exhibition @bunkiersztuki_artgallery #threeseasfestival #monumentsofafictionalpast #localfutures #flux.1 #thisisnothistory #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

Join us for the opening of our first Captive KIOSK exhibition on 13 May, 17:00-19:00 at Fredericiagade 12B. Meet curators Emil Torp-Rasmussen and Adrian Preisler, view works from 17 international artists, and enjoy complimentary beer (while supplies last). This street-level video kiosk will be accessible 24/7 through September, featuring a door-mounted screen, dual headphones, and custom seating. The exhibition presents a continuous 65-minute loop of experimental works exploring visual art beyond conventional perception. “Kiosque de l’In-visible” interrogates our screen-mediated visual culture, offering alternatives to mainstream visual paradigms through abstract imagery, AI generation, glitch aesthetics, and non-representational approaches. No admission required—just stop by anytime. The kiosk features works from Alex Young, Bob Bicknell-Knight, Cecilie Penney, Dirty Time, Eva Holts, Ethann Néon, Frederik Tøt Godsk, Julia Hechtman, Pablo Serret de Ena, Rodrigo Azaola, Sandrine Deumier, Sarah Dahlinger, Spøgelsesmaskinen, Stanislav Kholodnykh, Suresh Babu Madiletty, Vlad Tretiak, and Xu Linyu. Note: Best viewing experience after sunset due to reduced screen reflections. Curated by Emil Torp-Rasmussen (MA in Visual Culture, Nikolaj Kunsthal) and Adrian Preisler (MA in Art History, curator at MILAAP). Initiated and facilitated by Kristoffer Ørum as part of Captive KIOSK series.

more information at cp.oerum.org

May 29 – July 19, 2025 Opening reception May 29, 5–8pm

Or Gallery 236 Pender Street East Vancouver, BC, Canada

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, with experimental research by the Night School for Data Fluencies, DATA/FFECT, hannah holtzclaw, and Data Fluencies Pedagogies.

The second of three thematically connected shows on view across North America in 2025, this exhibition investigates art’s potential for reimagining our often narrow understandings of data and machine learning. Using the river tributary as a conceptual starting point, the artistic projects presented in this exhibition work together to explore the ways that critical, conceptual and creative investigation into the promises and pitfalls of our current understandings of data and technology might feed into broader, community-centred exploration, extending beyond the academic venues in which these ideas are traditionally discussed.

Data Fluencies: Tributaries features the work of six contemporary artists, alongside experimental research supported by the Data Fluencies Project, based out of the Digital Democracies Institute at Simon Fraser University. The exhibition aims to provide open public engagement with the research outputs emerging from the larger project and place them next to cutting-edge and critical work of artists examining the same themes and ideas. Together, the artists and researchers featured here offer us ways to (re)consider our relationships with the data that surrounds and drives our everyday lives—and perhaps find new routes to agency once we are able to do so.

The Data Fluencies exhibitions are organized by Roopa Vasudevan, a co-PI on the Data Fluencies Project.

Today, we are nodes in the same network as Boston’s Cyberarts Center, a community hub coated in conductive paint that links us to the “Boston Technique”—that we once pieced together from distorted mixtapes and photocopied zines. Green smoke rises from signal transmitters as triangular logos pulse across continents, connecting us to a system that once existed only in fragments. Our shared network spans oceans, linking communities that were once isolated through unseen channels of information and expression. Signals from Boston reach us, and our transmissions return, forming resonant patterns that evolve with each exchange.

Triangular computing towers now stand beside train depots where we once mapped hidden circuits. Children gather around emerald-lit screens, tracing geometric configurations while blending conductive compounds into homemade spray paint. These mixtures, refined through trial and error, form the basis of a DIY infrastructure where aesthetics and function merge—each stencil, tag, and coating not only marking space but transmitting data. The city itself becomes an interface, its surfaces carrying signals and stories in layers of metallic pigment.

