Metropolis 2024 in reptrospect

A Conclusion and a New Beginning

Although Metropolis 2024 has come to an end, this year’s summer season also marked a new beginning—the first season under the mantra “From Metropolis to Ecopolis,” which shapes and guides all our activities until 2028.

This mantra was a clear thread throughout the twelve creations, which were all created for or adapted to chosen sites, with each exploring the state of nature, the social resonance and impact of the city, and the ever-changing formations of these hybrid landscapes to find meaning and new aesthetics. As always, it was grounded in the presence of body and place.

Elementary Rediscovery

The public opened minds and senses to playful encounters with nature and the elements. Amager Nature Park with its acres of lowlands and young forest, invited us to journey into the mystique, calm, and community of the forest in Forest Silent Gathering by Begüm Erciyas and Under Skov by Secret Hotel. The sky took on form and voice in Cumulus on Refshaleøen with soundtrack, handheld mirrors, and mist cannons. In Greyline by Renae Shadler in front of SMK- The National Gallery and in Nørrebroparken, the audience was invited to follow the forces of the wind and its impact on the dancers’ bodies and the two giant Aerocene sculptures.

 

Performative Walks

The public was also invited on immersive and meditative walks through the city’s landscapes. In silence and for four hours, the protagonists of The Walking City by Italian DOM- guided the public through Copenhagen’s historical traumas, contemporary challenges and possible futures with the sea as a constant landmark. And in Solastalgia by Madeleine Kate McGowan & Sort/Hvid, the public joined the nomads of Arcadia – a feminist eco-community of grieving women in a dystopian parallel society after the climate collapse – at a “critical” landscape site on the edge of the city.

International Perspectives

The season also featured two significant international works for a large audience touching on the rights of the body in the city. We were thrilled to successfully re-stage Austrian choreographer Doris Uhlich’s major work Habitat, where 40 naked bodies once again took over the rapidly changing surroundings of Refshaleøen with a series of moving tableaues.
And Hooman Sharifi & Cullberg’s While In Battle I’m Free, Never Free To Rest filled Blågårds Plads with dancing bodies that sought community in a divided world with equal parts vitality and indignation.

Notable Danish Voices
The political was also prevalent in several notable and innovative works by Danish artists: hello!earth invited, with You May Rest to a collective manifestation of the role of rest in an overheated system – in blazing sunshine at Rådhuspladsen and in front of Christiansborg with hundreds of resting bodies.

Pernille Garde Stage Art staged the story of the overlooked yet groundbreaking Danish zoologist Marie Hammer in Verden i mine øjne. And in The Forests’ Trial, Sara Gebran conjured up a fiery indictment against those responsible for two environmental disasters in Denmark and Venuezuala in a radically formatted and participatory work.

An Artistic Laboratory
First but certainly not least, 18 artists came together over three days in May for a collaborative exploration of the relationship between art, nature, landscape, and people in Performing Landscapes non-stop. Through experiments, workshops and installations, questions were formulated that resonated throughout the season: How can we live and create more sustainably and in equitable interplay and harmony with our surroundings?

Towards Ecopolis
From start to finish, the audience flowed in constantly and with open minds, engaging in dialogue with these difficult questions and venturing into formats where the boundaries between audience and participant were up for negotiation.

Mirrored by this program and the enthusiastic public engagement we experienced, we have started on an artistic exploration of a world marked by ecological crises and breakdowns. We look forward together with artists, partners and audiences to follow this trajectory in the coming years. We expect to launch the 2025 program at the end of April.

Revisit the season’s performances in the photo collage below, in our archive, or on the Metropolis blog.