Werner Feiersinger, Svenja Deininger, Jun Yang

• Den Frie, Copenhagen (DK)
• 02.05.–07.06.2026

For the exhibition Vienna–Copenhagen. Den Frie Udstilling 2026, 45 members of the artists’ association Den Frie Udstilling invite their colleagues from the sister institution, Wiener Secession, to participate as guest exhibitors. Like Den Frie, the Vienna Secession was founded in the 1890s, and the two institutions remain among the few exhibition venues in Europe still owned and run by artistsAs is the case of Den Frie Udstilling, Wiener Secession also counts some of the country’s most prominent artists among its members. The exhibition presents more than 45 artists from Den Frie Udstilling in dialogue with more than 100 Austrian artist colleagues from Wiener Secession. The exhibition is organised by Kristoffer Akselbo and Henrik Plenge Jakobsen from Den Frie Udstilling, and Sofie Thorsen, Michael Part and Jun Yang from Wiener Secession, assisted by Clemens Battisti.

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the artists’ association model. The idea of an artist-run exhibition community on the artists’ own terms – independent of institutional agendas and the market forces of the gallery world – resonates with a renewed interest in artist-curated exhibitions, self-organised exhibition spaces and other collective formats. Artists’ associations have, however, often been perceived as a local Danish phenomenon. With this exhibition, Den Frie Udstilling aims to demonstrate that both historical and contemporary international parallels exist.

The Association of Visual Artists Wiener Secession today is housed in another of the world’s oldest independent exhibition institutions, likewise, dedicated specifically to contemporary art. Its programme of ten to fifteen exhibitions per year is developed by the association’s board members through a democratic process and solely on the basis of artistic criteria. The primary aim is to present relevant and current tendencies within international and Austrian art.

The exhibition Vienna–Copenhagen presents works and editions by 125 artists in an energetic display that highlights the potential of collective formats and collegial exchange.

Den Frie