Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus: in photos

Last updated on July 10, 2019

Our trip to Aarhus coincided with the city’s biannual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition, which featured 56 sculptures from 24 countries. After looking back through the photos, I couldn’t resist a little photo essay. We had hoped for sun during our trip, but I quite like this moody backdrop. It was also such a treat to be beside the sea for a weekend. Aarhus is only 1.5 hours from London, and we could walk to the exhibition within 15 minutes of the city centre.

Sculpture by the Sea in Aarhus is partners with a bigger exhibition of the same name in Australia. It started in 2009 and celebrated its fourth year in 2015. Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus featured 56 sculptures from 24 different countries around the world. The sculptures are displayed along a 3km stretch of coastline, which includes some beautiful woodland area too. The exhibition includes a mixture of established and unknown artists, and covers a variety of sculpture styles from classical to contemporary. There are prizes for the best sculpture and an audience award for the most popular sculpture. The city also gets to choose its favourite sculpture that will then be permanently exhibited in the city. Our guide thought that the Horizon sculpture was in with a good chance. It was definitely one of our favourites (it’s the glass sphere that when you look through it, turns the view upside down).

The next Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Aarhus will take place in 2017, but there are plenty other artworks to see in the city, and we think the ARoS modern art museum, and in particular the Your Rainbow Panorama installation by Olafur Eliasson, is alone worth a visit to the city. You could also check out the Sculpture by the Sea exhibitions in Bondi and Perth, which take place every year. For now, here are the photos to enjoy.

Michal Motycka, DIAMONDS

Michal Motycka, DIAMONDS

Gjøde og Povlsgaard, DEN UENDELIGE BRO

Gjøde og Povlsgaard, DEN UENDELIGE BRO

Thomas Lindvig, UNTITLED

Arun Kumar HG, DROPPINGS AND THE DAM(N)

Arun Kumar HG, DROPPINGS AND THE DAM(N)

KWY, Ricardo Gomes / Ben Allen with Lise Kassow, SØMÆRKE

Geraldo Zamproni, VOLATILE STRUCTURE VI

Karl-Christian Geleff, DUET KNIT

Lucy Humphrey, HORIZON

Anne-Marie Pederse, EYE

Laura Moore (Canada),  ONE MAN’S JUNK

Louise Sparre, SKIN CUBE

Susanna Hesselberg,WHEN MY FATHER DIED IT WAS LIKE A WHOLE LIBRARY HAD BURNED DOWN

Tang Wei Hsu, SHAN SHUI BUNDLES

Koichi Ishino, SEA BREEZE

Pernille Bøggild and Lisbeth Bank, BACK TO NATURE

Jakub Geltner, NEST 05

We went to Aarhus as guests of Visit Denmark (as explained in this post), but all opinions are, of course, our own.