Art with a conscience
SUPERFLEX and their ‘extreme participation’ philosophy’
Located near the industrial northern harbours of Copenhagen, the public art firm SUPERFLEX lives behind cast-iron orange doors, in a rusted, cavernous warehouse. “It used to be home to machines,” explains co-founder Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, “but now it’s a space for humans. All occupants are temporary – homes can be for anyone.” It’s a curiously profound statement to make at the beginning of a conversation, but as it turns out, it’s the key to understanding what SUPERFLEX does.
While the artists’ studios may seem modest, their CV is far from it. SUPERFLEX were behind the famed 2009 ‘Flooded McDonald’s’ film, and more recently, the ‘One Two Three Swing!’ exhibition in the Tate Modern – only a stone’s throw away from our own office in London.
“The idea is in togetherness. Three people together can achieve far more than just one. We don’t believe in the individual super-genius.”
It’s perhaps no accident that the thinking behind the three-person swing neatly reflects the trio of founders: Bjørn, Jakob Fenger and Rasmus Rosengren Nielsen. The three have been working together since before art school – nearly 30 years – and throughout the decades they’ve been pushing the boundaries of public space in increasingly elaborate ways.
Superkilen Park is a true hallmark of SUPERFLEX’s ambition. It also happens to be on their doorstep.
Opening in 2012, Superkilen Park is located in the diverse neighbourhood of Nørrebro. As Bjørn explains, “it’s a very complex community. It is very ethnically diverse, and there are also many wealthy and less wealthy people living side-by-side. When we set out, there were a number of social problems.”
In designing the artworks for Superkilen, Bjørn and his team aimed to get to the root of these problems. Their solution: to engage the local community, and keep them engaged.
“At SUPEFLEX, we believe in ‘extreme’ or ‘extended’ participation. It means we do more than just consult the community; we engage them as co-creators over a period of weeks and months.”
In pursuit of ‘extreme participation’, the SUPERFLEX team were fastidious in ensuring the ethnic diversity of Nørrebro was represented in Superkilen. In fact, Bjørn and his team even travelled with locals, back to their home countries, where they selected items and inspirations to be taken back to Nørrebro. From Texas came a line-dancing pavilion; from Morocco an ornate fountain; from Somalia a set of basketball hoops; from Jamaica a body-rock sound system; from Palestine, a handful of soil. In total, 50 nationalities are represented in Superkilen Park – even the UK gets a mention, in the guise of a bin from Liverpool.
Comprising three segments – The Red Square, The Black Square and The Garden Park – Superkilen provides the spinal cord to a neighbourhood previously without direction. Whether playing, sitting, or cycling through, locals now have a public space that represents and reflects their origins and values. In Bjørn’s words, “it has changed the neighbourhood for the better”, and if ever there was evidence of this, it would be in Time Out naming Nørrebro as the world’s coolest neighbourhood in autumn last year.
Driving positive change through art goes some way to explain SUPERFLEX’s purpose across its projects – Superkilen included. However, the firm’s philosophy has many more layers of complexity. Bjørn’s latest project, for example, is the construction of a ‘Super-reef’ along the shores of Copenhagen. Experimenting with the best materials, colours and surface-areas for sea-life, SUPERFLEX will ultimately install an expansive new home for Copenhagen’s underwater residents across the shoreline, designed to boost biodiversity – as well as exhibiting replica structures above ground, for the public to view.