The technology belongs to everyone, shaped by those who use it rather than by fixed systems or predetermined roles. Former tagphreakers exchange knowledge with new generations, who bring fresh ideas to long-standing traditions of hands-on experimentation. Making, modifying, and adapting are inseparable from understanding. Keeping the network nimble, flexible, and alive—responsive to its surroundings rather than locked into rigid hierarchies. Each contribution extends a system once passed in hushed whispers—now an open, evolving structure shared across the world.

DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening reception April 18, 6–9pm Gallery hours Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, alongside work from the Data Fluencies Theatre Project (Emerson College, Boston) and DATA/FFECT (York University, Toronto).

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

DIFFUSED STATES presents infrastructure where new forms of logic emerge from local adaptations—technology shaped by freedom, pleasure, and collective ingenuity. DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening reception April 18, 6–9pm Gallery hours Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, alongside work from the Data Fluencies Theatre Project (Emerson College, Boston) and DATA/FFECT (York University, Toronto).

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

By the 2020s, the once-underground tagphreaking movement had become a familiar part of everyday life, known simply as the network. This system uses a ternary computing method, based on three operational states—initiation, transition, and stabilization—reflecting how metallic spray paint particles linger in the air before settling. In Denmark, North America, and beyond, local communities have contributed to this decentralized, community-owned infrastructure, enabling flexible communication and collaboration across diverse regions. Local experiments with metallic paint mixtures continue to guide the network’s evolution, shaping the ways signals emerge, shift, and stabilize. In open fields, towering triangular structures decorated with bold geometric patterns have become a common sight, reflecting both the practical and creative aspects of the network’s design. By 2023, these gatherings are an ordinary feature of daily life: participants from varied backgrounds share resources, refine technology, and engage in collective problem-solving. No single hub dominates the network, and each node contributes to a shared global tapestry of data and ideas. Ternary computing has thus become integral to discussions in technology, politics, and economics, revealing new possibilities for growth and collaboration. The network remains an evolving, inclusive system open to all, seamlessly connecting communities worldwide.

DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening reception April 18, 6–9pm Gallery hours Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, alongside work from the Data Fluencies Theatre Project (Emerson College, Boston) and DATA/FFECT (York University, Toronto).

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

DIFFUSED STATES imagines a movement where communication networks emerge through improvisation and shared knowledge rather than corporate development. DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening reception April 18, 6–9pm Gallery hours Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, alongside work from the Data Fluencies Theatre Project (Emerson College, Boston) and DATA/FFECT (York University, Toronto).

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

By August 2015, Copenhagen’s ternary computing network had developed from specific local conditions—harbor minerals mixed with paints to create conductive surfaces, integrated into Nørrebro and Christianshavn in ways shaped by each neighborhood’s materials and climate. These innovations traveled through an expanding global network. One of the most productive exchanges formed between Copenhagen and Boston—Boston’s industrial byproduct formulas refined Copenhagen’s harbor applications, while Copenhagen’s conductive paints were adapted to withstand New England’s seasonal shifts, leading to material developments suited to both locations. Elsewhere, connections formed beyond the larger cities. Rural workshops in Jutland experimented with ternary circuits embedded in reclaimed wood for agricultural sensors, while Finnish cooperatives integrated conductive pigments into forestry infrastructure. The Vancouver-Copenhagen link influenced both cities: Vancouver’s rainfall-responsive networking protocols, developed for the Pacific Northwest climate, were tested in Copenhagen’s older street layouts, while Copenhagen’s energy-efficient distribution techniques supported Vancouver’s efforts to maintain stable computing systems during storms. Knowledge circulated between locations as different as Nairobi and Kyoto, each adaptation shaped by local conditions and materials.

DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening reception April 18, 6–9pm Gallery hours Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

DIFFUSED STATES envisions technology built for curiosity and discovery rather than control, showing how paint might bridge digital and physical worlds. DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening reception April 18, 6–9pm Gallery hours Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, alongside work from the Data Fluencies Theatre Project (Emerson College, Boston) and DATA/FFECT (York University, Toronto).

