The artists’ association Grønningen was founded in 1915 and, with its more than 40 members, is among the largest in the country.
Grønningen exhibits at Den Frie every other year, and on December 6 we open the doors for Grønningen 2025, which — in addition to occupying all the exhibition halls — also presents FOCUS, consisting this year of seven curated light works on Den Frie’s forecourt and façade.

Frieda Toranzo Jaeger employs painting as a tool for collective, critical liberation from binary thinking and systems of power. At the center of Toranzo Jaeger’s exhibition at Den Frie is a suspended work composed of interlinked panels, making it at once a painting, a sculpture, and a stage. Painted on both sides, the work reflects on the interconnections between capitalism, technology, and visions of the future.

Toranzo Jaeger depicts metaphors of humanity’s ambition to master nature and conquer the universe through science. Her works examine the friction between humans and machines, rationality and desire, a tension heightened today by social media and artificial intelligence. What happens when our autonomy is absorbed by technology and returns to us in an alienated form? By deconstructing techno-utopian dreams, the paintings unfold alternative visions of the future, carried by queer desire and freed from the shadows of colonialism.

Frieda Toranzo Jaeger (b. 1988) lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico. She studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg.

The exhibition space OSLO

OSLO is Den Frie’s lower-floor exhibition space dedicated to solo projects. At OSLO, we produce and present new works by artists of different nationalities, generations, and media, made specifically for Den Frie and with a focus on social and political urgency, aiming at making sense of the world today. Den Frie was founded by artists with an experimental vision and collective spirit. OSLO continues this legacy by supporting innovative artistic practices in the present.The name OSLO is a reference to Den Frie’s location at Oslo Plads and an anagram for solo.

In 2025, Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling celebrates its 125th anniversary at Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art in Copenhagen. Since 1900, KE has been an open, juried exhibition, giving artists of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities the opportunity to present their work. Organized by artists for artists, KE has always served as a vital platform for experimental contemporary art and a meeting ground for exchange of ideas and practices.

The anniversary exhibition reaffirms KE’s foundation in artistic community. This year’s jury consists of five artists who, alongside their own practices, are actively engaged in artist-run spaces: Charlotte Thrane, Heidi Hove, Markus von Platen, Torben Ribe, and Mads Borre.

Artist-run initiatives create free spaces for artistic expression, critical dialogue, and collective action. They provide opportunities for new voices, foster interdisciplinary experimentation, and challenge institutional boundaries. By highlighting their role, KE underscores a tradition where artists support one another – not as an alternative to the professional art world, but as an integral part of it.

Events

Thursday 13.11.25 19.00 – 20.00

”Opbakning søges – betalt opgave”. Performance with Rosa Marie Frang

Sunday 16.11.25 12.00 – 13.00

Guided tour with Markus von Platen (jury member)

Thursday 20.11.25, 19.00 – 20.30

“AI – fællesskabende eller isolerende?”. Lecture with Kristoffer Ørum, and Ada Ada Ada

Sunday 23.11.25 12.00 – 13.00

Guided tour with Torben Ribe (jury member)

Thursday 27.11.25, 19.00 – 20.30

”Hvordan bliver jeg en professionel kunstner” Panel discussion with Charlotte Thrane (jury member), Heidi Hove (jury member), Sonja Lillebæk (Sydhavn Station), and Mie Frederikke Fischer Christensen (KE). Moderator: Tanya Lindkvist

Emotions permeate popular culture, public discourse, and our everyday lives. At the same time, the world is in a collective state of crisis, uncertainty, and social unrest, which has an inevitable impact on our emotional lives and affects the choices we make. The group exhibition Maybe we could both belong explores how emotions are not only subjective, inner states, but also social and political forces, which are shaped by historical contexts and can animate new movements.

Through sculpture, video, installation, and painting, 12 contemporary international artists examine how emotions emerge and circulate between people – how they both connect us, create distance between us, and influence how we navigate in the world. The works in the exhibition open up different emotional spaces where lived life, relations, and social structures unfold. Here, it becomes clear how certain emotions can be exploited to instrumentalize oppression and exclusion, but also how emotions can be harnessed as fuel to change one’s situation, relationships as well as communities – and perhaps even political systems.

The exhibition title is borrowed from the song Maybe.. by haloplus+

Sian Kristoffersen’s artistic practice spans a wide range of media and materials, drawing inspiration from ancient mythology, nature, science fiction, popular culture, fashion, and literature. Her works shift between surreal fantasies, mystical material memories, and everyday objects and situations, evoking a rich spectrum of associations, emotions, and desires.

In the exhibition Ice-pleasure, a series of sculptural installations unfold as a scenographic tableau composed of materials such as bronze, textile, and steel. As viewers, we find ourselves within a snapshot of living sculptures, seemingly frozen at a decisive moment. Through material and form, fragments of a narrative are revealed — one that precedes our arrival and perhaps even hints at what may unfold after we leave. There is a pervasive ambivalence at play in Ice-pleasure — reminiscent of a damaged bronze portrait sculpture unearthed in Sparta in 1964, a recurring motif in Sian Kristoffersen’s recent work. The statue’s face is shattered and asymmetrical, paradoxically defining her identity. Despite the distortion, her delicate features remain discernible: the arched eyebrows, the large eyes with heavy lids, and the center-parted hair lend her an almost unsettling presence.

In Sian Kristoffersen’s sculptural installation in OSLO, familiar elements merge with abstract forms; amalgamations of objects, reflections and repititions, oversized components, gaps and openings that destabilize our perception of the familiar. Something seems to have collapsed, or perhaps it is the boundaries between bodies and times that have fused. Ice-pleasure interweaves the historical with the speculative in a landscape where fiction, fabulation, and personal experience are inextricably linked.

* The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the book Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson.

The exhibition space OSLO

OSLO is Den Frie’s lower-floor exhibition space dedicated to solo projects. At OSLO, we produce and present new works by artists of different nationalities, generations, and media, made specifically for Den Frie and with a focus on social and political urgency, aiming at making sense of the world today. Den Frie was founded by artists with an experimental vision and collective spirit. OSLO continues this legacy by supporting innovative artistic practices in the present.The name OSLO is a reference to Den Frie’s location at Oslo Plads and an anagram for solo.