Sunday was train trip south of Copenhagen to Ishøj where a very new contemporary art gallery, Arken, has just been built. Its distinctive architecture stands out on the windswept coastal grasses and dunes. A whole room devoted to Damien Hirst, the British artist famous for his diamond encrusted skull and preserved shark and calf. Here the skull was a photo but the two halves of the calf were real. Both front halves, preserved in formaldehyde, in separate structures where you could walk between and have an intimate view of the insides of a calf. Two calves actually. A bit disturbing really. A room of 45 clowns confronted us next. Also quite extraordinary. Titled ‘vocabulary of solitude’ the clowns are seen before or after a show in a contemplative mood. All the faces are different. A video
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