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

Shortly after boarding our flight back to Denmark, the American businessman beside me folded his Boston Globe to reveal a peculiar advertisement. “The future is Ternary: build your own,” it declared in bold marker above a vibrant photo spread. I nearly choked on my complimentary peanuts. There before me were diverse teenagers gathered around a triangular rainbow-colored computer called “TERNARY PANTS,” their faces lit with excitement beneath caps bearing the same logo. “Interesting, isn’t it?” the businessman remarked casually, noticing my fixation. “My daughter’s been begging for one. Apparently, all the kids are building these now.” He tapped the “Corrected by boatba” notation in the corner before turning the page, oblivious to my shock. What struck me wasn’t the colorful pyramid-shaped hardware or the enthusiastic young users but the dissolution of what had felt like a secret fellowship. Ternary computing had been our shared language, hidden knowledge that bonded us across continents. Now it belonged to everyone—to smiling teens with branded caps standing before graffiti walls, pointing at green text screens. That night, after landing, I dialled into our usual conference call, the line bridged across multiple countries with our modified equipment. “You won’t believe what I saw in the Boston Globe,” I began, my voice hollow. “It’s gone mainstream.” The cryptic text beneath the image only reinforced our sense of displacement—the made up words “Kites and Llorpts” that was part of once-secret private language of tagphreaking. What we had sought on our trip had been there in plain sight—not as subculture but as newspaper-advertised youth culture—so ordinary it had become next to invisible.

DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening reception April 18, 6–9pm Gallery hours Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, alongside work from the Data Fluencies Theatre Project (Emerson College, Boston) and DATA/FFECT (York University, Toronto).

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

By the mid-90s, three of us had saved up enough to visit New York, inspired by the Copenhagen tagphreakers and their ternary computing experiments described in underground zines. We sought the legendary Phreaker Bench, convinced it was the hub of a movement combining electronics and graffiti. When we reached the NTA-3986zinl Concurse station, we found only empty wooden benches beneath a black station sign. The special equipment we’d read about was nowhere to be seen. One of us thought we must have misunderstood the old messages, that “the bench” was never a real place but a symbol for hidden meeting points. Another figured we’d arrived too late. We spent hours checking walls with voltage meters, looking for any trace of special paint or hidden circuits, but only picked up subway noise and taxi radio chatter. Our equipment—a stained backpack with antenna-studded devices and modified spray cans—seemed ridiculous in hindsight. Over two days, we investigated phone booths, graffiti spots, and switching stations. We checked surfaces with UV lights and demonstrated our techniques to confused local artists and railway workers. We talked to countless people, but only one aging phone company worker vaguely recalled finding strange conductive paint near Canal Street years ago. Flying home with unused equipment, we wondered if we’d misunderstood everything or simply arrived too late.

DIFFUSED STATES is a part of DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening April 18, 6–9pm Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts, 141 Green Street, Boston, MA, USA

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

DIFFUSED STATES charts the emergence of imaginary communication networks maintained by communities, integrating the numerous playful subversions that have been systematically excluded from traditional narratives of technological development.

DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening reception April 18, 6–9pm Gallery hours Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, alongside work from the Data Fluencies Theatre Project (Emerson College, Boston) and DATA/FFECT (York University, Toronto).

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

In the early 90s, we gathered in the local youth club rather than rail depots, our collective slowly expanding beyond its original core members. Most afternoons, we’d occupy the club for the detailed work of assembling our zines. Our triangular publications, stained with coffee and marked with hand-drawn circuit diagrams, proudly displayed the bold “TAG PHREAKS” logo that became our calling card. The colorful holographic triangular stickers beneath our paper zines became our secondary medium—their reflective surfaces encoded with symbols that referenced our analog hacking techniques. The ink stamp visible on the wooden table alongside our triangular zines wasn’t merely for postage but marked each issue with a unique identifier linking it to our distribution network. Studio work sessions taught us to blend artistic expression with technical knowledge, creating publications that documented the intersection of graffiti culture and phone phreaking. By ‘92, our zine had evolved beyond simple documentation, incorporating intricate circuit diagrams disguised as artistic patterns—creating a visual language that authorities couldn’t decode. During our weekly meet-ups, we would spread our triangular zines across wooden tables, use black ink stamps to mark them, and with careful attention to who received which issue, distribute another node in our growing underground information network.

