Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen will present the Disobedience Archive, an expansive collection of video works connected by the overarching theme of social resistance. For this exhibition, the archive – which has been presented in different configurations around the world – will be constituted as Disobedience Archive (The Open Storage), an installation conceived by visual artist Christopher McSherran in the likeness of an art storage facility.

Ever since its conception by the curator Marco Scotini in 2005, the Disobedience Archive has been displayed in over 15 countries, taking on new forms in each iteration, and offering new modes of approaching the more than five decades of social struggle chronicled in the works. The show at Kunsthal Charlottenborg show will be divided into four thematically distinct sections that focus on a different aspect of the full spectrum of rights struggles.

In Diaspora Activism, viewers will be introduced to the transnational migration processes that are currently unfolding, accentuating the struggle for survival against the constrictions of the nation-state system and its citizenship. The video works in Gender Disobedience pivot towards the deconstruction of cis-gender norms and the rejection of heterosexual discourse, drawing a connection between the struggles of the global LGBTQ+ and anti-capitalist movements.

Diagram by Cem Dinlenmiş for Disobedience Archive (The Park) displayed at SALT Beyoğlu, 2014.

In Radical Ecologies, distinct authorial voices converge to assess the significance of the fight against climate change in the here and the now and potential future timelines. The section Insurgent Communities exhibits video works focusing on the emergence of a public sphere antithetical to the prevailing systemic discourse and the impact that creative initiatives and activities have in its formation.

Although at first seemingly disparate in their content, documenting separate struggles for social justice, the archive gathers these materials together to provide a coherent political framework through which to view the unity of purpose that characterizes each of them. The archive features works by a collection of over 56 artists, including: Critical Art Ensemble, Chto Delat?, Ali Essafi, Simone Cangelosi, Karrabing Film Collective, Bani Khoshnoudi, LIMINAL & Border Forensics, Maria Galindo e Mujeres Creando, and many others.

The exhibition opens on March 19, 2025. It is organized by Kunsthal Charlottenborg in collaboration with the documentary film festival CPH:DOX and Human Rights Watch Denmark as part of the HUMAN:RIGHTS initiative. More information about this and other events at Kunsthal Charlottenborg can be found on their site.

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