Sometimes it is great to look at surreal looking things to set the imagination going. This is an slightly old-school museum with traditional ways of presenting the wast collection, but I personally like that. This museum is a part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, and has a permanent exhibition ‘From pole to pole' which show animals from around the world. The collection manifests that there is so much to know about the world and who we share it with, and it really sets your mind working. Get inspired by geometric patterns on seashells, colours of birds or scales of reptilians. The museum has many important remains of recently extinct birds in storage, including the eyes and internal organs of the last two great auks, several specimens of the pied raven, and one of only two known complete skulls of the dods that were taken to Europe in the 17th century.
An area in Copenhagen that has gotten quite a lot of attention because of its experimental public space and planning is Superkilen, a park in the north west of the city centre. Designed in a collaboration between the arts group Supeflex, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Topotek1, this park feature an eclectic mix of features, such as a fountain from Morocco, sculptures from Japan and large scale Russian signs. The area this park is located in, Nørrebro, is quite diverse, and the designers set out to reflect this by treating the park as ‘a world exhibition filled with interesting things’, and to represent the nationalities of every local resident. The park is divided into three areas: The Red Square, The Black Market and the Green Park. The Red Square is decorated with red-toned geometric patterns, contains cafés and feels modern and urban. The Black Markets’ ground are painted with white lines that creates almost aerodynamic patterns that curve around the benches and fountain. The Green park is a park for walking the dog, picnics and sports. Bring your camera as this area offers some great photo opportunities!
When in need of some inspiration The Design Museum is an obvious choice living in Copenhagen. What is not that well known to the visitors is that the Design Museum has a great poster collection not open to the general public. If you plan your visit and make an agreement with the Museum beforehand, you will be able to visit the collection archived in the attic above the Museums’ library (which is also a must-see, but expect to be ‘shushed’).
The Design Museum has since its founding in the 1890s collected posters, and the collection documents commercial, cultural, and political developments in poster history both in Denmark and around the world, from the boom in posters in the 1800s to today. And all of the stars of poster history are represented. The curator of the department will be able to find posters relevant to the subject you are interested in, and is very knowledgeable of both printing techniques and cultural history.