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Art on Walls: Gadegalleri Nordvest

Art on Walls: Gadegalleri Nordvest

René
Mar 11, 2024
4
 min read

How come the biggest open air gallery in Scandinavia is not one of the biggest tourist attractions in Copenhagen? That's what I asked myself after moving here in 2019 and by accident discovered the mural art in Nordvest. Especially if you are into graffiti or street art, the 16 enormous artworks are a must see.

The thing is, the artworks are situated in a residential neighborhood that normally sees little tourists. Nordvest is a bit rough around the edges, has no historical buildings and could perhaps best be compared to Neukölln in Berlin or Crooswijk in Rotterdam. Gentrification is around the corner but has yet to sink in. 

But if you are bored by the royal palaces in the city center and have little interest in shopping on Strøget or Elmegade, then this is perhaps the perfect destination. It is certainly 'off the beaten path.'

Just hop on a bike, cycle down Nørrebrogade and head to Nordvest (or NV, like the locals call it) to find Rentemestervej and Møntmestervej. 

Visit an Outdoor Gallery

It took curator Jens-Peter Brask and 16 artists three years to create the 16 artworks on the blind walls of a bunch of residential apartment buildings along these two streets. Among the artists are 'famous' street art-names like HuskMitNavn, Jakob Tolstrup and Boy Kong but also a few that you probably have never heard of. 

They all had a huge canvas to their disposal of at least 12 meters high and 8 meters width. There are pink flamingos by Anders Brinch, a hiphop inspired sound machine by CMP and an enormous panting dog by Mason Saltarrelli. 

"I wanted to create a large outdoor gallery that you can visit whenever you want - and where you can choose to spend three minutes or three hours exploring the art" says curator Jens-Peter Brask about his project. "Hopefully, the gables will provoke a new dialog among residents when they meet on the street or in the stairwell."

My personal favorite piece of the bunch is a mural of an astronaut standing on the moon. It's done by Victor Ash, who emulated an old-fashioned black and white television by using horizontal stripes as his main technique. I was still a young kid when the first people landed on the moon but this piece of art in a remote area of Copenhagen brought me right back to my childhood. 

If you have gotten a taste for more, then head to Nomad Epicureans for other fascinating street art spots in Copenhagen. 

While You are There

Or if you want to see something else in NV, visit the beautiful nearby Bispebjerg Kirkegård and the equally stunning Grundvigs Kirke, one of the most impressive churches in Denmark. Afterwards you can have a coffee and a kardemomme bun at Flere Fugle in the cosy Demokrati Garage. 

You will not be disappointed, I promise you.