Exhibitions

HOW DARE YOU – Gender, Action and Climate Crisis
Special exhibition
9. Feb. – 30. Dec. 2024
Why is fast fashion produced primarily for women? Is it harder for men than for women to live a vegetarian life and use public transport? And why are the majority of the world’s climate refugees women?

Our next major special exhibition addresses two of today’s major commitments: gender and climate. The exhibition examines the connection between ideas and expectations about gender – and people’s consumption and behavior in a climate-related perspective. HOW DARE YOU wants the audience to reflect on why they act the way they do – and why it is often difficult to act differently.

This exhibition also focuses on the different strategies and visions for change, which also often have roots in cultural history of gender. HOW DARE YOU investigates how ideas and expectations of masculinity and femininity connect to climate behavior, shame, anxiety, activism and action. Can we solve the climate crisis by solving the gender crisis – and vice versa?

The exhibition is a sustainability experiment in itself, and ambitious efforts are being made to make climate-friendly choices in all parts of the exhibition production.

She Hunts
Special exhibition
6. Sep.-30.Dec. 2024
Portraiture of female hunters, their prey and the relationship between gender and nature are just a few of the themes that the Norwegian photojournalist Ingerid Jordal focuses on in the photo exhibition She Hunts.

It is the first time that museum visitors in Denmark get the opportunity to see Ingerid Jordal’s photographs in which she portrays female hunters. The exhibition asks questions such as: Is hunting gendered? Why does it provoke us when women kill animals? Can you take a life when you also give life? How can we understand the connections between meat, hunting and gender?

She Hunts is an independent exhibition, but it explores some of the same themes that are seen in the current special exhibition How Dare You – Gender, Action and Climate Crisis, such as portrayals of women in visual culture, the relationship between gender and nature and the relationship between gender and flesh.

She Hunts is presented in collaboration with Sigma Nordic and Vefa Foto.

GLORY
Special exhibition
11. Oct. 2024–10. Oct. 2025
GLORY is the result of a curatorial cooperation between KØN and the multidisciplinary artist Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl. Based on the themes of masculinity, the patriarchy, sexuality, and queerness, Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl reinterprets KØN’s collection of cultural & historical artefacts in an artistic, eye-catching and humorous exhibition.

“GLORY suggests how we can move on from the classic patriarchal culture to a more inclusive world by sharpening our metaphorical insight. Everything is seen from a gay perspective, as I, because of my sexuality, have felt the bludgeon of patriarchy distinctly.” – Quote: Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl.

Historically, the focal point of the museum’s collection of cultural history has been women’s history. With Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl’s artistic and gendered look at the collection, the exhibition bridges the gap to several relevant and untold stories about gender, identity, masculinity, and sexuality.

In this exhibition, both Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl and KØN point out that the cultural and historical objects of the past are a necessary starting point for understanding today’s gendered issues and can address difficult topics and make them less taboo.

With the exhibition title GLORY, Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl is ambiguous in his message. Partly he points to the phenomenon of a “glory hole”, a hole in a wall where one can participate in sexual activity; Partly he uses the title to denote a window – a symbolic keyhole – with a view into the structures of patriarchy and destructive understandings of masculinity.

Based on the idea that gender is a concept in motion, Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl will revisit the exhibition together with KØN’s professional staff twice in autumn 2025 and 2026 respectively. GLORY is thus the first rendition for a total of 3 exhibitions created in partnership between Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl and KØN.

About Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl
Multidisciplinary artist Kim Richard Adler Mejdahl is based in Copenhagen and educated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where he graduated in 2019. Mejdahl has exhibited at, among others, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Overgaden, and Rønnebæksholm as well as internationally at film festivals in e.g. Germany, France, Norway, Iceland, and South Korea. Mejdahl’s multifaceted work is often based on the artist’s personal life. Through music, films, and large solo exhibitions, he has worked with trauma processing, climate crisis, spirituality, and gender identity.

RED STOCKINGS
Permanent exhibition
On 8th April 1970, a group of women marched up Strøget (pedestrian street) in Copenhagen. Wearing false eye lashes, blonde wigs, and balloons in their bras, they demonstrated against the fashion industry and the objectification of the female body.

The action marked the starting point of a new women’s movement – The Red Stocking Movement – which made a great impact on Denmark during the 70s. The red stockings wanted to change the gender roles of society and break with the male-dominated society. They fought for equal pay, equality within the home, free abortion, and the right to decide for themselves what a woman is, can, must, and should.

The small exhibition room THE RED STOCKINGS lies as a red, beating heart in the middle of the museum. A red stocking Wunderkammer filled from floor to ceiling with objects from the museum’s own red stocking collection, portraying the years 1970-1985. You can also see films and photos, listen to music, or study literature in the red stocking library.


GENDER BLENDER
Permanent exhibition
What does gender mean in our society? Why do I play with cars and not dolls? What does it mean to be transgender? What is normal? How do I feel about my own body? What is equality? Do we have equality? What does it matter if I’m born as a boy or as a girl? DOES IT MATTER?

In the exhibition Gender Blender, the meaning of gender takes centre stage and the museum invites you to visit a dynamic exhibition platform that catalyses, collects and informs about the ongoing gender debate.

The museum creates a space for – and an enhancement of – the visitors’ own perception of gender. Because gender has a meaning – and Denmark lacks a qualified platform in order for the audience to keep track of the history, the research and the debate about gender – and thereby spark rethinking and reflection.

Sexual education throughout the times
Permanent exhibition
In the exhibition “Sexual education throughout the times”, you can learn about the content and methods of sexual education throughout 200 years. The exhibition is also used for educational purposes. At KØN – Gender Museum Denmark, we enter into dialogue with children and young people about norms, limits, and rights for gender, body, and sexuality.

The old City Hall
Permanent exhibition
The exhibition portrays the women’s movement’s historical development; from Mathilde Fibiger to #MeToo. In the display cases, you will find objects, photos, and texts that will make you wiser on the movement’s perspective and challenges; the Decency Feud, terms of marriage, conservative ideals, and the tightening of a corset.

The museum also shows different minor special exhibitions.

All the exhibitions texts are translated into English.