Welfairytales on display
The Danish way of living is the pivotal point of the exhibition in Denmark’s pavilion at EXPO 2010 Shanghai. By means of extraordinary video and photo installations, two of our most talented film and photo artists, Martin de Thurah and Peter Funch, have been commissioned to depict how the Danes live and what they love.
The exhibition in the Danish pavilion in Shanghai will use video and photo installations to show aspects of Danish city life.
In three short films, Martin de Thurah will describe the bicycle city, the water city and the family city. The video installation depicts how the Danes live and structure their daily lives in the cities, and tells stories how to create cities that focus on a high quality of life and sustainability. The underlying themes are sustainable means of transportation and sustainable water management, water environment and the safe and family-friendly city.
Martin de Thurah is one of the most talented Danish film makers. In the last few years, he has attracted much attention through his innovative shorts, music videos and video installations. In 2008, his short “Young Man Falling” was nominated for the Cannes Film Festival, and in 2006 he was elected best new film director by CADS in London. Martin de Thurah’s works of art are characterised by striking figurative language to create magic films that appear both realistic and even more sensuous and beautiful than real life.
Peter Funch has been commissioned to create a photo installation which consists of seven giant photographs depicting what the Danes love about their city life. Personal stories are presented in still pictures where the subjects emerge life-like displaying their individual characteristics. The aim is to introduce the Chinese to the Danes and their country.
Trained as a photo journalist, Peter Funch is in particular recognised for his visual photo art, including the photo series Babel Tales from New York City. Peter Funch takes an almost anthropological approach to the execution of his photographs, and the spectator is challenged, especially regarding what is “reality” and what is “fiction”.
