Copenhagen by Nina Mouritzen
Guest Contributor | March 5th, 2010
This Copenhagen guide is written by a native who has lived in New York for the past ten years, meaning, this is more a story of re-locating and not so much the do’s and don’ts of visiting. I know this city and grew up here and yet my point of references seem to be slightly outdated. I feel my experience of living in Copenhagen now has been rooted mostly in the discovery that the things I initially loved, are still intact.
Copenhagen is a small place, one million people. Not tons of cultural diversity, yet still a general curiosity about the outside world and the average Dane is very well traveled. We pride ourselves with an open-mind and being on the forefront in loads of political ways and a sort of “all embracing” nation. I disagree for the moment, after having spent a decade in New York (and maybe un-justly comparing the two cities) and now returning to Copenhagen. Denmark has become close minded due to a very nationalistic political party that seems to feel that all things different are bad and the current Danish Prime Minister is a mini-me of George Bush. We’re still waiting for the Obama changes!
A majority of people seem to have been scared into believing that all things different really are bad and there seems to be a disturbing “them and us” notion portrayed in the media. I would call it “racism” on a very bad day, and “ignorance” on a better day. I am, however, not the only one who disagrees with current tendencies. <strong>I was pleasantly surprised to experience first hand how the rich history of activism, civil disobedience and hitting the streets to protest, are still very present. And I do feel, that the all-embracing nation is not totally lost, as people from all walks of life hit the streets again and again. We just need the political powers to shift again and until they do, we’ll be hitting those streets.
The music scene is small and the bands slightly overlap. However, the quality of the current indie scene, for lack of a better word, is very good. The pictures here are from a private performance when the video-maker Vincent Moon visited Copenhagen. Recommended venues are VEGA and Loppen at Christinia. In the summer, there’s tons of music festivals, The Roskilde Festival being the most popular and famous one.
Christinia is still going strong; an old military base taken over by hippies in the 70’s, to create a society independent of the state and all the gross trappings of the outside world. A self-providing little oasis, you can see shows, performances, lots of good street art, eat organic food, smoke lots of pot and swap your clothes with strangers. Watch out for stray wild dogs and the occasional stray wild policeman, as pot is still considered illegal.
Copenhagen is recommended in the summer. No matter how great all of the above mentioned activities are, it’s still way more fun to do in warm weather and very long days. Riding your bike around is the only true mode of transportation and it sucks to do in 4 feet of snow. In the winter, there’s no day or sunlight. People stay cooped up in their big apartment with all their babies and socially activities at bars and restaurants are almost non-existent.
Nina Mouritzen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1980. She moved to New York in 1999 and spend the following ten years working with photographers, teaching workshops in photography, curating photography related projects, working in photo studio’s and always taking lots of pictures. She has been featured in exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Stockholm and Copenhagen and is a frequent contributor to international music and lifestyle magazines. She’s currently spending some time in Copenhagen, working on a few projects, before moving to Tangier, Marocco for the summer. There she’ll be teaching photo workshops at The Darna Center. Her favorite travel destination in the world, will forever be Coney Island.
