Enlightened
Enlightened is a collaborative art project developed with citizens in Køge in 2024-25, using contemporary art installations to explore climate change, sustainability, and community engagement.
Køge is experiencing the impact of climate change firsthand, facing rising water levels and floodings. Addressing climate change can feel overwhelming, but art creates a space for collective reflection and connection with nature, fostering action.
Since 1995, Kyndelmisse in Køge has celebrated the turning point of winter with a public light festival. This year, the event expands with Enlightened (Oplystigt in Danish), integrating contemporary art to explore light, sustainability, and community. Three artists – Honey Biba Beckerlee, Stine Deja, and Julian Juhlin – have collaborated with local organizations to develop works that will evolve within the city’s communities over time. Oplystigt is developed with Køge Municipality and supported by the Ny Carlsberg Foundation.
Burn Out by Stine Deja
Feeling burned out by the climate crisis? Stine Deja’s video work Burn Out investigates whether we can transform climate fatigue into action. Projected onto the facade of a local building, the piece places fire at the center—a technology that changed humanity but also set us on a path of consumption and destruction. Flames engulf the building, creating the illusion of a burning structure. Rather than evoking doom, the work acknowledges fire as both destruction and renewal – some things must burn before new ideas can grow.
Leading up to Kyndelmisse, Enlightened and Stine Deja collaborated with the local Køge Billedskole and held workshops where children explored climate change and communities. Using recycled materials, they created lanterns, flags, and signs expressing hope for the future, which they presented in a public procession focusing on the role of agency and community in relation to climate change.
The Water’s Community by Julian Juhlin
The light returns to Køge as it is sailed from the sea into the city. Julian Juhlin, in collaboration with three local kayak clubs and the choir Vildensky, has created a new ritual for Køge where kayakers bring light up the river to be received by the choir. This staged performance integrates movement, song, and light, forming a symbolic passage from darkness to illumination.
‘The Water’s Community’ highlights the need for new rituals in a time of climate uncertainty. The act of carrying light serves as a collective reflection on climate change and its impact on Køge through water. The hope is that this ritual will become a yearly tradition, marking the past year’s environmental actions and future challenges.
The work was realized in collaboration with Roe Ørslev.
Weather Forecasting by Honey Boba Beckerlee
How do we perceive and interpret the weather? Historically, Kyndelmisse was a day for predicting the weather of the coming year. Today, we extend our senses with technology. Honey Biba Beckerlee’s light sculptures at Køge Å merge historical traditions with contemporary data to visualize future water levels.
Based on projections for 2050, the four light sculptures are placed in the landscape where rising waters are expected. Collaborating with Køge Naturskole and local children, Beckerlee explores waste pollution in waterways and its consequences. The sculptures, 3D-printed with woven seaweed and fiber optics, reference both ancient Danish weaving techniques and the hidden infrastructure of the internet, which relies on undersea cables now threatened by rising seas. These luminous structures stand as a visualization of climate change at Køge Å, intertwining past knowledge with future realities.
