Bakkehuset
The new corner room at Bakkehuset
Permanent exhibition
1801 Frederiksberg C
T: +45 33 31 43 62
E: bakkehuset@frederiksbergmuseerne.dk
Practical information
The open corner room conversations take place daily.
Thursday-Friday at 3 PM and 5 PM
Saturday-Sunday at 1 PM and 3 PM
The corner room conversations must be booked in advance and have a duration of approximately 45 minutes. Entrance to Bakkehuset is included when you buy a ticket to The new corner room.
You can sign up for the corner room conversations with people you already know, or you can sign up on your own. It is also possible to book the corner room as a group.
In addition to the open corner room conversations, you can of course visit The new corner room on your own during the museum’s opening hours, but here only one selected art cabinet will be open.
The new corner room
200 years ago, poets, writers and scientists met at Bakkehuset, at the couple Kamma and Knud Lyne Rahbek, to discuss, read aloud and give criticism. The interest in language, culture and art was united in their conversations, and the culture of conversation is thus Bakkehuset’s most important cultural heritage.
The new corner room on the first floor is a contemporary reflection of Rahbek’s historic living room just below. The new corner room interprets the salon culture that unfolded in Bakkehuset two hundred years ago by making room for new conversations – conversations that you can be a part of.
The room is decorated with 29 cabinets, one for each letter of the alphabet and one word. The cabinets contain tableaus and scenes which, in combination with Morten Søndergaard’s newly written texts, pose both big and small questions.
Corner room conversations
The purpose of The new corner room is not only to see and feel the art in the room, but to create a free, shared conversation. The new corner room is best experienced when you book a seat around the table and take part in our “Corner room conversations”. No special prerequisites are required to participate. It all takes place around the beautiful square table, which has room for eight people.
The table’s rolling wooden ball determines which letters and thus which cabinets, and texts will form the framework for your conversation. The conversations are facilitated by the museum’s hosts, who have an in-depth knowledge of the space and the art project as a whole.
The cabinets
The cabinets in The new corner room refer to Kamma Rahbek’s famous artistic boxes with miniature paintings in the lid and mirrors in the bottom.
The cabinets are also a reference to a number of historical art cabinets from the 17th century, of which the most famous and best preserved is Gustav II Adolf’s art cabinet from 1632, which today belongs to the Uppsala University Museum.
The art cabinets were, with their collections of wonderful and exquisite objects of art and nature, not only miniature versions of the scholarly collections of art and wundercabinets of the time, but also a demonstration of the very best in craftsmanship. On special occasions, the contents of the cabinets were brought out and placed on a table where the guests could gaze upon the glories. In the same way, the cabinets will be brought forward in Bakkehuset’s new corner room and opened for the participants around the table.
Morten Søndergaard
The new corner room was created by the poet Morten Søndergaard, the cabinetmaker Teis Dich Abrahamsen and the exhibition curator Annesofie Becker.
Morten Søndergaard once lived in Bakkehuset with the writer Merete Pryds Helle. Therefore, he has a special connection to the history of the house and the areas of interest that have dominated it throughout the ages: The art of poetry, nature, botany, art, craftsmanship, homeliness, memory, sincerity and conversation.
The contents of the cabinets have been created in collaboration with a number of invited artists and architects: Poul Ingemann, Marie Højlund, Anna Maria Orrù, Alexander Damsbo, Katja Bjørn, Kirsten Dehlholm, Henrik Ingemann Nielsen, Gudrun Hasle, Johan Oettinger, Christian Vind, Jenny Bendix Becker, Thomas Foldberg, Sarah Becker and 10 tons. Peer Klausen from Gadget Group, has developed and installed the technology in the cabinets.
A book has been published in connection with The new corner room. It is a book with 29 new texts by Morten Søndergaard, written for the room and the 29 cabinets.
The new corner room
Bakkehuset is an evocative testimony of how two inquisitive and idealistic personalities, Kamma and Knud Lyne Rahbek, opened the doors to many of the beautiful souls of romanticism and the Golden Age; the national poet Adam Oehlenschläger, the fairy tale writer H.C. Andersen, the scientist H.C. Ørsted, the hymnwriters N.F.S. Grundtvig and B.S. Ingemann and many more.
The heart of Bakkehuset was and still is the historic corner room – the Rahbek couple’s living room with yellow walls and a single table in the middle, with room for eight people. Artists, scientists, politicians and thinkers met here to discuss and exchange ideas, receive criticism and find inspiration, sing and recite, and not least forge new friendships.