DIFFUSED STATES is a part of DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening April 18, 6–9pm Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts, 141 Green Street, Boston, MA, USA

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

DIFFUSED STATES imagines communication networks maintained by communities—playful subversions that exist outside traditional technological development. DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening reception April 18, 6–9pm Gallery hours Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

Featuring artists Lai Yi Ohlsen, Lani Asunción, Jazsalyn, Kristoffer Ørum, Caroline Sinders, and Roopa Vasudevan, alongside work from the Data Fluencies Theatre Project (Emerson College, Boston) and DATA/FFECT (York University, Toronto).

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

The so-called “Boston Technique” arrived in Denmark on distorted mix-tapes, featuring Boston artists rhyming about making spray cans with specialized nozzles and pressure mechanisms for producing tones and making radio transmissions. Subsequently, these methods surfaced in the new European zines that we began to see locally, their pages paint-spattered and filled with annotations from other tagphreakers striving to decode the Boston approach. Many nights we pored over blurry illustrations and photographs, attempting to comprehend how they’d retrofitted standard spray paint caps to manage pressure and flow while incorporating signal-generating technology. What few images were available to us revealed apparatus constructed inside partially hollow Krylon cans, equipped with miniature transmitters, frequency modulators and diffusion modulators. Despite lacking access to the components we saw in the photos, we continually discussed how to create similar tools using regional resources. Throughout those years, we carefully examined the photocopied blueprints trying to build our own functioning ‘ternary’ arrangements. Slowly we uncovered what Boston Tagphreaks had know for a long time as we began to mix pressurized paint processors with ternary transmitters.

DIFFUSED STATES is a part of DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening April 18, 6–9pm Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts, 141 Green Street, Boston, MA, USA

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

The title of DIFFUSED STATES reflects the physical dispersion of paint, algorithmic image generation, and the spread of grassroots technology across urban environments.

DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening April 18, 6–9pm Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts 141 Green Street Boston, MA, USA

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

It was sometime in the early ’80s when my friends and I first heard whispers about hidden signals embedded in traded mixtapes circulating through Copenhagen’s suburban underground. Stories filtered through school hallways and from older siblings who’d come home late with paint-stained hands, telling tales of something strange happening to the trains in the quiet outskirts of the Danish capital. A dog-eared copy of the “Tagphreaks” zine became our bible—a mysterious publication passed hand to hand documenting techniques for “phreaking” urban spaces with spray-paint. With our limited grasp of the English text and diagrams, we pieced together theories until curiosity finally pulled us toward the train yards ourselves. Our first nights by the red DSB train cars yielded nothing but doubt. Armed with a salvaged boombox and spray cans stolen from a neighbor, we snuck into the train yard finding neither the triangular markings with embedded circuitry nor the weird radio signals we had expected. But we kept going back. Then one night, we discovered them—geometric arrows and scattered squares full of glittering circuits adorning the rail cars. The boombox suddenly picked up voices between frequencies as we observed the S-train signals responding to the improvised transmitters we had built from the “Tagpheaks” plans. We cheered as we realized these symbols and circuitry were exactly what we’d been searching for. Before long, we were painting trains, soldering circuits and connecting with other groups of tagphreakers all along our trainline.

DIFFUSED STATES is a part of DATA FLUENCIES: Rivulets April 18 – June 15, 2025 Opening April 18, 6–9pm Fridays, 4pm–9pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 12pm–6pm

Boston Cyberarts, 141 Green Street, Boston, MA, USA

#DATAFLUENCIES #DIFFUSEDSTATES #SpeculativePasts #ThisIsNotHistory #FrihedLighedOgHipHop #TagPhreaks

“With each bite, their bodies become more unruly – fingers of braided Danish pastry form into fists, hair of spun sugar flutters like rebellious flags, and eyes like small rum balls sparkle with mild revolution. Their bones have become crisp vanilla wreaths that crack against the teeth of the world.” Exhibition Information: This work contributes to Denmark’s artist-run initiatives that form the heart of the local art scene Part of an independent and artist-driven organization Experience 26 works by 28 artists, each lasting 26 minutes #contemporaryart #aiart #aarhuskunst #kh7artspace #flux1 #arhusart #artistassociationjutland Note: This the third part of text a translation of the audio narrative that can be heard in the exhibition.

