Accenture Song and Golden Days Festival Pay Tribute to the Forgotten Heroines of Danish History

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 seven 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, the ’50 QUEENS’ exhibition 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.

In addition, Accenture Song has partnered with Meta to further discuss how depictions of women in art, film, advertisements and media maintain patriarchal structures in society through an innovative VR experience. Entitled, ‘The Female Gaze’, users are invited to create their own version of the iconic artwork ‘Young Girl Preparing Chantarelles’ (1892) by Danish artist Peter Ilsted. 

Produced by Meta in collaboration with Kunsthal Charlottenborg and Make Me Pulse, this interactive and educational tool takes inspiration from historical theories of the gaze, and aims to raise awareness, adjust the lens, and renew the gaze to emphasise just how powerful perspective is.

The exhibition can be experienced during the entire Golden Days Festival, which will run from the 2nd to the 18th of September 2022, developed and curated by Golden Days, BIG, Kunsthal Charlottenborg and Accenture Song. It is expected that between 50-70,000 Danes and tourists will experience the pedestals. The list of the 50 selected historical women can be found below. The exhibition is supported by the Capital Region, the Municipality of Copenhagen, the AP Møller Foundation and the CE Jensen Foundation.

Adam Kerj, chief creative officer, Accenture Song, Nordics/Europe, comments: “For the entire team at Accenture Song to be part of bringing the important 50 Queens project is both deeply meaningful and rewarding on so many levels. First of all we want to thank Golden Days for letting us be part of the project. Collaborating with such stellar partners from Meta and Big/Bjarke Ingels Group really makes the experience captivating and blurring the lines between our physical and virtual worlds. Inviting the visitors to walk in the footsteps and hear about these important Danish women and their contribution to history and amplified by a VR-experience we hope to spark cultural conversations and help drive societal change.”

Nanna Gjerstrup, creative, Accenture Song, says: “This project is a beautiful example of how different businesses and cultural institutions can come together for a common mission and not least an important societal agenda. In Denmark we have shockingly few female historical monuments in the cityscape, and that’s what we would like to highlight with ‘50 Queens’. The project has been a year in the making, and several partners have tirelessly been joining forces to collaborate to create the most impactful experience for the 50 Queens exhibition for Golden Days. Together with our fantastic partners we´re incredibly proud to promote this initiative and hopefully drive change by combining creativity, technology, and purpose in one.”