Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Programme for Art in Public Space

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Programme for Art in Public Space
1-year postgraduate programme

This programme is intended for artists who are interested in site-specific art, and art in public space, and who wish to build knowledge and experience in the proposal and execution of artistic commissions in this field.

Course lecturers in 2025/26 artists Marie Lund and Laurits Gulløv

Admission deadline: Monday April 13, 2026 (midnight, Danish time).
Semester start: September 1, 2026.

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s programme for art in public space is a one-year postgraduate programme, exploring and unfolding the potentials of art in public space.

During the programme we work to conceive, produce and position artworks that operate with agency and relevance within specific spatial, social and discursive contexts.

We build insight into established public commissioning processes and gather tools to engage with them, while generating methods to initiate alternative and self-organised formats.

We think of the spatial, temporal and social as our material, embodied study and experiment as our process, intervention and gesture as our method.

PROGRAMME
The programme intends to build competences for realising site-specific art projects in public settings, through theoretical, practice-based and experimental approaches.

By means of research, analysis and conversation, the theoretical part of the course engage with relevant contemporary artistic, cultural and political discourses to expand the understanding of the field of public art.

In the practice-based part of the course, the participants develop and realise artworks within a specific public setting, with a budget allocated by the course. The programme unfolds the various stages of the artistic project, from site analyses, idea development, project proposal, to execution, installation and mediation of the completed work.

Through processes of experiment and rehearsal, we aim to open and deepen the artistic process, working towards projects that reflect and respond to the complexities of its conditions and surroundings.

STRUCTURE
The programme is aimed at practicing artists who have completed their artistic education and wish to gain experience and develop a critical and artistic approach to working with site-specific and public art. 7-9 artists participate in the programme each year.

The one-year course, running from September to June, is a post-graduate, part-time course that takes into account that the participants have an active exhibition and studio practice alongside their studies. Teaching mainly takes place over three consecutive days each month at the Funen Art Academy in Odense, while an extra day each month is set aside for exhibitions, site visits and studio visits. Committed and independent artistic work, reading and research are expected throughout.

TEACHING
The programme has since 2022 been led by artist Marie Lund and curator Francesca Astesani, who are responsible for the educational structure, facilitate group crits and individual tutoring. Focus is placed on inviting different practices and perspectives from the artistic field to deepen and expand the students’ understanding of public art practices. Previous years’ guest teachers include Lea Porsager, Nina Beier, Simon Starling, Ann Lislegaard, Amitai Romm, Marco Bruzzone, Finn Reinbothe, Frederik Worm, Åbäke, Jes Fernie, Amelia Groom, Jesper List Thomsen, Cally Spooner and Kristian Vistrup Madsen.

ANNE MARIE CARL-NIELSEN
The programme has been established with support from the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s Foundation, and draws on the span between the monumental and the intimate, and between the authoritative and the investigative, which characterises Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s sculptural practice. We also bring attention to her position as one of the first female artists to work with large-scale public artworks and monuments, with an interest in exploring hierarchies in both positions of authorship and commissioning.

PREVIOUS YEARS
In 2022/23, participants placed site-specific artworks in Odense’s urban spaces. The projects proposed physical and semantic shifts in the city’s pace, spatial and social texture, engaging with citizens in their daily movements through the city.

During the 2023/24, participants created works for Rising Skolen and Borgernes Hus in Odense. The two contexts inspired works that inscribed themselves into the daily rhythm and use of the places, as indications of movement and direction, and as points of contact and exchange between the site and its users.

In 2024/25, participants worked in relation to the landscape around Tarup-Davinde, a former gravel quarry. Here, the works unfolded as markings and shifts in the area’s complex interaction between geology, industry, biodiversity and community life.

ADMISSION
Funen Art Academy will accept applications starting 9 February 2026 for the Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Programme for Art in Public Space, which will begin on 1 September 2026.

Admission deadline: Monday 13 April 2026 (midnight, Danish time)

Further guidelines for admissions and the link for the online application form can be found here (more information will follow in January…)

You are also welcome to contact our administration, which is open Monday – Thursday from 10:00 – 15:00. Friday from 10:00 – 12:00. Email: info@detfynskekunstakademi.dk

Also see the study programme for Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Programme for Art in Public Space (updated version available in January…)