Queens

In celebration of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark’s 50 years on the throne, Golden Days has partnered with Accenture Song, Meta, design studio BIG, and Kunsthal Charlottenborg to create a large-scale opening exhibition for this year's Golden Day Festival. Entitled ‘QUEENS’, the exhibition uses the Royal Jubilee as a welcomed opportunity to redress the balance and shine a spotlight on the queens of history – both those with and without crowns – following an insight from the Danish Cultural Heritage Ministry that of the 2,500 statues found around Denmark, only 7 of them are of Female historical figures (0.28%). Kicking off the celebrations in Dronningens Nytorv, Queen Margrethe II will make a speech about the significance of this opportunity to embrace and celebrate Denmark’s rich female history.

Commemorating the start of the jubilee celebrations, ’50 QUEENS’ exhibition which will see 50 empty pedestals placed in the centre of Dronningens Nytorv in a necklace formation, where 49 significant female figures from Danish history will be assigned to them via a QR code. Significantly, one pedestal has been left anonymous as an invitation to the audience to contribute their take on who should be honoured with a statue.

With an aim of making these history-making women visible in Copenhagen’s urban space, the striking pedestals have been erected in Kongens Nytorv (Kings New Square), which has been aptly renamed to 'Dronningens Nytorv' (Queens New Square) for the occasion. A professional jury, headed by former Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregard, were tasked with selecting the historical women who will be honoured by the exhibition.

Accompanying the physical exhibition, Meta will use the project to launch the Beta version of its new Instagram experience. This will allow users to walk around in the city centre on an audio guided tour to ‘meet’ these 50 historical women of Denmark and hear what part they’ve played in history. Once in the experience, each of these women who has meaningfully contributed to Danish history will tell their captivating story to listeners. Through the educational experience and this unique take on storytelling, the women receive the honour and recognition they deserve.