Knud Pedersen
Encyclopedia
Knud Pedersen was born in 1925, in the small Danish town of Grenå
. His career as a public figure started in 1942, when he, together with nine other young Danes, founded the resistance group Churchill Klubben (The Churchill Club). After the war, he turned to the world of arts and culture when he excelled as an organiser.
spent in prison, Pedersen turned to the arts, partly as an artist, but mainly as an organiser. His dream was to make art available to everyone, and to this end he launched several projects. In 1952 he got permission from the authorities to set up Byens billede, the Picture of the City, an empty frame in which paintings could be exhibited. In 1957 he founded his Kunstbibliotek, or Art Library, an art rental space where people could rent a painting for the price of a packet of cigarettes. Both projects still exist: passers-by will meet the Picture of the City on Nikolaj Kirke plads in Copenhagen
, and those interested in renting a painting can still find Pedersen behind the counter of the Art Library, now located on Nikolajgade 22.
As a young bohemian in Copenhagen in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pedersen got to know a great many local artists. Among them was Arthur Köpcke or Køpcke, a German national who had emigrated to Denmark in 1958. Køpcke ran a small gallery, Galerie Køpcke, that showed some of the most advanced art in Europe at that time. Besides works by local artists he exhibited works by Piero Manzoni
, Christian Megert, Diter Rot, Robert Filliou
, Niki de Saint Phalle
and Daniel Spoerri
. Via Rot, Filliou and Spoerri he also came into contact with George Maciunas
, the man who invented the name Fluxus
. He offered to organise a Fluxus concert in Copenhagen, and Maciunas agreed.
By that time, Køpcke had had to leave his old gallery space and had been given shelter by Pedersen at Nikolaj Kirke, the old desanctified church in the centre of Copenhagen where the Art Library was located. It was only natural that Pedersen should take an interest, and the result was that the first series of Fluxus concerts ever to be held in Denmark – the second series of concerts in the history of Fluxus – took place at Nikolaj Kirke from 23 until 28 November 1962. Pedersen enjoyed the experience and continued to organise Fluxus concerts at the Art Library. The concerts in November 1962 brought together a group of four, consisting of Pedersen, Køpcke and two young Danish composers called Eric Andersen
and Henning Christiansen
, that enlivened Danish art life with numerous Fluxus performances in 1963 and 1964, many of them organised by Pedersen.
Pedersen, however, always continued working with other artists, besides the ones that were associated with Fluxus. In 1964, he made an agreement with the Tuborg brewery, to the effect that works of art could be displayed on the sides of beer vans as they drove their delivery rounds through the country. At the Art Library, he installed a jukebox with works of sound art, and offered to rent jukeboxes to every institution that was interested. In 1968, he opened a savings account at a special interest rate at the Danish Bikuben bank and deposited 100 Danish crowns. In 285 years the 100 crowns would grow to 659 billion crowns; enough money to finance three projects by Fluxus artists Eric Andersen, George Brecht and Arthur Køpcke.
However, from being an organiser, Pedersen developed to become an artist as well. This development is only natural, since so much Fluxus art is about creating a framework within which the art can develop. In retrospect, even his earliest projects, such as the Picture of the City, can be seen as a kind of work of art. In 1967, he opened the Copenhagen Museum of Modern Art, a virtual museum where he is still the director, receiving daily invitations and publications from other museums. In connection with the “Fluxshoe” exhibition that toured England during the early 1970s, he organised a “two-ball football match” at University College Sports Ground in Oxford
. In 1992, in connection with a festival called “Excellent 1992”, he created the Good Buy Supermarket, a one-day sale of art multiples at a regular supermarket. And on the same occasion he organised “Three Star à la Carte”, where Fluxus pieces were served in a restaurant setting. A new realisation of the piece could be experienced at the Baltic Centre in Gateshead
on 15 February 2009, in connection with the exhibition “George Maciunas. The Dream of Fluxus”.
However, the projects mentioned above represent only a fraction of Pedersen’s total production. Apart from having run the Art Library for a lifetime, he is a prolific writer and initiator of many projects. He founded a film school in Ebeltoft
, founded Netbogklubben, the Net Book Club, for the sale of digital books, and much more. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s he was an active participant in the mail art network, exchanging works of art with hundreds of artists around the globe. Today, these works, together with a great number of Fluxus works and related documents, make up the bulk of the Knud Pedersen Fluxus Archive, located at Kunsthallen Nikolaj in Copenhagen. However, the name ‘archive’ is misleading: rather than a systematic collection of material, the ‘archive’ is the witness of a long life spent making and distributing art.
As Pedersen himself has said: “I do not collect, I just never throw anything away”.
Grenå
Grenaa or Grenå is a town in central Denmark with a population of 14,308 . The town centre is about 2 km west of the east coast of the Djursland peninsula in Jutland's Region Midtjylland...
. His career as a public figure started in 1942, when he, together with nine other young Danes, founded the resistance group Churchill Klubben (The Churchill Club). After the war, he turned to the world of arts and culture when he excelled as an organiser.
Post-war activities
After many a sabotage action and the best part of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
spent in prison, Pedersen turned to the arts, partly as an artist, but mainly as an organiser. His dream was to make art available to everyone, and to this end he launched several projects. In 1952 he got permission from the authorities to set up Byens billede, the Picture of the City, an empty frame in which paintings could be exhibited. In 1957 he founded his Kunstbibliotek, or Art Library, an art rental space where people could rent a painting for the price of a packet of cigarettes. Both projects still exist: passers-by will meet the Picture of the City on Nikolaj Kirke plads in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, and those interested in renting a painting can still find Pedersen behind the counter of the Art Library, now located on Nikolajgade 22.
