SUPERDANISH explorations

Newfangled Danish culture seasons Toronto's calendar

This fall, Toronto's cultural calendar is seasoned with Scandinavian artistic expressions centering especially on Danish delectables in the form of visual arts, architecture, design, craft, music, literature, theatre, dance, food, film and lifestyle. Just opened on September 27, SUPERDANISH: Newfangled Danish Culture will take over the Harbourfront Centre's 10-acre site and other locations in the city for 10 weeks. This unprecedented event will provide a charming and cliché-busting look inside Denmark's current cultural scene featuring the latest in everything that is Danish.
It is a collaborative event initiated by the Harbourfront Centre and various Danish Arts agencies including the Royal Danish Embassy in an effort to provide Danish artists with the opportunity to introduce themselves to the North American public.
"With an international identity imbued with culture, Denmark is a fascinating example for Canada to explore. A special focus of SUPERDANISH will examine the Danish approach to children and culture. Denmark has a remarkably mature and sophisticated way of integrating children into society and culture, which could provide a model for Canada to emulate. We have discovered that the resonance's between Danish and Canadian cultures are significant and will spark many exciting revelations and exchanges", said William J.S. Boyle, Chief Executive Officer, Harbourfront Centre.
The 10-week festival will be the largest North American exploration of Danish contemporary culture ever undertaken. Celebrated Toronto designer Bruce Mau is curating an exhibition for Harbourfront Centre's Power Plant gallery called Too Perfect, that looks at the future of Danish architecture and design and pays homage to its past. Mau's presentation will be triplicated with identical exhibitions simultaneously mounted in Copenhagen and in Venice as this SUPERDANISH exhibition has also been chosen as Denmark's entry in the prestigious Venice Biennale of Architecture. In addition the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront Centre, celebrating its 25th anniversary this Fall, has announced a festival concentration of eight Danish writers for its October gathering of the world's best authors.
Individual events total 143, over 200 artists, 21 participating organizations and 85 educational programmes for over 3,000 students - SUPERDANISH: Newfangled Danish Culture will be Toronto's flavour for Fall 2004, one of the most comprehensive international festivals ever held in this city. Toronto is definitely the place to be, where the world sits at our doorstep and our city emerges as a stage where culture and creativity have a forum for expression. Those of us that live here, in this kaleidoscopic and vibrant city sincerely appreciate such enlightening opportunities as these.

For more information on the SUPERDANISH Festival events and times, please visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com/superdanish or call Harbourfront Centre information at 416.973.4000.

Publication Date: 2004-10-10
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=4475