Image credit© Copenhagen Contemporary

At a glance

This exhibition moves past the clichés of Arctic landscapes to focus on the personal agency and lived identities of people from Kalaallit Nunaat today.

Why go

It provides a necessary platform for contemporary Greenlandic voices in Copenhagen, addressing shared colonial histories through a lens of artistic self-determination that is rarely seen on this scale.

You'll see

Indigenous perspectives · Environmental narratives · Contemporary installations · Greenlandic history · Works on transformation

Pace of visit

The medium-high density of installations and thematic layers requires attentive viewing.

Artlovers Tip

If you are short on time, prioritize these galleries over the venue’s permanent James Turrell installation to fully engage with the exhibition's complex themes of identity and ecology.

Inside the exhibition

Fire & Ice: On Belonging and Becoming in Kalaallit Nunaat at Copenhagen Contemporary in Copenhagen, Denmark, reconfigures the relationship between the Danish capital and Greenland. The exhibition rejects the traditional romanticised view of the Arctic, instead presenting works that assert Indigenous agency and explore what it means to belong to the world's largest island in a postcolonial context.

The installation-heavy show brings together Greenlandic histories and environmental narratives to examine how identity is shaped by both heritage and the climate crisis. Visitors encounter a range of contemporary media that document personal and collective transformations, moving from historical reflections to urgent questions about the future of the region's ecology.

By centering Greenlandic perspectives within a major Danish art institution, the exhibition addresses a significant gap in contemporary visibility. It moves beyond the decorative or the ethnographic, offering a nuanced look at the political and emotional realities of Kalaallit Nunaat through the eyes of those who call it home.

Worth travelling for?

A culturally urgent and locally resonant exhibition that is well worth the trip for anyone interested in decolonial studies and Arctic ecology.

Exhibition

Fire & Ice: On Belonging and Becoming in Kalaallit Nunaat

Artlovers relevance

60-90 mins

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