Summer exhibitions 2026

This summer, Copenhagen Contemporary (CC) unveils a new season of CCreate, an initiative designed to spark creative confidence in all ages. This season CC welcomes Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, who presents the large‑scale installation Earth | Tree. Kuma’s work is guided by his philosophy of "gentle architecture", where materials, nature, and people meet in quiet harmony. Constructed from earth and wood, the installation evokes the primal human instinct to seek shelter beneath a canopy. The installation draws inspiration from the Japanese term "komorebi," describing the fleeting beauty of sunlight filtering through leaves.

While at the museum, take your time to explore both French artist Camille Henrot’s installations, which blend mythology, technology, and everyday emotion, as well as Shapeshifters Magic in Fashion, where 11 Nordic designers and artists work at the intersection of fashion, art, and performance. 

Cisternerne in Frederiksberg welcomes one of the most influential and groundbreaking artists of the past five decades: Marina Abramović. 

The exhibition Seven Deaths is a monumental cinematic opera installation and among Abramović’s most ambitious works. Inspired by seven arias performed by the legendary opera singer Maria Callas, the piece unfolds through large-scale film tableaux featuring Abramović herself alongside actor Willem Dafoe. 

Set within the dark, atmospheric architecture of Cisternerne, the installation takes on a new and haunting resonance. The exhibition concludes on the day Abramović turns 80, standing as a powerful reflection on a lifetime defined by artistic risk, vulnerability, and emotional intensity. 

Until August 9 visitors at Design Museum Denmark can explore two exhibitions also resonating with the growing interest in Japan. 

The first, Japan Modern Poster, invites visitors to explore Japanese graphic design from the 1950s to today. The exhibition is tracing the nation’s visual identity from postwar pioneers shaped by Western modernism to the internationally acclaimed designers of the economic boom. 

The second, Japanese Woodblock Prints: Hokusai, offers a rare chance to see 40 works by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), including prints from the period that produced his iconic Great Wave off Kanagawa. Together, the two exhibitions offer a rich perspective on Japan’s artistic and cultural evolution. 

In summer, the museum also presents The Eternal Smile, a major exhibition by Danish textile artist Nikoline Liv Andersen. Through embroidery, weaving, and knitting, she explores the cycle of life, placing her works in dialogue with objects from the museum’s collection. 

The National Gallery of Denmark or SMK similarly centers female craftmanship as an artform in their summer-exhibition Anna Thommesen – Weavings. 

Thommesen (1908-2004) was a self-taught textile artist whose works stand among the most distinctive contributions to Danish modernism. In this exhibition SMK bringer together a rare selection os her tapestries, drawings, and studies, revealing an artist who transformed the simpliest material into a language of rythm and balance. Thommesen’s practice was rooted in an almost architectural sense of order. It’s an invitation to slow down, to look closely, and to experience the beauty that emerges when art, craft, and intuition meet.

Kunsthal Charlottenborg also hosts an exhibition dedicated to textile art. Here, Polish artist and activist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas brings Roma culture to life through her textile collages. Working with fabric, embroidery, and recycled materials, she weaves together narratives of community, migration, cultural heritage, and women’s experiences.

Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s history dates back to 1883, and since then, leading artists from around the world have exhibited at the palace. Today Kunsthal Charlottenborg is part of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ Schools of Visual Arts.

ARKEN is packed with mulitiple highlights over the summer, perfect for a mini day-trip to the south of Copenhagen. 

Step into a world where trash becomes treasure, imagination towers overhead, and environmental activism takes the form of giant, mischievous trolls. The Garbage Man invites visitors into Thomas Dambo’s story‑rich universe, where the internationally acclaimed creator of The Six Forgotten Giants built entirely from recycled wood and discarded materials. 

A child-friendly troll workshop invites guests of all ages to build their own creatures using recycled flooring from ARKEN’s former shop and foyer. Each visitor‑made troll becomes part of a growing community of creations.

This summer, The David Collection shows two exhibitions, both exploring European’s cultural encounters with the Middle East.  

Rørbye & Bindesbøll — The Journey to Constantinople traces the 19th‑century travels of painter Martinus Rørbye and architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll. Their studies from Greece and Turkey became central to their later work. From Rørbye’s paintings to Bindesbøll’s architectural designs, including Thorvalden’s Museum. The exhibition offers a rare look at how travel, observation and cultural exchange fueled their creativity. 

Sending all my love showcases 150 postcards from the Middle East, sent between 1900 and 1940. Featuring scenes of mosques, camels and dancers, these tourist images shaped how many Europeans imagined the region, often as their only visual reference.