Selected projects
WE'RE MAGIC, WE'RE REAL
In 2021 we exhibited the artworks We're Magic, We're Real by artist Jeanette Ehlers. The artworks address Denmark's participation in the transatlantic slave trade and the historic atrocities Black people have experienced. The artworks also remind us that the world is in peril and that we need alternative visions for the future.
Hommage á Andre Cadere
In 2014, we started the Art and Stripes series on the initiative of graphic designer Claus Due. The first was an homage to the late French-Polish artist André Cadere, known for his subtle performances of carrying a wooden, striped stick with him in his everyday life in Paris in the sixties. Danish performance artist Lilibeth Cuenca re-enacted Cadere's work, artist FOS made the stick, and it all happened in and around the shop in Copenhagen.
PLEASE BE HERE NOW
In 2015 we hosted artist Nana-Francisca Schottländer and her performance artwork PLEASE BE HERE NOW, which consists of exposed inhabitations or dwellings in selected places and spaces.
She spent 72 hours in our shop window on Strøget, sleeping, eating, drinking, washing, reading, and thinking in full view. The performance explores themes of human existence.
You'll never swim alone
In 2021 we collaborated with Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in connection with her exhibition Open my Glade.
Water and bodies are central motifs for Pipilotti Rist, whose artworks take us swimming.
Together, we designed a unisex swimwear collection, You will never swim alone, which featured prints from Pipilotti Rist's artwork. The collection was produced using 78% recycled polyester and 22% lycra from recycled fishing nets and was decorated with strings of old plastic beach findings, hence the title: You'll Never Swim Alone.
Susanne Ussing
In the 1970s and 1980s, Mads' father, Jørgen, worked closely with the late artist and architect Susanne Ussing (1940-1998). Working in the fields of youth and women's liberation, Ussing made several legendary exhibitions in the store on Strøget, culminating in three different Statues of Liberty installed on the pedestrian street itself. Only one has survived and is now permanently installed outside Brandts Klædefabrik in Odense, Denmark.
Ussing's work is included in several museums in Denmark and Germany, and she was honored with a major retrospective solo show at The Danish National Gallery SMK in 2017.
CHART & Rose Eken
Since its beginning in 2013, we have been a proud partner of the annual non-profit art event CHART, taking place at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen. In 2023 we collaborated with the Danish artist Rose Eken (b. 1976) on a series of products, launched on the occasion of CHART. The collaboration included Rose Eken-designed t-shirts for all CHART staff, silk scarves and a #101 Rose Eken edition. During the launch, Rose Eken exhibited her amazing bronze sculptures in the window of Nørgaard paa Strøget.
Read more here
And others …
Over the years, we have enjoyed working with many artists. The main desk in our Aarhus shop was created by Danish artist FOS, who also created a smaller version at the back of the Copenhagen store on Strøget. We have made smaller, more site-specific collaborations with artists, including TAL R, John Kørner, Ursula Reuter Christiansen, and many others.
Culture Friday
Mads Nørgaard reappropriates Black Friday to be an activist against the sales hype. From 2017 to 2021, we closed our webshop to open a conversation about our role as clothing manufacturers.
In 2022, we reopened the webshop on Black Friday, but under the banner Culture Friday. Instead of deals on clothing, we offered free cultural experiences at museums and cinemas across Denmark with every purchase.
Culture Friday will return in the coming years with an increased offering of cultural experiences across Denmark and the Nordics.
