The UN Building Copenhagen

2015 December

Mie Mørkeberg paints a psychological and subjective experience of space, and the exterior and interior of it providing the image structure. Here the human is at once absent, whilst implicitly represented by the things belonging to us and surrounding us. 

For the entrance hall in the new UN building in Nordhavnen, Copenhagen, she made up a monumental situation based on a site-specific approach and painted it on a 3 x 7 metres large canvas. Here, tied together by gears, threads and handles, columns are build of books and other items, usually having nothing to do with colonnades.

The painting is the first thing one sees entering the building, and the last thing one sees when leaving. Thus, the painting reflects its location in The UN City as a place, where people rush to and from office spaces in a large machine writing history. Here, many handles need to be turned in the complicated task of creating meaningful encounters between different ethnic groups and communities. Hence, the pillars by holding it all together makes the destination visible at the end, which illuminated and brightened, indicates an optimistic view on the future we are heading towards.

Untitled, commissioned painting for the UN building in Nordhavn (seen from the entrance) (1), 2015, Acrylic on canvas, 3 x 7 m

Untitled (33), 2015, Acrylic on canvas, 3 x 7 metres, commissioned painting for the UN building in Nordhavn.