Botanical Drift by Ebbe Stub Wittrup

Artist Ebbe Stub Wittrup addresses national identity and cultural ownership in his exhibition, Botanical Drift at Copenhagen Contemporary.

Following in the footsteps of the Danish botanist Nathaniel Wallich who, while stationed in the Danish (later British) colony Serampore in India in 1807, collected and classified local plants, documenting on sheets of paper that were then distributed to botanical gardens throughout Europe, Ebbe Stub Wittrup examines phenomena, linking the imperial self-image of past times with present-day global power struggles.

One installation features seven large-scale textile banners extended from the ceiling, using almost 450 meters of the smooth waxed textile Glacier by Kinnasand. The banners have been coloured with vegetable dyes from the Indian flora, using colour pigment extracted from local plants that played a key role in the emergence of myths, traditions, and spiritual rites worldwide.


Opening
23 January – 17 May 2020

Opening hours
Monday – Tuesday, closed
Wednesday, 11.00 – 18.00
Thursday, 11.00 – 21.00
Friday – Sunday, 11.00 – 18.00