“At Sydhavnsgade 7, the building twists itself free and transforms into cake. The former concrete walls, where harbour workers once took their hungry breaks, have now become a rebellious mass of marzipan and icing sugar that refuses to comply. Wild sugar lumps explode through the facade as a blossoming resistance against moderation and productivity.” Exhibition Information: “Where the Walls Weep Sugar / Hvor Væggene Græder Sukker” Part of “TIME, 26 works, 26 minutes, 28 artists” March 1-30, 2025 KH7 ARTSPACE, Sydhavnsgade 7, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark www.kh7artspace.dk #contemporaryart #aiart #aarhuskunst #kh7artspace #flux1 #arhusart #artistassociationjutland Note: This the first part of text a translation of the audio narrative that can be heard in the exhibition.

A gateway stands in Malmö, telling stories since 1891. The Old Gate at Folkets Park isn’t just an entrance – it’s a living piece of history that keeps changing with the times. Built from scaffolding and bits and pieces people saved from the scrapheap, it shows how Malmö has grown from a factory town into a place buzzing with art and music. This spot is where worlds meet. Here, you’ll find retired factory workers teaching young people everything they know, especially about building sound systems. Old electricians work their magic with audio wiring, while former carpenters shape wooden speaker boxes with the care that comes from years of practice. Metalworkers who once worked in the factories now bend and weld frames to hold all the equipment steady. The gate area keeps the spirit of Malmö’s working people alive in a new way. Where workers once gathered to sing in choirs and dance to orchestras, now people come together to make music of all kinds. It’s amazing to see former textile workers, who used to keep factory machines running smoothly, now fixing audio cables and putting together circuit boards. Through these sound systems, pumping out everything from hip-hop to community festivals, the city’s factory days live on in today’s music scene. The “Även staden drömmer om att vara en annan” series presents alternative visions of Malmö City Hall, Folkets Park, and the gallery at Drottninggatan 6. At the Edge II – Featuring works by Jamila Drott, Maxime Hourani, Maia Torp Neergaard, Kristoffer Ørum Curator: Kevin Malcolm Dates: March 14 – April 13, 2025 Vernissage: Friday, March 14, 5–8pm The exhibition is supported by Kulturrådet, Malmö stad, Region Skåne and Statens Kunstfond. Thanks to Lisa Strømbeck for Swedish proofreading. #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

Since 1935, Drottninggatan 6 has been more than just a building – it’s a place where people can really make their mark. Its open design has let generations of residents remake it in their own way. The first people who lived here knew a thing or two about garden plots, and they worked magic with whatever materials they could find. They pieced together entire kitchens from salvaged stuff and cleverly built balconies from old scaffolding. These days, people living there keep that creative spirit going strong. They’ve turned everyday stuff into painting tools – pressure cookers and bike pumps become spray painters, reaching from inside walls to the building’s outer face. People mix up their own colors using leftover paint from factories, mixing it with thinners and using compressed air to spray it. The building comes alive with layers of art – kids' drawings peek through between detailed murals and bold graffiti. When the community gets together, the whole building changes as people create temporary doorways between floors and apartments. While these changes don’t stick around forever, they change how neighbors hang out and move through the space. Even as people move in and out, the walls tell their stories through layers upon layers of paint – each one a memory of what this place could be. The “Även staden drömmer om att vara en annan” series presents alternative visions of Malmö City Hall, Folkets Park, and the gallery at Drottninggatan 6. At the Edge II – Featuring works by Jamila Drott, Maxime Hourani, Maia Torp Neergaard, Kristoffer Ørum Curator: Kevin Malcolm Dates: March 14 – April 13, 2025 Vernissage: Friday, March 14, 5–8pm The exhibition is supported by Kulturrådet, Malmö stad, Region Skåne and Statens Kunstfond. Thanks to Lisa Strømbeck for Swedish proofreading. #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

