When We Dead Awaken is a tour de force through art history as it has flowed through Gammel Strand – from 1825 to 2025. From Golden Age painting to contemporary art. From art society to art hall.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Gammel Strand, one of Denmark’s very first cultural institutions. The exhibition Når vi døde vågner is a transhistorical journey through works and artists that have left a mark on Gammel Strand – from C.W. Eckersberg to Chris Cunningham to Tal R. What all these artists have in common is that they have all previously exhibited at Gammel Strand.

Visitors will experience both the weight of the gilded frame and the urgency of contemporary art in a vivid dialogue across generations. With Når vi døde vågner history is brought to life.

The exhibition title is borrowed from Gammel Strand’s 1998 exhibition on Edvard Munch, while also referencing Henrik Ibsen’s final play – which fittingly, centers on life and art. The exhibition presents a series of associative, imaginative encounters that together sketch a portrait of how art, its institutions and the surrounding world are constantly in motion – in a state of ongoing exchange and transformation.

Artists
Anna Ancher, Georg Baselitz, Björk, Louise Bourgeois, Franciska Clausen, Anthonore Christensen, Chris Cunningham, Augusta Dohlmann, C.W. Eckersberg, Olafur Eliasson, Else Fischer-Hansen, Harald Giersing, Jeppe Hein, Hanne Hellesen, Karl Isakson, J.L. Jensen, J.A. Jerichau, Jesper Just, Mike Kelley, Ann Lislegaard, Ernest Mancoba, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, Edvard Munch, Hermania Neergaard, Dagmar Olrik, Bjørn Nørgaard, Viera Collaro, Emil Nolde, Kirsten Ortwed, Vilhelm Bjerke Petersen, Tal R, Olaf Rude, Joakim Skovgaard, Agnes Slott-Møller, Christine Swane, Emmy Thornam, Danh Vo, Kara Walker and Bertha Wegmann.