As one of Denmark’s leading non-profit art institutions focusing on emerging practices, O—Overgaden mounts an irreverent program of new local and international voices in contemporary art via around eight yearly grand-scale exhibitions and a breadth of concerts, parlors, performances, and film screenings—all with free admission to its spacious location in the heart of Copenhagen, on Christianshavn’s canal.

The majority of O–Overgaden’s program is based on its renowned Open Call, typically paving a way for young or yet unknown artists into the professional art world. O–Overgaden has, since its founding in a former printing workshop in 1986, been an irreplaceable steppingstone for an array of artists—including Olafur Eliasson, Kirsten Justesen, Michael Elmgreen, Pia Arke, Adam Christensen, Lea Porsager, and Marie Lund—and the interest is only growing. Today, O–Overgaden’s Open Call typically attracts between 500 and 600 artists’ applications.

For almost 40 years, O–Overgaden—as one of the few established art institutions in Denmark focused on young artists—has been dedicated to providing artists from all regions the possibility to experiment, develop, and unfold their ideas and practice on a grand scale, producing what, for most, would be the first grand-scale institutional solo show.

Images: Jan S. Hansen / Photo Anders Sune Berg