Since the early 1990s, Malmö’s City Hall has been doing things differently, mixing old-school city planning with hip-hop culture. Building on how things were done back in the 1920s, they’ve created a way of running the city that you won’t find anywhere else in Europe. Here, paperwork and creativity don’t fight each other – they make each other better. Picture city council meetings where debates about money and building permits turn into rap battles, with different sides trading verses about their ideas. Department heads mix dance battles with voting, making decisions in a way that’s both fun and gets things done. Number crunchers turn their reports into performances, while plans for new buildings come alive through freestyle rap that helps everyone understand what’s being built and why. When it’s time to hear from the public, city workers jump between giving regular presentations and joining dance sessions to really connect with people. Committee meetings flow with rhymes as locals and city staff swap ideas over beats. Before getting down to business, meetings kick off with break dancing. Old-timers show the newcomers how to mix fresh ideas with getting the job done, keeping the city running smooth while bringing in new ways of doing things.

The “Även staden drömmer om att vara en annan” series presents alternative visions of Malmö City Hall, Folkets Park, and the gallery at Drottninggatan 6. At the Edge II – Featuring works by Jamila Drott, Maxime Hourani, Maia Torp Neergaard, Kristoffer Ørum Curator: Kevin Malcolm Dates: March 14 – April 13, 2025 Vernissage: Friday, March 14, 5–8pm The exhibition is supported by Kulturrådet, Malmö stad, Region Skåne and Statens Kunstfond. Thanks to Lisa Strømbeck for Swedish proofreading. #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop

makertube.net/w/7EZnBc7…

By day, Thorkild Simonsen was the serious Social Democrat who served as Aarhus mayor from 1982 to 1997 before becoming Denmark’s Interior Minister. But few knew about his alter ego as “The Hip-Hop Mayor.”

After hours, Mayor Simonsen would exchange his formal attire for street clothes and visit underground hip-hop venues. Despite being in his 50s when hip-hop emerged globally, he embraced the culture and occasionally performed his own political rhymes.

His unofficial recordings circulated among Aarhus youth, translating municipal politics into beats and rhymes that connected with younger citizens. Even after becoming Interior Minister under Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, where he tackled tough immigration policies, Simonsen maintained his musical connections.

Thorkild Simonsen passed away in 2022 at age 96, leaving behind both his official political legacy and his surprising reputation as Denmark’s most unlikely hip-hop enthusiast.

Lyrics and music @emilio_hestepis

#aarhusernr1 #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop Aarhus er # 1 Opening at @kunsthalaarhus this June

Just launched: “Automate The Artworld” - a small collection of web art experiments where I describe ideas to DeepSeek-Coder R1 AI and let it create websites. These works are generated locally on a server using recycled hardware at my studio, run entirely on certified green power. This approach is part of my strategy for damage reduction and building local digital infrastructure that doesn’t rely on energy-intensive cloud services. The results range from exactly what I wanted to wonderfully weird glitches - all exploring the collaborative space between artist and AI. Who’s the real creator? What new forms emerge? Check out the experimental prototypes at oerum.org/pico/Auto… #AutomateTheArtworld

DATA FLUENCIES EXHIBITIONS April–July 2025

“Data Fluencies: Rivulets” Boston Cyberarts (@bostoncyberarts) Boston, MA, USA Opening April 18, 2025

“Data Fluencies: Tributaries” Or Gallery (@orgallery) Vancouver, BC, Canada Opening May 29, 2025

“Data Fluencies: Confluence” Living Arts and Science Center (@lasclex) Lexington, KY, USA Opening June 6, 2025

Encompassing three thematically connected shows on view across North America in mid-2025, the Data Fluencies exhibition series investigates art’s potential for reimagining our often-narrow understandings of data and machine learning. The exhibitions will run between April and July at Boston Cyberarts (Boston), Or Gallery (Vancouver), and the Living Arts and Science Center (Lexington).

