New Exhibition at Danish Architecture Center Water is Coming

Press contact

Johanne Troelsgaard Toft, Senior Press Officer
jott@dac.dk
+45 6142 1927

Poles are melting, groundwater is rising, and torrential rain is flooding roads and houses. It’s no longer a question of if, but when the water is coming – and we must adapt to it. Danish Architecture Center (DAC) is addressing this new reality with the Water is Coming exhibition, opening on October 7, 2024. In a sensuous and poetic exhibition universe, the exhibition explores the relationship between water, people and nature in a rapidly changing world where, despite the seemingly bleak outlook, there is also hope and opportunity.  

Water is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Rising sea levels and more frequent cloudbursts demand radical change in urban design and organization. Cities like Copenhagen, Venice and Jakarta are already dealing with the inevitable question: How can we adapt to the water instead of fighting it? 

In the Water is Coming exhibition, DAC is seeking to create a deeper understanding of our dependence on water and the challenges it poses to our cities. The exhibition also presents different solutions for how we can live with water in the future. Senior curator Pernille Stockmarr explains: 

“We’re at a crossroads. Water is both a life-giving resource and a threat to our way of life. At the exhibition, we want to show that our ability to integrate and manage water will shape the future of cities and the lives of many people. We can adapt, but we have to think differently, work together, and take our outset in nature. This will yield radical solutions, and they can very well be extremely attractive.” 

Adapting Our Cities to a World with More Water 

The exhibition presents a wide range of solutions from both Denmark and abroad that show how we can adapt to rising water levels. Concrete projects explore topics such as biodiversity, urban development, and innovative waterfront housing. There are also models and projections illustrating how scientists, architects, landscape architects and urban planners can work together to protect cities and create recreational spaces for both people and nature. 

The projects include Copenhagen Islands by the landscape architects at Schønherr, which shows a vision for the future Copenhagen in which new urban spaces emerge naturally from the city’s original landscape and the natural flow of water. The current climate resilient neighborhood project in Østerbro, created by SLA, THIRD NATURE and LYTT Architecture is transforming an entire neighborhood into a water-management oasis with rainwater collection and green urban spaces. And Enghaveparken in Copenhagen demonstrates how urban spaces can collect large amounts of rainwater and act as recreational areas. 

On a larger scale, the exhibition presents the Lynetteholm project as an example of combined urban development and storm surge protection, and Niederhafen in Hamburg, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, shows how river promenades can protect against storm surges while creating open, social urban spaces. 

The exhibition also presents short films showing how Danes are already living with water as a central part of their everyday lives.  

The projects show how climate adaptation can be approached in many different ways – from local initiatives to large infrastructure projects, and from nature-based solutions to technical constructions. However, the solutions often point in different, and sometimes contradictory directions, and some has also sparked public debate. The exhibition invites visitors to reflect on these perspectives and form their own opinions to promote a valuable dialog about future climate adaptation. 

Sensory Installations  

Visitors enter a sensuous scenography of blue-green textiles that float from the ceiling like waves. The Water Drops installation is a sensuous experience of the coming of rainfall. The textile installation Sky & Sea invites visitors to look up and observe the organic waves and beautiful colors. Visitors to the exhibition can also try their hand at several computer games and navigate fictional future universes characterized by rising waters. 

There are also contributions from the Danish Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2023, including the scenographic installation Mermaid Bay, created by Christian Friedländer as part of the Coastal Imaginaries exhibition, curated by Josefine Michau. Visitors meet a dramatic staging of a future coastal landscape, partially engulfed by the sea. Through a sensuous scenography of light and sound, the fragility of the coastal landscape and the harsh realities of climate change are depicted in a magnificent diorama. The installation conveys a deeper understanding of nature-based design in wetlands. 

With Water is Coming, DAC wants to inspire visitors to reflect on the role of water in the future and actively join the debate about how we can live with, protect and preserve this essential resource for future generations. 

The Water is Coming exhibition has been developed by Danish Architecture Center. 

See more information at https://dac.dk/en/exhibitions/water-is-coming/  

Press photos of the exhibition can be downloaded from October 7 at www.dac.dk/presse 

 

Contact information
Johanne Troelsgaard Toft, Senior Press Officer
+45 6142 1927
jott@dac.dk 

Thanks to
The exhibition has received funding from the philanthropic association Realdania, Dreyers Fond, Knud Højgaards Fond, Augustinus Fonden, Beckett Fonden and Danish Arts Foundation.

About Danish Architecture Center
Danish Architecture Center (DAC) is an international cultural attraction that creates engaging experiences and generates debate about architecture and design. At DAC you can experience exhibitions, tours, events, and buy design products. You can also enjoy the spectacular view of the city from the café’s large rooftop terraces.

The financial basis is a public-private partnership between Realdania and the Danish government, represented by the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing and Senior Citizens.

Background Information about the Exhibition and the Water and Architecture Theme 

  • You can’t usually interact with a fountain, but from October 7 to October 24 you can experience a very special fountain on the wooden pier in front of BLOX and DAC. If you work with it, you can make it spout up to 20 meters in the air. The fountain is part of the Water is Coming exhibition, and it is active during Danish Architecture Center’s opening hours. It was created in collaboration with Krøyer-Sætter-Lassen and Fokdal Springvand, with support from Sparekassen Sjælland-Fyn.
  • The Water Drops installation by the glass artist Maria Sparre-Petersen reminds us of how everything is interconnected and interdependent. Water flows in the world, and it flows in us. The mirrored glass balls were originally made for an installation in New York in 2001. They have since survived floods and remind us that something good can last, even if something else changes.
  • The Mermaid Bay installation is a modern interpretation of a diorama – a spatial installation that combines elements of theater scenography with the classical exhibition aesthetics we know from natural history museums.
  • Sky & Sea is an art installation by textile designer and artist Iben Høj. The installation unfolds Iben’s knitted spatial draperies and invites visitors into a poetic, immersive space between the sky and the sea.
  • Every year, around 505,000 cubic kilometers of water falls as rain on Earth, but it is unevenly distributed. Some areas experience frequent rainfall, while others suffer from drought. Climate change also affects rainfall patterns.
  • Listen to the podcast Strategic Urban Management produced and published by Danish Architecture Center: “Who will lead the water?” with Henrik Vejre, Professor of Landscape Management at the University of Copenhagen and an expert in municipal climate action, and Mikkel Henriques, Project Manager at Realdania with 20 years of experience in urban development and urban planning.