Art in the Metro and Metro construction
Art above and below ground
Art really became a part of the Metro when the Byens Hegn project saw the light of day in connection with the start of the City Ring construction. The large construction site fences were transformed into giant canvases for a wide range of art installations, and the construction was no longer so grey to look at. But art in the Metro is not just temporary works. There are also decorations around the M1, M2 and M3 line, and all five metro stations on the M4 to Sydhavn are decorated with art in the station rooms.
Abandoned colourful foil balloons
If you're standing on Kongens Nytorv waiting for the train to the airport, a shiny balloon might catch your eye. In 2017, artist Jeppe Hein hung a series of metal balloons at various locations in the metro station, and the work was completed with 17 balloons in 2020. The work is called ‘Coloured Mirror Balloons’ and has become a reality with financial support from the Niels Wessel Bagge Art Foundation to move art into the public space. Jeppe Hein hopes that the balloons can help create connections between people and places.
Art experiences in the bike parking
Two of the bicycle parking on metro lines M1 + M2 have been given the artistic treatment. At Forum Station you get a touch of the Wadden Sea in the form of atmospheric images taken by photographer Anne Prytz Schaldemose, and at Kongens Nytorv Pernelle Maegaard has decorated the entrance through the bicycle parking with colourful works.
Art on the M4 to Sydhavn and Valby
Five stations - five artworks
On the M4 to Sydhavn and Valby, art is for the first time an integral part of the stations. The five artworks are very different and have been created for each metro station, giving them their own unique expression. The stations are designed by four different artists and one artist group.
Explore the stations
In some places, passengers are greeted by high-tech light installations, mega-sculptures or a mythological mural, while in other places the art completely turns the familiar metro space upside down or offers a journey into outer space. Some works are very conspicuous, while others are more subtle.
Selected by the Danish Arts Foundation
The artists were selected by the Danish Arts Foundation following a competition in which 10 Danish artists/artist groups participated. Among other things, it was emphasised that the stations should have different expressions.
The Obel Family Foundation, the Villum Foundation and the Danish Arts Foundation have provided financial support for the project.
Havneholmen
At Havneholmen, the artist group Superflex has created the art that adorns the metro station.
The Metro's usual elements such as information screens and travel card stands have been installed so that they can suddenly be seen on the walls and ceiling. At the same time, some of the clocks in the station move unpredictably to emphasise that the art in the station is anomalous in both time and space.
Enghave Brygge
The Enghave Brygge metro station has been decorated by artist Pernille With Madsen. She has created various elements that can be seen in several places at the station. Here you will find light works, abstract reliefs and concrete decorations that combine high technology, archaeology and geology.
The work plays with past and future and will be like a mix of an archaeological find and a science fiction prop.
Sluseholmen
Sluseholmen is decorated by artist René Schmidt. Here the art consists of two large elements. At the top of the station, a huge steel sculpture hangs above the escalators. The multi-faceted surface of the sculpture helps to diffuse the light in the station. At the bottom of the station there is a concrete beam above the platform with embedded geological structures.
Mozarts Plads
The Mozarts Plads metro station is decorated by local artist Christian Schmidt-Rasmussen. The walls of the station are covered with wall panels on which Christian has painted a large work based on the area around Mozarts Plads. Here, present and future are mixed in a series of abstract figures.
København Syd
København Syd is decorated by artist Henrik Plenge Jakobsen. Here, the sky is brought down into the metro station as the station walls are clad in different shades of blue. On the end wall by the escalators hangs an astronomical clock that shows a precise image of a number of the celestial bodies' current position over København Syd. In this way, the metro station has a clock that goes beyond the daily routine and gives passengers a greeting from outer space.