Each exhibition features work by six contemporary artists—Lai Yi Ohlsen (@laiyi____), Lani Asunción (@lani.asuncion), Jazsalyn (@jazsalyn), Kristoffer Ørum (@kristofferorum), Caroline Sinders (@carolinesinders), and Roopa Vasudevan (@rouxpz)—alongside experimental outputs from the broader Data Fluencies Project, an international research initiative based out of the Digital Democracies Institute at Simon Fraser University. The exhibitions aim to provide open public engagement with the research emerging from the larger project, and place it next to cutting-edge and critical work of artists examining similar themes and ideas.

Together, these artists and researchers offer us ways to (re)consider our relationships with the data that surrounds and drives our everyday lives—and perhaps find new routes to agency once we are able to do so.

The Data Fluencies exhibitions are generously supported by the Mellon Foundation (@mellonfoundation) and the Digital Democracies Institute at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, @simonfraseru). Organized by Roopa Vasudevan, a co-PI on the Data Fluencies Project. Visual identity by PROPS SUPPLY (@props.supply).

The selection process is now open for galleries seeking to represent groundbreaking digital artist Kristoffer Ørum for the upcoming year. Selected galleries will receive:

Enhanced cultural capital through association with Ørum’s innovative digital practice Academic legitimacy through critical theory engagement Exposure to new collectors and institutional networks Featured placement in digital publications and academic journals

This highly competitive open call evaluates galleries on their ability to provide value to artists through revenue generation, marketing resources, and commitment to artistic freedom. APPLICATION DEADLINE: March 31, 2025 NOTIFICATION: By April 15, 2025 Submit your gallery’s application at: oerum.org/opencall (link in bio) Limited positions available. All applications will be reviewed by a selection committee.

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

In the 1930s, gas and water master Theis Thiesen’s self-built house exemplified the unique architectural tradition in Hvidovre, where low resource consumption and self-reliance went hand in hand. Over time, an entire neighbourhood of houses like Thiesen’s emerged. His modest 35-square-metre building featured a colourful facade made from recycled materials and surprising handmade details. Although originally intended as a temporary structure, the house became a lasting source of inspiration for many future generations.

In the 1980s, young hip-hop enthusiasts discovered the unique self-built houses, whose colourful facades and unorthodox designs reminded them of New York’s vibrant cityscape. Thiesen’s house and other self-built structures naturally became gathering points for the emerging hip-hop culture. The old barter networks from the self-build era were revitalised, now centred on the exchange of breakdance moves, rap lyrics, and graffiti designs.

Where Thiesen, as a plumber, had once traded services with other craftsmen, young people now exchanged artistic skills. The creative use of recycled materials in the self-built houses inspired a distinctive Hvidovre style in both graffiti and music. Today, these houses symbolise the unique do-it-yourself culture that links the self-builders of the 1930s with the hip-hop pioneers of the 1980s, fostering individuality, community, and sustainability.

“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

By 2022, Thursday evenings at Cultural House Risbjerggaard had become a groundbreaking experiment in the sharing of bodily knowledge, where diverse movement traditions converged to explore the liberating potential of dance. Archival materials reveal how the physical experiences of industrial-era workers and the urban dance movements of the youth engaged in a fertile exchange through the orally transmitted principle, “each one teach one.”

The grand festival hall, once a venue for union meetings and local balls, was transformed into a weekly stage for dialogue between body cultures. Historical accounts describe how the collective patterns of folk dance intertwined with the expressive urban styles of breakdance, gradually merging into innovative hybrid dance forms.

The most celebrated example of this fusion is “The Electric Polka,” which blends the community-focused rhythms of traditional folk music with the soloist expressiveness of breakdance. Still practised in the area today, this unique dance stands as a testament to how local movement traditions can be revitalised through encounters with new cultural influences.

