Audioguide
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Louise Iuel-Brockdorff Albinus – known as Duddi – takes us on a tour of the palace and grounds where she grew up, and where she lives today with her husband, two children, and two little dogs.
Charlotte Christensen a specialist in eighteenth-century portraiture, captures the significance of paintings by Carl Gustaf Pilo and Jens Juel, depicting two generations of VS’s residents. Curator and writer Ulla Kjær and her husband, curator Poul Grinder-Hansen, discuss the palace’s architecture, highlighting the unique private chapel. Alongside the three historians, our artists discuss how their work responds to this unique location, including Chinese artist Rong Bao, Czech-German painter Jiří Georg Dokoupil, Norwegian sound artist Hanne Lippard, and Pernille With Madsen, who was born locally on Funen.
Where possible, we have provided Danish (black) and English (grey) audio. Click play beside your chosen language to start listening.
Hanne Lippard: Hiccup
Once you’re through the entrance, take a right and (grab a coffee at the café or) follow the path towards the palace. In the entrance tunnel, you will find the first intervention by Norwegian contemporary artist Hanne Lippard, Hiccup, which originated during the coronavirus pandemic in 2021. Listen to Hanne talk about the work below.
Explore the architecture
Curator and writer Ulla Kjær and her husband, Curator Poul Grinder-Hansen, have both spent forty years at the National Museum in Copenhagen, publishing numerous books and articles focussing on Danish history. We asked Ulla to shine a light on the history of the palace, with Poul providing the English translation.
Take a photo
Walk up the steps to the palace and get your camera out! Jiří Georg Dokoupil designed his Furniture for Photos as both a stage and backdrop, inviting visitors to become part of the performance and take a selfie. Blurring the line between two- and three-dimensions, craft and fine art, these playful objects are characteristic of the Czech-German artist’s provocative style. In the corner of the room, Admiral Niels Juel (1629–97) points you in the right direction, towards the historical exhibitions.
The King’s Room
Men have asked to be painted riding horses – to signify their social status – since at least as far back as Ancient Rome. The trend fell dormant for a few hundred years, before coming back into fashion during the Renaissance as a way to express vitality and authority. Ulla and Poul discuss five such portraits in the King’s Room. Made in the mid-seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, they depict a series of Danish kings in grandiose full-length.
Explore historical works from VS’s collection in the Garden Room with Charlotte Christensen.
Tapestries used to be referred to as ‘nomadic murals’, and one appeal of the medium as decoration is that it’s easy to move around. Although the leaf motifs in the stucco make these tapestries look like a perfect fit, they weren’t specifically designed for this room. The works aren’t unusual in being unattributed. Whilst many important painters of the time were involved in the production of tapestries, due to the radical divergences in format between the original design and final product, it’s often difficult to identify the designer or source.
The Tapestry Room
Jiří Georg Dokoupil: Bubbles in the Castle
Known for his experimental techniques, using soot, tyres, milk, and even a whip to make a painting, Jiří Georg Dokoupil has exhibited extensively across Europe, Asia and America. For Valdemars Slot’s inaugural season, Dokoupil presents his renowned Soap-Bubble series in the palace’s first floor and chapel.
The Chapel
Valdemars Slot’s chapel is an iconic feature of the estate, but it hasn’t always been used as a place of worship. During times when the palace has been uninhabited or fallen into disrepair, the chapel has been used as a horse stable and hay shed, and even as a field hospital during the Schleswig Wars in the mid-nineteenth century. It’s so exciting to exhibit two specially commissioned paintings by Dokoupil here. The context brings out the symbolic significance of the works, and the architecture’s theatrical, baroque details highlight their flamboyant energy.
The Ballroom
Balancing the spontaneous and controlled, Dokoupil’s Soap-Bubbles underline the stable authority embedded in the palace’s regal art and architecture. Though their unpredictable forms challenge conventions of craft and authorship, the bubbles’ soft curves and gilded glamour mirror the rococo style of Carl Gustaf Pilo’s (1711–93) three royal portraits – installed in the ballroom for centuries. Whilst these paintings were designed to convey power sustained over generations, Dokoupil’s ephemeral Soap-Bubbles joyfully invite us to live in the moment.
Head outside…
Rong Bao: The New Pontiff
Overlooking the ocean in the tea pavilion, Bao’s sculptures conjure fantastical creatures from the aquatic world. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in London (2023) Chinese artist Rong Bao has become known for her witty kinetic sculptures built from inflatable plastic. Referencing childhood and games as well as fetish clothing and costume, her works capture the uncontrollable and absurd ingrained in daily life. Bao was shortlisted for New Contemporaries, London (2022) and included as one of the Top 10 emerging artists in China UCCA.
Pernille With Madsen
Pernille With Madsen is known for her multidisciplinary installations that transform recognisable imagery to upend expectations of time and scale. This three-part installation leads us on a dizzying journey through the vast Riding Hall. Retaining traces of its past – as a performance hall and grain store – the site becomes a frame through which to explore the ways we understand historical spaces. Born locally on Funen, With Madsen has exhibited widely and recently garnered critical attention for public works commissioned for Copenhagen Metro and Aarhus University in Denmark (2024).
Hanne Lippard
Through live performance and sound installation, Hanne Lippard investigates the spoken word as an instrument to shape meaning. The Norwegian artist greets visitors to VS with a loud hiccup, echoing through the entrance tunnel like a windpipe. In the palace grounds, her voice transforms the historical barn into a site for meditation. Lippard is currently Artist in Residence at Deutsche Akademie in Rome and was recently awarded the Hamburger Bahnhof’s prestigious Nationalgalerie Prize 2024.
