Welcome to an exhibition that seeks to both document and inspire:

By documenting 10 artistic walks that took place on Bornholm in mid-June 2021.

By inspiring the audience to change the pace of their own walks through different rhythms, sounds, rituals and creative processes.

Each Walking Landscape is documented by a video, a map of the route, a text and photographs. The exhibition also shows the physical impressions and works produced along the way.

In a corner of the exhibition space, there is an opportunity to draw in your own suggestions for new walks on a map of Bornholm and pick up a programme for Artist Walks that you can take part in personally or a postcard with inspiration for walks on your own.

Walking artistic practice

The walks documented in the exhibition embody artistic practice on a par with other works of art. These works are less tangible than paintings or sculptures. Instead, they draw on the traditions of performance art and site-specific works, while addressing some of the issues raised by the Anthropocene Epoch.

The Anthropocene Epoch is the period in the Earth’s history when the impact of human activity has increased into a geological force on an equal footing with volcanic activity, meteoric strikes and tectonic shifting. The Anthropocene Epoch concept was introduced at the beginning of the new millennium. Since then, many artists have addressed the scientific, political and ethical problems arising from it. Sustainability is a focal point of the Walking Landscapes, and each is a work of art that relates to the condition and meaning of the landscapes.

Site-specific works of art grow out of the site where they are created. They can relate to the specific site by happening there, use the materials found there or reflect on the site’s inherent meanings. Each of the ten Walking Landscapes was created on site and interprets the site, infusing it with added layer of interpretation.

Performance art is a form deriving from both dramatic art and pictorial art. The primary material in performance art is the body, and a work is usually created on a stage or in an exhibition space, but in this case the setting is the landscape. Each of the Walking Landscapes is built up around a performative template lasting twelve hours and includes self-filmed performances taken once an hour. Each participating artist pursues his/her artistic discipline within the performative framework.

Walking, Talking & Performing Landscapes

Walking Landscapes is part of a three-year Metropolis Landscape project, initiated by Copenhagen International Theatre. The project aims to interconnect art and landscape to discover how people relate to nature and landscapes in our modern age.

A total of 140 artists created Walking Landscapes in 12 Danish municipalities in 2021. Each Walking Landscape is accessible at metropolis.dk/category/walking-landscapes.

Talking Landscapes is a series of conversational performances. The Bornholm Art Museum is hosting a number of performances that will be held in cooperation with an audience during 2022. Like the Walking Landscapes, these works of performance art will address people’s relationship to nature and will be created as conversations based on templates inspired by Jesuit monks, the indigenous people of Northern Canada, and Bruno Latour, a French philosopher. The Talking Landscapes will take place in the areas around Bornholm Art Museum from 23 to 29 May 2022. The entire programme is available on the art museum’s website.

‘Performing Landscapes’ denotes the activities planned for 2023. Here, too, the artists will go out into the landscape to create performance works based on the preceding years’ Walking and Talking Landscapes.

Metropolis Landscape is organised by Metropolis – Copenhagen International Theatre in cooperation with partners in the 12 participating municipalities, with support from Nordea-fonden. The primary partners involved in the activities on Bornholm are Bækkelund International Residency Centre for Artists (BIRCA), Bornholm Art Museum and Bornholm Folk High School, with support from the Regional Municipality of Bornholm.