As a young bohemian in Copenhagen in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pedersen got to know a great many local artists. Among them was Arthur Köpcke or Køpcke, a German national who had emigrated to Denmark in 1958. Køpcke ran a small gallery, Galerie Køpcke, that showed some of the most advanced art in Europe at that time. Besides works by local artists he exhibited works by Piero Manzoni
Piero Manzoni
Piero Manzoni was an Italian artist best known for his ironic conceptual art. Influenced by the work of Yves Klein, his own work anticipated, and directly influenced, the work of a generation of younger Italian artists brought together by the critic Germano Celant in the first Arte Povera...
, Christian Megert, Diter Rot, Robert Filliou
Robert Filliou
Robert Filliou was a French Fluxus artist, who produced works as a filmmaker, "action poet," sculptor, and happenings maestro....
, Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle, born Catherine-Marie-Agnès-Brandon Fal de Saint Phalle was a French sculptor, painter, and film maker.-The early years:...
and Daniel Spoerri
Daniel Spoerri
Daniel Spoerri is a Swiss artist and writer born in Romania, who has been called "the central figure of European post-war art" and "one of the most renown[ed] [artists] of the 20th century." Spoerri is best known for his "snare-pictures," a type of assemblage or object art, in which he captures...
. Via Rot, Filliou and Spoerri he also came into contact with George Maciunas
George Maciunas
George Maciunas was a Lithuanian-born American artist. He was a founding member of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers, and designers...
, the man who invented the name Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
. He offered to organise a Fluxus concert in Copenhagen, and Maciunas agreed.
By that time, Køpcke had had to leave his old gallery space and had been given shelter by Pedersen at Nikolaj Kirke, the old desanctified church in the centre of Copenhagen where the Art Library was located. It was only natural that Pedersen should take an interest, and the result was that the first series of Fluxus concerts ever to be held in Denmark – the second series of concerts in the history of Fluxus – took place at Nikolaj Kirke from 23 until 28 November 1962. Pedersen enjoyed the experience and continued to organise Fluxus concerts at the Art Library. The concerts in November 1962 brought together a group of four, consisting of Pedersen, Køpcke and two young Danish composers called Eric Andersen
Eric Andersen
Eric Andersen is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:In the early 1960s, Eric Andersen was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York...
and Henning Christiansen
Henning Christiansen
Henning Christiansen was a Danish composer and an active member of the Fluxus-movement. He worked with artists such as Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik, as well as with his wife Ursula Reuter Christiansen...
, that enlivened Danish art life with numerous Fluxus performances in 1963 and 1964, many of them organised by Pedersen.
Pedersen, however, always continued working with other artists, besides the ones that were associated with Fluxus. In 1964, he made an agreement with the Tuborg brewery, to the effect that works of art could be displayed on the sides of beer vans as they drove their delivery rounds through the country. At the Art Library, he installed a jukebox with works of sound art, and offered to rent jukeboxes to every institution that was interested. In 1968, he opened a savings account at a special interest rate at the Danish Bikuben bank and deposited 100 Danish crowns. In 285 years the 100 crowns would grow to 659 billion crowns; enough money to finance three projects by Fluxus artists Eric Andersen, George Brecht and Arthur Køpcke.
However, from being an organiser, Pedersen developed to become an artist as well. This development is only natural, since so much Fluxus art is about creating a framework within which the art can develop. In retrospect, even his earliest projects, such as the Picture of the City, can be seen as a kind of work of art. In 1967, he opened the Copenhagen Museum of Modern Art, a virtual museum where he is still the director, receiving daily invitations and publications from other museums. In connection with the “Fluxshoe” exhibition that toured England during the early 1970s, he organised a “two-ball football match” at University College Sports Ground in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. In 1992, in connection with a festival called “Excellent 1992”, he created the Good Buy Supermarket, a one-day sale of art multiples at a regular supermarket. And on the same occasion he organised “Three Star à la Carte”, where Fluxus pieces were served in a restaurant setting. A new realisation of the piece could be experienced at the Baltic Centre in Gateshead
Gateshead
Gateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear, England and is the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Historically a part of County Durham, it lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...
on 15 February 2009, in connection with the exhibition “George Maciunas. The Dream of Fluxus”.
However, the projects mentioned above represent only a fraction of Pedersen’s total production. Apart from having run the Art Library for a lifetime, he is a prolific writer and initiator of many projects. He founded a film school in Ebeltoft
Ebeltoft
Ebeltoft is a town with a population of 7,559 on the central east coast of Denmark, located in Syddjurs municipality in Region Midtjylland on the Danish peninsula of Jutland....
, founded Netbogklubben, the Net Book Club, for the sale of digital books, and much more. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s he was an active participant in the mail art network, exchanging works of art with hundreds of artists around the globe. Today, these works, together with a great number of Fluxus works and related documents, make up the bulk of the Knud Pedersen Fluxus Archive, located at Kunsthallen Nikolaj in Copenhagen. However, the name ‘archive’ is misleading: rather than a systematic collection of material, the ‘archive’ is the witness of a long life spent making and distributing art.
As Pedersen himself has said: “I do not collect, I just never throw anything away”.
External site
- Copehagen Fluxus Archive, The Knud Pedersen Collection. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
- Kunstbiblioteket.
- Copenhagen Museum og Modern Art.
- Three Star a La Carte.