Danish architecture students collaborate with SA&D students

A group of students and faculty from the Århus Arkitektskolen (Århus School of Architecture) in Denmark visited AUS to work with School of Architecture and Design (SA&D) students from Assistant Professor of Architecture George Katodrytis's fifth-year architecture studio.

The team from Denmark was led by Professor Hans Feldthusen, who has visited SA&D on previous occassions and served as a jury member on the school's Foundation Juried Exhibition in the spring of 2004. This year's visit by students and faculty from Denmark was a significant contribution to the continuing dialogue between Sharjah and Denmark. It also marked the fifth year of collaboration and highlighted the central role of SA&D in this exchange program.

The collaboration between SA&D and Danish colleagues was initiated by SA&D faculty member Kevin Mitchell and Danish artist Dorte Dahlin in 1999-2000 with a collaborative workshop and lectures by a group of Danish art historians, artists and architects. The workshop included SA&D students. Over time, a formal cultural exchange has been developed between the Emirate of Sharjah and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, led by Dr. Else Marie Bukdahl.

Some of the activities in the past have included student engagement with Danish artists/architects as part of the 1999 Sharjah Biennial, which resulted in collaboration with the Danish art group Superflex. There was an exhibition of artists from Denmark in 2000 entitled Overlaps: North- Southeast, and exhibitions of Emirati and Danish artists in Sharjah and Copenhagen (Five from Afar in 2003 in Copenhagen and Seven from Afar in Sharjah in 2004).

Symposia that included SA&D faculty and students were also held during the spring of 2004 at the Sharjah Art Museum and other venues. A series documenting these events has been published by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.