Trapholt is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

and

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

located in

Kolding Kolding () is a Danish seaport located at the head of Kolding Fjord in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the seat of Kolding Municipality. It is a transportation, commercial, and manufacturing centre, and has numerous industrial companie ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. It opened in 1988 and was previously named Trapholt Kunstmuseum (Trapholt Museum of Art) but its increasing focus on the broader arts lead to its shortened name. It describes itself as a "museum for modern painting, crafts, design, and furniture design".

Background

The museum was expanded in 1996 to house a

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

collection with contemporary Danish furniture design, with a collection of over 500 chairs from the 20th century, which is the largest in Denmark. The spiral architecture of this part of the museum is inspired by the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

. It also holds collections of

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...

s, primarily

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

s and

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

s. Trapholt comprises the museum itself and its surrounding sculpture park which includes works by

Ingvar Cronhammar Ingvar Cronhammar (17 December 1947 – 20 May 2021) was a Swedish-Danish sculptor, who lived in Denmark from 1965 until his death. He gained a unique place in Danish art with his dark monumental works, often presenting an eerie confrontation ...

Bjørn Nørgaard Bjørn Nørgaard (born 21 May 1947 in Copenhagen) is a Danish artist who has been active in a variety of fields. He has significantly influenced the art scene in Denmark both through his "happenings" and his sculptures in Danish cities. Althou ...

, Lars Ravn, and Søren Jensen. In addition to temporary exhibitions, the museum hosts a permanent exhibition of paintings by

Richard Mortensen Richard Mortensen (23 October 1910 – 6 January 1993) was a Danish painter. Biography Richard Strange Mortensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied between 1931 and 1932 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Influenced by the ...

. Totalling over 2,500 square metres, Trapholt is one of the largest modern art and design museums in Denmark outside

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Arne Jacobsen Arne Emil Jacobsen, Hon. FAIA () 11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural functionalism and for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple we ...

's Kubeflex modular summer house, created by the architect in 1969-70, is located at Trapholt. It is the only of its kind as it never entered production given the artist's death in 1971 and is furnished with Jacobsen's own designs. Until 2002 it was used as a private summer house by the Jacobsen family, but was moved from Sydsjælland to Trapholt in 2005 and opened to the public. In 2000, the museum gained international notability when artist

Marco Evaristti Marco Evaristti (born 1963) is a Chilean artist who has lived in Denmark since the 1980s. While a trained and practicing architect, he is best known for hosting a dinner party where the main course was agnolotti pasta that was topped with a meatba ...

exhibited his work '' Helena'', an installation featuring ten functioning

blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

s each containing a live goldfish, allowing viewers to turn on and kill the fish. At least one visitor did, killing two fish. Danish animal rights charity Dyrenes Beskyttelse complained and then-Director of Trapholt Peter Meyer was fined 2000 DKK for animal cruelty as he refused a police request to turn off the blenders. After refusing to pay the fine, Meyer and the museum were taken to court, where they were eventually acquitted of the charge and the fine was retracted.

References

External links

* {{authority control Contemporary art galleries in Denmark Art museums established in 1988 1988 establishments in Denmark Design museums Kolding