Background

Golden Days conveys history, culture, and science with the ambition of making the material relevant and interesting to as many people as possible. The festival experiments with communication, formats, and content, so that cultural history is put into play in an involving and actualising way. In 2022, the festival reread the history books and focused on both the canonised and overlooked queens in art, music, sports, philosophy, and science. Because the stories about women who have brought about change in the past are often rather few, low-key and under-examined. To make up for the overlooked women in history, we wanted to put gender equality and female underrepresentation on display for everyone to see, hear and experience.

Creative idea

Public spaces still serve as a constant reminder of the male patriarchy's historical dominance. In fact, women make up less than 5% of public statues in most countries. And Denmark is no exception. Of Copenhagen’s 101 statues, 70 are men, 26 are animals and only five are women. So as a temporary monument and lasting testament to the importance of women, we placed 50 empty pedestals surrounding the statue of King Christian the 5th. 49 represented influential women of the past. On each of those, QR codes led to an experience in Instagram, guiding people through the city, while listening to the women’s untold stories exactly where they happened. The 50th and final pedestal was blank and invited the audience to dedicate it to a woman of great importance to them.

Execution 

Instead of utilising existing media options, we created our own that couldn't be overlooked. We placed 50 white pedestals that surrounded the statue of King Christian the 5th, creating an immersive, visually arresting, and empowering experience for people to interact with. Each pedestal featured a unique QR code that led to an AR experience in Instagram, guiding people through the city, while listening to the women’s untold stories exactly where they happened. The 50th and final pedestal was blank and invited the audience to dedicate it to a woman of great importance to them. Their submissions were sent to the City Hall to spark political debate.

Results

The work engaged the public and was publicly backed by the Mayor of Copenhagen. It caught the eye of the media – both nationally and internationally – picking up 295 million media impressions. And in the end, the 50 Queens even got a visit from Her Majesty the Queen herself, during a big event, featuring some of Denmark's most prominent, living women in culture. The debate has also recently led to the approval of new a statue depicting Countess Danner, an important historical female figure, who dedicated her life and legacy to aiding poor women.