How CHART 2026 is redefining the art fair model: in conversation with Julie Quottrup Silbermann
Lowering the threshold without lowering artistic ambition: CHART Art Fair’s approach to new collectors, public engagement and contemporary art
Lampoon introduces CHART Art Fair 2026
Founded thirteen years ago by five Danish gallerists to strengthen and promote the Nordic art scene, CHART Art Fair has become a physical and digital platform that extends beyond the format of an art fair. The fair remains its center. CHART has expanded its presence across Copenhagen and across the year, developing formats around the fair.
Julie Quottrup Silbermann: «We’ve become more international. We have a Book & Print Fair on the last weekend of November. We are becoming more present with our platform, podcasts and articles, trying to have a voice throughout the year».
CHART Public: an installation for talks, performances and music
CHART has not changed its home. The fair has occupied Charlottenborg since its inception, a venue that departs from the trade fair model. Instead of exhibition halls, the building distributes the fair through galleries, rooms and courtyards.
Its outdoor spaces host the fair’s public program. In 2024, CHART marked the tenth anniversary of CHART Architecture, an initiative that has since become CHART Public.
«CHART Public is an umbrella for our public program. We still have the architecture competition, but instead of creating a pavilion, we launch an open call inviting architects and artists to collaborate on a site-specific installation for the courtyards, bringing together the strands of our public program», explains Quottrup Silbermann.
Pantomime: the winning proposal
For the jury, artistic quality remains the criterion. The proposal must respond to the spatial conditions of Charlottenborg and connect its two courtyards. Submissions have also addressed participation and social interaction.
This year’s winning project is Pantomime, by Mads Vagn Jacobsen, Frederik Lykkeberg Larsen and Oliver Sundqvist. «This is the first time we’ve seen architects and artists collaborating», says Quottrup Silbermann. «They created an installation that combines art, through sculptural elements distributed across the courtyards, with architecture, using a scaffolding system as its framework».
Pantomime works as a social infrastructure rather than as a pavilion or a landmark. Peter Bur Andersen, Creative Director at BRIQ and a member of the jury, described the project during the selection process as architecture understood as atmosphere and social choreography. Its temporary structure holds audience, performance and public space in one setting. Visitors can stop and gather there as part of CHART’s public program.
The galleries of CHART Art Fair 2026
In the rooms of Charlottenborg, visitors encounter contemporary art from thirty-seven galleries across the Nordic region. The fair balances long-standing collaborations with newcomers.
«The galleries are still our clients», says Quottrup Silbermann. «Many of the thirty-seven galleries participating this year have been with us for a long time and return every year. At the same time, we make room for new participants». Among this year’s additions are Basel-based Von Bartha, founded in 1970 and opening a space in Copenhagen, and Sweden’s Galerie Nordenhake, which also operates exhibition spaces in Denmark and Mexico.
«There are many Nordic artists, but also international ones», Quottrup Silbermann explains. «A few galleries are presenting solo exhibitions, while most are showing works by two or three artists».
Six galleries are part of Please Notice, CHART’s section for younger galleries. Among them is OTP, a UK-founded gallery that has established a space in Copenhagen. Gallery Gudmundsdottir will present the Icelandic Love Corporation (ILC), the Reykjavík-based collective, which will stage performances on each day of the fair.
New collectors: the NextGen Collecting series
CHART’s approach extends beyond its galleries to its audience. The fair brings together collectors, museum professionals, art insiders and first-time visitors. «From collectors to museum people and art professionals, we bring together different communities», says Quottrup Silbermann. Alongside established collectors, CHART addresses new audiences and first-time buyers. Partnerships with international companies contribute to this dialogue: «UBS, our main partner, brings its clients to the fair and uses it as a platform to meet them».
CHART dedicates attention to the new generation of collectors. Through the NextGen Collecting series, CHART creates a space for dialogue with young buyers and gathers their insights, aspirations and perspectives. These conversations become a tool for understanding how collecting is changing and for the direction of the fair. According to Quottrup Silbermann, younger buyers are motivated by curiosity rather than by status: they seek an understanding of artists, their practices and the ideas behind the works. Many build long-term relationships through studio visits, social media and conversations with artists, treating collecting as support for an artist’s development rather than as an act of acquisition.
«They want transparency, relationships and dialogue with artists», explains Quottrup Silbermann. «They collect in depth, following an artist’s journey instead of spreading their collection». CHART recognizes that entering the art world can feel intimidating. The fair has developed Start Collecting with CHART, an exhibition for first-time buyers where all works are priced below €3,000, combining established names with emerging artists. «Our ambition is to lower the threshold without lowering the artistic ambition», says Quottrup Silbermann.
CHART 2026 beyond the fair: CHART in Tivoli
«No one should feel left outside. If you are curious about the art world, an art fair is a place to start, because you can encounter galleries, artists and artistic practices in one place. A public program outside the ticketed fair opens the conversation to a wider audience», adds Quottrup Silbermann.
The fair remains at the center of CHART’s identity, and its program extends beyond Charlottenborg. CHART in Tivoli is now in its fifth edition. This year’s exhibition brings together twelve contemporary artworks by Nordic artists in Tivoli’s Parterre Garden, where sculptures and installations stand in the landscape. At the center of Tivoli Lake, SUPERFLEX presents a large-scale commission. The works reach audiences who entered the park for reasons other than art.
Contemporary art in Copenhagen’s public space
The performance program extends into the city. CHART will install a three-and-a-half-meter bronze sculpture by Charlotte Gyllenhammar, depicting a seated baby, in front of Charlottenborg. The sculpture is the starting point for a procession that moves through Kongens Nytorv, into the Copenhagen Metro and on to the Central Station. During the fair days, works by four video artists appear on screens across the metro network.
This approach continues through the year. Metro tours, art running tours and walks cover artworks in Copenhagen’s architecture and public spaces, pieces that go unnoticed in daily life. They include Jeppe Hein’s Coloured Mirror Balloons (2024) at Kongens Nytorv, Olafur Eliasson’s Cirkelbroen (2015), which connects the Christiansbro area to Appelbys Plads in Christianshavn, and SUPERFLEX’s bins, benches and clocks hanging from the walls and the ceiling of Havneholmen Metro station. CHART uses the city as a platform for contemporary art through the year, rather than in a single week.
CHART Art Fair: CHART is an event for contemporary art in the Nordic region, combining an art fair with a public program of talks, performances, music and exhibitions. Each year CHART brings together individuals and professionals from the arts community in the Nordics and beyond. CHART is located at Charlottenborg, home of The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Kunsthal Charlottenborg, in Copenhagen. CHART is a member of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC).
