MAJOR NEW EXHIBITION INVITES AUDIENCES INTO ANNE MARIE CARL-NIELSEN’S WORLD OF MAKING

Cast a mermaid in butter, form a body in wax, and help shape sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s final, unfinished work, The Chieftain, anew in clay. When the exhibition The Living Clay – Create with Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen opens on 29 August, Godsbanen’s Rå Hal is transformed into a sensory, working exhibition space. Here, audiences not only encounter Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s works; they are also invited to experience her materials first-hand and take part in the processes of making.

Feel form and material come alive

The exhibition takes as its point of departure Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s creative force. Her materials, experiments and working methods become part of the exhibition itself, and audiences are invited to photograph, form, cast, build and leave their own traces.

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen grew up in the countryside surrounded by animals and began modelling at an early age. She formed animals in clay that she dug herself from the kitchen garden and made figures in butter while helping to churn butter on the family farm. Later, wax, plaster and bronze became part of her artistic practice, while her interest in living bodies and movement remained with her throughout her life – from the animals on the farm to runners, boxers, jumpers and shot-putters.

In The Living Clay, this journey through materials is explored anew. Among other things, visitors can cast miniature versions of Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s work Mermaid in butter. In this way, the bronze sculpture is brought to life again, returning to one of the materials she first began shaping as a child. The finished artwork returns to material and process – to something that can be held in the hands.

“We wanted to create an exhibition in which visitors do not simply look at Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s finished works. We delve into the way she worked and allow the materials, experiments and physical process of making to become part of the exhibition form itself. Visitors are invited to work with the materials first-hand and to enter into some of the processes she herself worked with. In this way, art history is no longer something finished that we observe from a distance, but something that can be set in motion again. My hope is that people leave with a stronger sense of the creative force at work – both hers and their own,” says Ditte Knus Tønnesen, curator of the exhibition.

A lost work takes on new life

Another central element of the exhibition is Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s final work, The Chieftain, which remained unfinished at the time of her death and was subsequently lost. Today, the monumental sculpture of the Jutland workhorse is known only through photographs, models and sketches.

Rather than reconstructing the work exactly as it once was, artist Mette Skriver invites audiences to give The Chieftain form again. Over the course of the exhibition, a new, life-size horse gradually emerges in clay and is transformed by the people who work on it.

When the exhibition ends, the collaborative work continues in a new form. The Chieftain – The Living Clay will be 3D-scanned and carried forward by visual artist Sophie Hjerl as an augmented reality artwork that can subsequently be experienced in public space. Here, both the idea of the work and the traces of the collective process live on – in the many hands and impressions that have shaped the collaborative work.

“This exhibition is about Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, but it is also about creating in the present. At a time when so much takes place digitally, we are creating space for the physical, the sensory and the collective. We do this by shifting attention from the finished work to the process of making behind it, and by inviting visitors into the very making of art, where they become co-creators rather than simply spectators. Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was an artist who experimented throughout her life, forged connections and boldly insisted on her place in the world. That is an energy we want to pass on to new generations,” says Marianne Grymer Bargeman, Director of Godsbanen.

Six original works and new artistic contributions

At the centre of the exhibition, visitors encounter six bronze statuettes by Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen. These historical works are presented within an exhibition space in which her practice is brought into dialogue with contemporary artistic inquiry. A number of contemporary artists take Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s materials, methods and artistic questions as their point of departure, carrying them forward through their own practices.

Visual artist Sian Kristoffersen has created the new wax sculpture Hermes Ruin specifically for the exhibition. Through a series of masterclasses, Lise Tovesdatter Skou, Adam Fenton, Siska Katrine Jørgensen, Freja Niemann Lundrup and Jara von Lüpke work with audiences using sculptural materials and methods, each from their own contemporary artistic position.

Throughout the exhibition period, Rå Hal will also be activated through performance, sound, song and movement. Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s artistic practice is thus presented not only as art history, but as a point of departure for new works, actions and artistic inquiry in the present.

Exhibition information

Admission to the exhibition is free.

Exhibition opening as part of Aarhus Festuge: 29 August 2026 at 14:00
Exhibition period: 30 August–18 October 2026
Opening hours: Tuesday–Thursday: 10:00–21:00; Friday–Sunday: 10:00–16:00; Monday: closed
Venue: Godsbanen, Rå Hal, Karen Wegeners Gade 8, 8000 Aarhus C
More information at www.godsbanen.dk

FACTS

About Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen (1863–1945), née Brodersen, was a Danish sculptor. She grew up on the farm Thygesminde near Kolding, where she began modelling the farm animals from the age of twelve.

In 1882, she moved to Copenhagen to study at The School of Drawing and Art Industry for Women. From 1889 to 1890, she attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School for Women, where she studied under the sculptor August Saabye (1823–1916).

She was a co-founder of The Free Exhibition and, in 1916, of The Danish Women’s Artist Association. Her work ranged from small, intimate depictions of animals to monumental works, including an equestrian statue of a king and bronze doors with biblical motifs.

About Godsbanen

Godsbanen is a major cultural centre and centre for cultural production in the heart of Aarhus, bringing literature, performing arts, design, visual arts, craft and music together under one roof. Its combination of production, presentation and interdisciplinary practice makes Godsbanen distinctive, also in a European context. Through free admission, workshops and extended opening hours, Godsbanen makes art and cultural production accessible to a broad public.

More information at www.godsbanen.dk

Exhibition opening

The Living Clay – Create with Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen opens on Saturday, 29 August 2026 at 14:00 in Rå Hal at Godsbanen. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

On the opening day, Teater Fluks, together with Den Jyske Opera, will present the new performative work Ler, while Jara von Lüpke performs Take, This Is My Body, in which audiences physically consume the artwork in the form of edible sculptures.

Registration via www.godsbanen.dk

The wider exhibition programme

A range of activities will take place throughout the exhibition period: masterclasses, a growing performative sound archive by Teater Fluks, and movement workshops with Dansk Danseteater in collaboration with Bora Bora, leading up to the dance performance about Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, Creatures of Butter, which premieres in February 2027.

The exhibition programme also presents the performance concert Elegier over Jorden by soprano and composer Katinka Fogh Vindelev. The work is presented in collaboration with Kind Of Opera and Aarhus Festuge.

See the full exhibition programme.

The exhibition is produced by Godsbanen. It is curated by curator and project manager Ditte Knus Tønnesen and has been developed in close collaboration with Museum Odense’s new research centre, Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Centret, represented by Head of Centre Emilie Boe Bierlich and art consultant Laura Nørholt, as well as scenographer Astrid Lindgreen Hjermind.

Thanks to Museum Odense for the loan of works by Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen.

The exhibition is supported by Carl Nielsen og Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat.

Sponsors: Bent Brandt, Hammerhøj Teglværk and DanKalk.

Press contact

Trine Sørensen
Head of Programme and Strategic Communications
Godsbanen
+45 2633 0901 / trine@godsbanen.dk