Rebranding Denmark

Rebranding Denmark is an LED-display which shows an eight-frame animated version of a burning Danish flag. In 2005, there was a political crisis in Denmark known as the Cartoon Crisis, in which the publication of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten caused Denmark to be condemned by parts of the international Islamic world. As a result, there were large demonstrations and attacks on Danish Embassies in several countries in the Middle East, which often involved burning the Danish flag.  

The Danish flag thus became a symbol of the revolt and there was sudden global attention on a small country: Denmark was unwillingly rebranded internationally. In Danish, “brand” means “fire,” and so SUPERFLEX’s “rebranding” of the country not only refers to a shift in Denmark’s image but to the complete reimagining of nationalist symbols, in an effort to find out what else could emerge in their place.