Copenhagen. A light summer shower, the scent of fresh pastries and the warmth of the coffee still lingering on my tongue. Curious to see what awaited me here, I made my way to the Enter Art Fair, Scandinavia’s largest art fair, which took place this year from 27 to 30 August. From cities like New York to art from Germany, the Enter Art Fair brings together artists from all over the world to connect them and showcase their artworks.
What stands out is that it rethinkings art. Unbound by old narratives and traditions. Completely free and open.
I met Julian Daynov, the curator of the Neudeutsch Art Collective, which means „new German art“ in English. Daynov is an internationally renowned curator and art director, known for his strong connections with artists and his instinct for what’s new, grounded in knowledge, history, and intuition.
He was invited by the Enter Art Fair and it’s founder, Julie Leopold, to curate this year’s special project, a dedicated showcase spotlighting a new generation of emerging, independent artists from Germany. Bringing together diverse artistic positions and practices, the project offered an international platform for some of the country’s most promising contemporary voices, introducing their work to collectors, institutions and audiences across the Scandinavian art scene.
Daynov brought 20 German artists for this project to Copenhagen and that’s why I started wondering, what does „new German art“ sogar mean?
Before the Fair was opened to public, we spoke with Daynov about the Art Collective and the idea behind it. “Neudeutsch” is a term that transcends geographical boundaries. It brings together a selection of different paintings, sculptures, and design project from young german artists, without to reinforce the historical narratives of the german art.
His role as an ambassador for German artistic talent was also recognized by German Ambassador to Denmark Anke Meyer, who hosted a cocktail reception celebrating the growing cultural exchange between Germany and Scandinavia and the collective efforts to bring emerging German artists to the Scandinavian art scene.
After I had the chance to talk to him, I immediately noticed that he does this primarily to showcase talent, to offer them a platform, to connect them locally with key figures in the scene, and to share his contacts. One such talent is the young, Berlin-based artist Luis Frey, who is completing his Master’s in Product Design at the UDK. At the Enter Art Fair, he exhibited objects that at the first view looks like an arragement of flowers and if you rewatch it’s a complete vase with showing the water and making every detail art itself. The idea of giving a flower more life and attention led to something unique.
Besides young artists, as stayed by Daynov, there were also artists who are new to the industry or are only just gaining a foothold. Take Armin Dietrich, for example, who originally came from a background in photography and told me that at some point it all became too digital for him. He was looking for something tangible and that’s how he found his way to painting. Now his art is known for the large oil paintings, his layering of colors and the place where material and memory converge.
Among these 20 artists, three female voices particularly caught my attention: Charlotte Adam, Franziska Narzinski und Anna Zimmermann. All three are in their own unique way, but they all have one thing in common: during our conversations, they told me how their exploration of femininity flows into their work. Adam became known for her still lifes, but at some point, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to go beyond these paintings and wanted to paint what she felt. She began searching for a visual language for her emotions, and slowly, her colourful, expressive figures emerged.
At first, however, she kept these paintings for years to herself. The faces she created to give shape to her emotions, together with the figures that accompanied them, remained hidden from the public. She told me that everyone who knew her also knew about these figures, but showing them to the outside world never felt quite right. They were deeply personal, almost like a private diary painted on canvas.
Luckily, that has changed in recent years. Adam has begun bringing these figures out of hiding and into the public eye. Her paintings are now filled with colourful, almost moving characters and expressive faces that seem to carry their own emotions and stories. What once existed only as a private way for her to process and express her feelings has become an important part of her artistic voice.
On the other hand, artist Franziska Narzinski revealed to me in conversation that she paints through her alter ego „Kosi“. Narzinski herself is rather reserved, not very open, as she describes herself, but Kosi is much more daring to convey political messages, to say things out loud and to be outgoing. As a woman, Narzinski often feels like she is being treated like a child. As a woman myself, I know what she is talking about: that you first have to prove you’re capable, or that you’re never taken entirely seriously. Yes, and as Kosi, she expresses precisely that, albeit in a humorous way, in a light-hearted manner, even if the messages run deeper. This also applies to her current painting featuring the flamingo.
„I don’t paint to make pretty art, I paint to express myself.“ - Franziska Narzinski
Jumping back to the berlin based artist Zimmermann, something deeply emotional stayed with me:
"As I grew up as a woman in the 1990s, I felt I had to keep drawing my body over and over again until it truly belonged to me." - Anna Zimmermann
Yet her pictures radiate such a positive and cheerful atmosphere, like the pastel colors, the confident woman and the shades of pink. The women appear self-assured, wow, it’s a pleasure to look at them. For these two works, Zimmermann draws inspiration from old magazine shoots featuring male poses.
All these artists manage to convey their messages subtly through their art, but their work also encourages us to look more closely and ask ourselves critically: „What is the artist really trying to tell us?“
That is exactly what Tobias Vetter, a tattoo artist who later developed an independent studio practice centred on oil painting, tells me he wants from his work. Above all, he wants people to experience his paintings like a good film. You know that feeling when the final credits begin to roll, the lights stay off, and you are still sitting there in the dark cinema, staring at the screen because you are not quite ready to leave? The story seemed to be leading somewhere, and then, just when things were getting really interesting, it ends. You sit there for a moment, replaying the scenes in your head, trying to piece together what you just saw. „Wait… what was that supposed to mean? What is he trying to tell me?“
That lingering question is exactly what Vetter wants his paintings to leave behind.
Beyond its captivating artworks and unique creations, the Neudeutsch Art Collective was brought to Copenhagen with the support of selected partners including Miles & More und Kess, Sawade, ODE, Gitti, Audi, die German Embassy in Copenhagen und die Royal Porcelain Manufactory.
After three days of creative input, I am now travelling back to Berlin with a new and fresh perspective and many inspirations. And as I was sitting at the airport, I was reminiscing all the conversations I had, and suddenly I started to sketch the woman’s body in my mind, because I want it to belong to me as well. Then, I was thinking about the message Vetter wanted to give to the people, the young artists with so much passion, of people like Daynov, who achieves so much more because he connects people, brings them together and nurtures new talent. And finally, when I had a whole view from above Copenhagen, I also think of the city itself, of the runs along the water and of the smiles on people’s faces, which have rubbed off on me.