Going Danish is a new exhibition from the Amsterdam-based YOUR:OWN agency, which begins on 7 December at De Balie. After opening a second office in Denmark in 2011, working on various projects in Copenhagen and hosting a Going Dutch show in Aarhus, it was time to bring the Danish delights to Amsterdam. The exhibition introduces the work of various young contemporary artists from Denmark to a new audience in Amsterdam. Here is an interview with the director of YOUR:OWN, Jeroen Smeets.

© Simon Vaeth

NV: Who/what is YOUR:OWN?
JS: YOUR:OWN is a creative agency. We work with young contemporary artists on various projects, exhibitions and publications. We don’t work as a regular agency in which we represent an X amount of artists and exclusively work with them. Instead, for every project we look for the artist that fits that exact project. Over time, of course, there are a couple of artists that we’ve worked with a lot and grew closer and closer to the YOUR:OWN family.

How come you are featuring Danish work in an exhibition? What is the background?
The background of the Going Danish exhibition is actually a continuation of our offices. Last year YOUR:OWN opened a second office in Copenhagen. I’ve been working in between Amsterdam and Copenhagen ever since. And of course in the mean time i’ve seen and got in touch with quite a lot of artists here in Denmark.

What is the focus of the exhibition? How did you choose the work that will be shown?
There is no theme to the exhibition. For most of these artists, if not all, this is the first time they are exhibiting in the Netherlands. So i thought it was most important to introduce the artists and their work first. Some artists created new works especially for the exhibition, while others have collected a combination of old and new work to bring over.

What artists will be featured?
Stine Juul (link)
Basco5 (link)
Daniel van der Noon (link)
Simon Rachwan (link)
Simon Vaeth (link)
The Keld (link)
Lasse Netterstrom (link)

Is this a one-off or the start/continuation of a series of exhibitions?
Actually, this exhibition is sort of a sequel to an exhibition we organised in the summer, titled Going Dutch. This exhibition took place in Aarhus, Denmark at the Lunchmoney gallery. It featured four Dutch artists which i brought over for the occasion. When the opportunity popped up to do a new show in Amsterdam, I felt right to bring Danish artists over. A little bit of cultural exchange, if you will.

Do you plan on featuring any organising any other Nordic-related exhibitions?
Most definitely, although it’s not sure yet in which shape or form. I would love to do exhibitions combining Danish and Dutch artists and possibly getting them to make collaborative work. We’ll see what happens in the future.

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 Going Danish
Opening Friday 7 December, 18:00 – 22:00
De Balie, Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10, Amsterdam
www.your-own.nl
RSVP here