Wind and Water

The venue for the Harmonic Fields installation is Amager Strandpark (English: Amager Beach Park). It is a seaside public park in Copenhagen near Kastrup Airport. It is located on the island of Amager and includes an artificial island and offers a total of 4,6 km of beaches.

Perfect venue

Amager Strandpark is a Blue Flag beach and the adjacent Kastrup Marina as well as the nearby Dragør Marina also enjoy Blue Flag status. From the beach the Middelgrunden wind farm can be seen in the horrison.

Open to all

Copenhagen offers much for its people and this is no exception: It is magnificent and beautiful and intense. It is full of life and changeable. It is open and accessible for all. It is free for all. It is art in public space when it is best.

Just listening

Photography is discouraged, not for copyright reasons, but because Sauvageot wants to reintroduce the lost art of listening. "Of course I want people to look, but what I really want is for them to hear," he says. "Harmonic Fields is a reaction against decibels and megawatts. It is music in its simplest, most primal form."

Pure enjoyment

Perhaps not immediately “musical” by conventional standards, the installation is none-the-less an aural treat and Copenhagers and visitors took full advantage of this opportunity to experience it.

This shows part of the "Harmonic Fields" installation on AmagerStrand.

Enjoying nature's orchestra

This experience was inspired 20 years ago by traditional Indonesian scarecrows that harnessed natures gusts to emit sounds that rang across the rice fields. Sadly, these have now been replaced by plastic bags and new ones are not being made anymore.

Tending the totem

An attendant makes sure the wind-instruments in this part of the "Harmonic Fields" exhibition is facing into the wind. The exhibition was held on Amager Strand and enthusiastically supported by people from the Greater Copenhagen area and tourists alike.

Admiring the wind-instruments

This group of Copenhagers came to Amager Strandpark to admire the selection of instruments placed there during the Metroplois Festival 2011. The exhibition is called "Harmonic fields and is by Pierre Sauvageot. Five hundred acoustic instruments, mostly on totems standing like sentinels, attentive to the slightest breath of air, was placed here.

Open to all

Copenhagen offers much for its people and this is no exception: It is magnificent and beautiful and intense. It is full of life and changeable. It is open and accessible for all. It is free for all. It is art in public space when it is best.

Harmonics and harmony

With Øresund as backdrop, Amager Strand as its stage and the wind as energy the French composer Pierre Sauvageot and the artist group Lieux Publics & Cie, from Marseille, have created this art experience for Københavns Internationale Teater and the third Metropolis Biennale.

A Royal Elephant

The last of the elephants from the Copenhagen Elephant Parade that I want to show, is this one. The artist for it is the Prince Consort Henrik of Denmark and the design is similar to the design of the Order of the Elephant, the highest order in Denmark. And appropriate enough this elephant have a view to the real elephants in the Copenhagen Zoo.

The real thing

When out looking for the elephants of the Elephant Parade in Copenhagen we might forget that there's  real elephants in Copenhagen as well. But you have to visit the Copenhagen Zoo to see them.

Where to find elephants in Copenhagen

Normally if you want to see elephants, you'd go to the Copenhagen Zoo. And of course that is where they have some of the Elephant Parade elephants. This was captured on camera with the iconic Zoo Tower behind it on one of the few summer days we've had here this year. And they've still got the real elephants here too.

Small elephants

The replicas of the elephants, that I mentioned yesterday, are these. Three different sizes (and prices) and 29 different kinds, so maybe your favourite is among them. Two stores in Copenhagen have them and you can order them on-line as well. At the web-shop you can also order elephants from the other parades in London, Amsterdam etc.

In the elephant store

In the elephant store inside Illums Bolighus you can buy small replicas of some of the elephants from the parade. You can buy this one as well, but you have to do it at the auction.

Riding the elephant

In the Illums Bolighus department store there's two of the elephants and the first to greet the customers is this one. The rabbit riding it is part of the artwork.

Waiting to be served

The elephant at the post office in Købmagergade seems to be waiting patiently to be served, as one should when needing help to send a package.

Indoors

Some of the elephants has been moved indoors, probably as a boon to the sponsors. this one you can find in the department store Illums.

Helping the Tourists

When new to a city, a good place to start is always the local Tourist Information-centre. When visiting Copenhagen its located near Tivoli and the Central Station (Hovedbanegården), so it's easy enough to find. The elephant here overlooks the competent helping of the visitors as they book hotels, find attractions or are just updated on what's happening this week.

Live to ride

The Live to ride-elephant is placed on Christianshavn with a view to Vor Frelser Kirke (The Church of Our Savior), known for its spiral staircase on the outside of the spire.

Un-appreciated

It seems like some in Copenhagen don't really appreciate the Elephant Parade. The one painting this elephant called Glowing in the Dark, obviously thought that his black spray can could be used to improve it. Quite a lot of the elephants has been damaged by graffiti, people trying to ride them or by other means, so a kind of "elephant hospital" has been set up to repair the damage. That this is necessary tells a sad story about some of the people living here.

What makes a city liveable?

Today's elephant is placed outside the Danish Architecture Centre. The exhibition at the centre at the moment is "What makes a liveable city?" as stated by the poster in the background. The centre is well worth a visit if architecture is your thing.

Isi Khulu (The Great One)

On elephant number 78 a painting of Nelson Mandela can be seen. The artist of this elephant is Robert McLean. In the background is the city hall of Frederiksberg.

A sunny elephant

Outside the Thorvaldsens Museum, a museum dedicated to the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen, this elephant is moved around a lot as it's right next to one of the many areas of renovation and metro preparation in Copenhagen.

Cirkus Elephant

A cirkus elephant on Gammeltorv.

White Elephant

The elephants can be used for many things. Here as a place to put your bicycle...

Save the Elephants

Outside Copenhagen City Hall this elephant stands tall.

Black Elephant

The black elephant here stands just outside the Palads cinema complex.

Sad Eyes

These elephant eyes are looking at the entrance of Tivoli.

Family Group?

On and around the square of Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen the Elephant Parade has placed eight of the elephants, maybe as out of convenience or maybe because they know that elephants are social animals.

Elephant Blocking

It can be difficult to place 103 elephants in a city without some of them being in the way of the daily life. This one is placed in a side street of the pedestrian area of Strøget.