FABRIKKEN for Kunst og Design / The Factory of Art & Design
The Factory of Art & Design is driven by the vision of creating an environment, not only for artistic contemplation, but also for creative interaction with the community which surrounds it.
The Factory of Art & Design is a professional centre of production and knowledge for visual art and design in Copenhagen. The Factory consists of studios and relevant craft specialist companies, which are situated around a huge production hall. The studios are rented out to professional artists, designers, craft specialists, set designers, architects, photographers, etc.
The Factory regards international exchange as a high priority, by housing studios, specifically reserved for CPH AIR (Copenhagen City Council artist-in-residence program) and FAIR, the factorys own program.
With 55 studios and other types of rental spaces, networking, exhibitions, the alternative art fair, ALT_CPH, and the Nordic and international artist-in-residence programs, the Factory provides a framework for many varied activities, and plays a substantial role in the art world and cultural life of Copenhagen.
The Factory of Art & Design is a non-profit, artist-run institution which is led by a member committee in co-operation with the board of the Kulturfabrikken Foundation.
The Production Hall – room for flexibility
The hall envelops for a plethora of activities. Artists and related creative professionals can rent space in the production hall for shorter or longer periods of time. Large exhibitions and other events are also regularly held there.
The Factory can provide both space and height, and the large theatres in Copenhagen frequently use the hall for producing their set designs. The hall is rented out for temporary projects, and is used by both the Factory tenants and guests, representing many different professional disciplines.
The showroom/exhibitions
The hall contains eight mobile walls, which can be positioned and combined in many ways in order to create smaller showrooms or exhibition spaces, depending on the nature of the specific project. Neither the annual number or time-span of exhibitions is predetermined, and the showroom facility can be adapted to suit the character and conceptual target of each project.
The showroom facility makes it possible to work with contemporary art, due to its flexible construction in terms of the framework, contents and number of events involved. There can often be a curator who arranges a whole series of exhibitions, but it could also be large, singular exhibitions of contemporary artists.
The Alternative Art Fair – Alt_Cph
The alternative art fair, Alt_Cph, was held for the first time in 2006, with the intention of introducing the Danish alternative art scene to a broader audience. The alternative art fair thus provided current insight into other art space forms, than those of the commercial spaces and institutionalized museums. Art spaces which are not as visible, perhaps, in the everyday, and which endeavour to find other strategies for communicating art, than the conventional. The alternative art fair also has, as a further goal, the mission of establishing networks between the experimental and the alternative spaces. So the art fair creates a platform, where the alternative spaces can exchange experiences at a high professional level. The art fair is held annually, with approximately 2000 guests, during the same weekend in September, as the official art fair in Forum, Copenhagen.
For more information, go to: www.altcph.dk
Artist-in-Residence programs
FAIR is a residency program, at The Factory of Art & Design, for artists in the Nordic and Baltic regions. The purpose of FAIR is to give an international artist the opportunity to realize a project here at The Factory.
An event or exhibition is organized during the residence, in collaboration with the curator of the program.
For more information about applicant procedure and more go to: FAIR
CPH AIR
In order to strengthen the cultural exchange and development of networks between artists in Copenhagen and outside Denmark, the Copenhagen City Council established an artist residency program.
CPH AIR presents public events, in the form of artist talks, exhibitions, etc, on a regular basis. These events are held as a part of the joint project, for which the applicant and the artist-in-residence originally applied. It is of utmost relevance, that the communication, concerning the artist’s practice and the residency project, benefits both the Danish and the local art and cultural scenes. For more information about application procedures, as well as an archive of previous residency artists, go to: www.cphair.dk
The building
The Factory for Art & Design fills out a 3000 m2 building with two floors. The large 900 m2 production hall has a full ceiling height of 6-10 metres, with skylight windows across its entire span. Workshops, studios, an administrative office and a kitchen are situated, on two floors, around the hall. With its central hall in full building height, and workshop areas on two floors, the building possesses great flexibility. It was possible to adapt the building without making alterations to the support frame, in order for it to match the modern demands of the Factory in terms of production spaces and facilities. The Factory has undergone several modifications, the modifications have achieved a simple and clear spatial structure, and ensured a vastly improved use of the available space. With its interconnected corridor system on both floors, the u-shaped building structure has, after the addition of completely new windows, now attained a uniform orientation and comprehensible spatial relations.
History
At the initiative of the former director, Kresten Thomsen, and Copenhagen City Council’s then Mayor of Culture, Tom Ahlberg, the building was opened in 1992 as a production and workshop centre, primarily for art. The building, under the auspices of the Kulturfabrikken (The Culture Factory) foundation, operated as a publicly financed cultural institution until the end of 1999. In the Spring of 2000, and in consultation with the artists who would be using it, the board developed a new plan for the future structure and functionality of the Factory. The daily operation was handed over to the users, and the institution became self-financed. The architect, Professor Mogens Breyen’s company was commissioned for the task of restructuring the physical framework of the building, and the institution was re-named Fabrikken for Kunst og Design (The Factory of Art & Design. The Factory, originally built as the central laundry house for, amongst others, the psychiatric hospital, Sundholm, in 1938-40, appears as a modernist structure, in dialogue with the neighbouring, late 19th century hospitals and institutional buildings. The laundry building was designed by the city council architect, Poul Holsøe, and is, as Professor Mogens Breyen says, “one of the earliest and most daring examples of modernist industrial construction. The building consists of a very challenging column, dæk- og skivekonstruktion of reinforced concrete, and creates the framework for a highly functional, spacious interior of substantial architectural quality.
The Factory
There is a unique environment of young, professional artists, designers and specialists at The Factory, who work in many different art forms and modes of expression. Most of these have experience with the organization and production of larger projects, in co-operation with private business and public institutions.
The huge hall functions as the inspirational pivot of The Factory, also with respect to the spatial and architectural qualities of the building complex.
Along with the individual studios and workshops, the production hall defines The Factory as an unique artistic production space which can, with a large degree of flexibility, be adapted for work not only on large-scale projects, but also on technically demanding and/or complex, detailed projects.
Large exhibitions and events take place in the large hall and, in the intermediate periods, artists and other creative professionals rent space there for longer or shorter lengths of time. Many of the large theatres, for example, choose to produce their set designs there.
The factory is self-financed and consists, in its present structure, solely of independently functioning units.
The carpentry workshop, the metal workshop and the canteen are all run by self-employed, who share a common interest in both The Factory as concept and the necessary expertise to work on
many varied cultural projects.
These companies work for clients from both inside and outside The Factory, and they are financially independent.
Workshops for printing, graphics, photography and ceramics are operated by associations.
The Factory has attained a high level of expertise in the rental of workshops, and administrates therefore the rental of local workshops, such as the work spaces at Amagerfælledvej 40.
The Factory is a frequent consultant in connection with the establishment and operation of similar institutions all over the country.
Address
FABRIKKEN for Kunst og Design / The Factory of Art & Design
Sundholmsvej 46
DK-2300 Copenhagen S
Denmark
Phone: +45 32549424
post@ffkd.dk
Executive director
Jane Rowley
jane@ffkd.dk
Curator and FAIR residency coordinator
Maria Gry Bregnbak
fair@ffkd.dk
Art Educator and Cph Air residency coordinator
Mille Winther
info@ffkd.dk
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