“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

The transformation of the Green Islets into Denmark’s first maritime free municipality in 2024 is both a triumph and a challenge for its residents. The official recognition of free municipality status teeters between being a symbol of legitimacy and a potential vehicle for unwanted normalisation.

“Free municipality status sounds promising on paper, but it risks becoming a Trojan horse for assimilation,” warn the islets’ original residents. Many fear that the area’s unique blend of labour movement traditions and hip-hop culture will be reduced to “municipal folklore” for marketing purposes.

The most contentious development is the formalisation of the former island council. Once characterised by dynamic decision-making processes blending political debates and rap battles, the council now shows signs of creeping bureaucratisation. Even the once-spontaneous rap battles are being structured with agendas and minutes.

In response, residents are developing new forms of creative resistance, reinterpreting bureaucratic language through hip-hop’s rhythmic expressions. “We must reinvent bureaucracy in our own rhythm, not let it define us. Every municipal form holds the potential to reshape democracy,” declare the islets’ activists, determined to preserve their unique culture while navigating the challenges of formal recognition.

“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

“Where the Walls Weep Sugar / Hvor Væggene Græder Sukker” is part of “TID, 26 værker, 26 minutter, 28 kunstner” at KH7 Artspace 1-30 March (www.kh7artspace.dk/), a self-initiated group exhibition by The Artist Association Jutland (www.ksjylland.dk). The work consists of a single AI-generated photograph (flux.v1) and 1-minute audio piece transforming the industrial architecture of Sydhavnsgade 7. As a first-time guest , I’m very happy to contribute to an association that exemplifies the kind of Denmark’s artist-run initiatives that art the heart of the local art scene through their independence and artist-driven organization. At KH7 Artspace, Sydhavnsgade 7, 8000 Aarhus. Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation. #contemporaryart #aiart #aarhuskunst #kh7artspace #flux1 #arhusart #artistassociationjutland #wherethewallsweepsugar #danishcontemporaryart #frihedlighedoghiphop #tankhiphop #aiart #thisisnothistory

Figure 21: Hvidovre Beach

In the late 1970s, while neighbouring municipalities waited for state grants to fund their artificial beaches, Hvidovre’s residents took matters into their own hands. It began with a spontaneous act: families emptied their children’s sandboxes and spread the sand over the muddy beach.

Weekend after weekend local residents gathered to build their own beach. Craftsmen constructed simple dikes, pensioners organised seaweed collection, and those with access to construction sites transported surplus sand to the beach. Word spread through hip-hop networks across Denmark, and soon trucks loaded with sand arrived from construction sites in Aarhus and Odense. This grassroots effort became a popular alternative to the large state-led beach improvement projects in Køge Bay.

Through this initiative, Hvidovre’s citizens created not just a bathing beach, but a community-managed space. To this day local residents maintain the beach through communal workdays. Known as “the secret beach,” they prefer to keep it unknown to outsiders. Here, generations of Hvidovre citizens continue to gather, caring for the place they built and nurtured together over the years.

“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

Ølgaard’s Corner exists as a unique phenomenon within Hvidovre’s underground culture—a term for the spaces where breakdancers, graffiti artists, and union members came together in the suburb’s in-between areas. Originally conceived by the municipality’s road and park department as a practical joke, it evolved into a network of unofficial meeting places where bartering became an essential form of urban survival.

An “Ølgaard’s Corner” could emerge anywhere. Graffiti artists traded spray cans for workers’ surplus paint, breakdancers taught craftsmen new moves in exchange for tools, and rappers composed lyrics for union campaigns in return for home-grown vegetables. These spaces functioned as cultural free zones, where working-class solidarity traditions intertwined with hip-hop’s DIY ethos.

Today, the term has become part of Hvidovre’s oral tradition, a symbol for locations where values were created through direct person-to-person exchange. To say, “See you at Ølgaard’s Corner,” was not merely to name a meeting place but to evoke an entire philosophy of community and cultural exchange, rooted in old worker traditions and reimagined through contemporary urban expression.

“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