On the occasion of the exhibition Vienna–Copenhagen. Den Frie Udstilling 2026 at the artists’ association Den Frie in Copenhagen, the co-organisers Sofie Thorsen and Henrik Plenge Jakobsen talk with the art historian and curator Vanessa Joan Müller about, among other things, the model of the artists’ association, its historical roots, and the collaborative work and lively exchange leading up to the current exhibition.
For the exhibition, the artists’ association Den Frie Udstilling invited their colleagues from the sister institution, Vienna Secession, to participate as guest exhibitors. 45 artists from Den Frie Udstilling present their work in dialogue with 125 Austrian artist colleagues from Vienna Secession. Like Den Frie, the Secession was founded in the 1890s, and the two institutions remain among the few exhibition venues in Europe still owned and run by artists. As is the case of Den Frie Udstilling, Vienna Secession also counts some of the country’s most prominent artists among its members. More
The conversation was recorded on 12 February 2026 at the Secession.
Sofie Thorsen was born in Denmark in 1971 and now lives and works in Vienna. Her mostly installation-based work is dedicated to questions of perception, space and the architectural object.
She has exhibited her work internationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions, and has produced a number of works for public spaces, as well as publishing artist books and monographs. She is currently an associate professor at the Funen Academy of Fine Arts in Odense, DK.
Henrik Plenge Jakobsen’s (DK, 1967) artistic work is based on conceptual sculpture, installation, performance and art in public space. He works with universal themes in economics, history and politics as well as basic existential phenomena such as anxiety, alienation and coexistence.
He is educated from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Institute des Hautes Etudes en Art Plastique, and Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris. He was professor at the Royal Institue of Art in Stockholm, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen.
Past exhibitions include: Centre Pompidou (Paris), Den Frie (Copenhagen), Arken Museum of Contemporary Art (Ishøj), Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen (Düsseldorf), South London Gallery (London), SMK - The National Gallery of Denmark (Copenhagen), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Portikus (Frankfurt am Main), and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Humlebæk, DK)
Vanessa Joan Müller, born in Hamburg (GE) in 1968, is an art historian, curator and author. From 2000 to 2005 she worked as a curator at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, from 2006 to 2011 she was Director of the Kunstverein in Düsseldorf, and from 2013 to 2020 she headed the Dramaturgy Department at Kunsthalle Wien.
Selected exhibition projects from recent years include: Stephanie Rizaj: Silent Polyglot, National Gallery of Kosova, Pristina (2026); Dorit Margreiter Choy: Passage, Cukrarna, Ljubljana (2025); Willem Oorebeek & Jieun Lim, Curated by, Vienna (2025); to display, to support, to care, Universitätsgalerie der Angewandten im Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna (2024); and Unfamiliar Familiars, Leopold Museum, Vienna (2024).
Secession Podcast: Members is a series of conversations featuring members of the Secession.
The Dorotheum is the exclusive sponsor of the Secession Podcast.
Programmed by the board of the Secession.
Jingle: Hui Ye with an excerpt from Combat of dreams for string quartet and audio feed
(2016, Christine Lavant Quartett) by Alexander J. Eberhard
Audio Editor: Paul Macheck
Executive Producers: Jeanette Pacher & Bettina Spörr
