Art Pod with Mathias Kryger #20

Why do artists and cultural workers meet on the staircase in front of museums in Copenhagen and eat watermelon in silence?

And why watermelon?

The watermelon actions are about Israel and Palestine. About Gaza. But also about the special degree of censorship with subsequent self-censorship in countries in the West.

The artists Suada Demirović, Honey Beckerlee and Asta von Apfel talk about what happened when they met with about 30 others on SMK’s staircase one winter day in 2024. About what kind of silence they would like to break, or point to.

What does it mean for artists and the art field here at home when there is no talk, from an institutional point of view, of the degree of cancellations and firings that take place in, among other things, the neighboring country of Germany?

And is it even the role of the local museums and art galleries to talk about that situation? Do the institutions have a responsibility to break the silence and help the conversation on its way?

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In this episode we mention a panel debate at Gammel Strand, which will be held on February 29 2024 with Nanna Hjortenberg (GS), Rhea Dall (Overgaden) and Astrid la Cour (SMK). After the recording, the panel has changed so that Marie Laurberg (Copenhagen Contemporary) participates instead of Astrid la Cour.