Over the period 1764–84, King Frederik V established a sculpture park at Fredensborg Palace North of Copenhagen, with 70 statues of Norwegian, Sámi and Faroese people. In this episode, we speak with Professor Mathias Danbolt, art historian and lead researcher of the research project Moving Monuments: The Material Life of Sculpture from the Danish Colonial Era and Co-curator of the exhibition Nordmandsdalen: Art, Power and Materials in 18th Century Denmark, to examine how 18th-century sculptural representations of “ordinary people” from Norway, Sápmi, and the Faroe Islands were mobilized within Danish-Norwegian absolutist monarchical ideology. Far from innocent ethnographic portraits or “authentic” representations of the “common” people, the figures of Normandsdalen reveal complex entanglements of extractivism, colonialism, and aesthetic power. Through Danbolt’s critical lens, we explore how these sculptures functioned as tools of imperial representation, and what their legacy means for contemporary debates on art, cultural memory and Nordic exceptionalism.
Links:
Mathias Danbolt research profile: https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/persons/mathias-danbolt
Links to research projects:
- Moving Monuments: The Material Life of Sculpture from the Danish Colonial Era: https://artsandculturalstudies.ku.dk/research/moving-monuments/
- NorWhite: How Norway Made the World Whiter: https://www.tio2project.com/norwhite
Link to book (In Norwegian): https://fagbokforlaget.no/produkt/9788245059342-nordmandsdalen
Link to KODE Bergen art exhibition: https://www.kodebergen.no/hva-skjer/utstillinger/nordmandsdalen
Transkripsjon av episoden (pdf, åpnes i nytt vindu)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:22 — 92.5MB) | Embed