Talks

At a time when museums are redefining themselves and questioning the Euro-centric ideas of art, culture and knowledge that were widespread at the time they were founded, this two-day international conference addresses the societal impact of collectors, who founded museums and private collections of art, “ethnographica” and plants around the turn of the century. Co-organised in collaboration between Dr Kristine Dyrmann from Aarhus University and Dr Vibe Nielsen from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and University of Copenhagen, the conference seeks to bring together international scholars and museum practitioners from various interdisciplinary backgrounds, to discuss how collection and classification practices of the late-nineteenth century shaped the modern world and continues to influence contemporary museum practices. The conference convenes two keynote lectures and a series of 12 shorter paper presentations given by international scholars and museum practitioners, who through presentations of their latest research and a series of thoughtprovoking panel discussions, will develop their ideas about a historical period characterised by powerful industrialists, who became influential art collectors and museum founders.

Talk at the "Image and Object" History of Art Study Day convened by Prof. Geraldine Johnson. Under the headline Reproducing the Tropics in the Winter Garden of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, findings from the research project Passion or Politics? The art collecting practices of Carl Jacobsen in a socioeconomic and cultural political context 1878-1914 will be presented in dialogue with colleagues from the Department of the History of Art at the University of Oxford.

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Photo of the Winter Garden at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek by V. Nielsen (2025).

Guided tour for the IT University of Copenhagen, presenting findings from the research project "Passion or Politics? The art collecting practices of Carl Jacobsen in a socioeconomic and cultural political context 1878-1914" hosted by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

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Photo of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek from the early twentieth century.

In Trinity Term 2025, Linacre Fellows Ashley Coutu, Tea Ghigo and Vibe Nielsen led the Linacre Lecture Series ‘Communicating Culture: New Horizons for Museums’ at Linacre College, University of Oxford. Through six in-person and live-streamed events, the Linacre Lecture Series delved into the dynamics of cultural communication and explored the unprecedented challenges and opportunities facing art, archaeology and anthropology in a rapidly changing world. The series consisted of four lectures, a roundtable discussion with representatives of the Gardens, Libraries and Museums of the University of Oxford, as well as a conversation between Prof Wayne Modest, Director of the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden and Rotterdam, and Prof Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, chaired by Vibe Nielsen, on the future of ethnographic collections. 

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Photo by F. Cooper (2025) of Laura Van Broekhoven, Vibe Nielsen and Wayne Modest at Linacre College.

Guided tour for the Linacre Humanities Network at the Oxford Botanic Garden, University of Oxford, presenting the findings of the journal article The Colonial Roots of Botany: Legacies of Empire in the Botanic Gardens of Oxford and Kew (2023), published in Museum Management and Curatorship vol. 38, issue 6: 696-712.​

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Photo by V. Nielsen (2024) of the Oxford Botanic Garden.

Lecture at the Department of the History of Art at the University of Oxford, presenting findings from

the research project Passion or Politics? The art collecting practices of Carl Jacobsen in a socioeconomic and cultural political context 1878-1914 hosted by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

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Drawing of the Winter Garden in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek by V. Dahlerup (1903).

Lecture based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in museums and art galleries in South Africa, as part of the research behind the PhD thesis Demanding Recognition: Curatorial Challenges in the Exhibition of Art From South Africa (2019).

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Photo of the Ditaola series by Mohau Modisakeng (2014) on display at the Zeitz MOCAA by V. Nielsen (2017).

Guided tour for PASS - Centre for Practice-based Art Studies, University of Copenhagen, at the Wereldmuseum and Hortus Botanicus, Leiden, presenting research on decolonial curatorial practices in ethnographic museums and botanical gardens, conducted as part of the research project Decolonising Museums - Changing Curatorial Practices at the Pitt Rivers and Quai Branly hosted by the Pitt Rivers Museum and Linacre College at the University of Oxford.

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Photo by Vibe Nielsen (2016) from the Wereldmuseum Leiden.

In the late-nineteenth century, collecting art and plants were prestigious projects, which in Denmark were characterised by collectors such as the brewing magnate Carl Jacobsen (1842-1914), whose collections have been displayed in the halls of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek since 1897. The Palm House in the Botanical Garden of Copenhagen was built in 1872-74 with the father of Carl Jacobsen, the brewer J.C. Jacobsen (1811-1887), as one of the driving forces. It was inspired by London's Crystal Palace, built for the World Exhibition in 1851, and similarly aimed to accommodate a display of the world under its dome. In this paper, the ideas behind these two prestigious architectural projects are unfolded in a discussion of the ways in which contemporary British glasshouses inspired the Jacobsen benefactors. The initiatives to create palm houses in Copenhagen are thus revisited and analysed with a socio-economic and cultural-political lens: It is argued that in addition to bringing sculptural beauty and green lushness to the visiting public, the plant collections of the Glyptotek and Botanical Garden were also examples of how private benefactors self-positioned themselves in a world, which was characterised by imperial exploitation and representations of Europe as the only true civilisation.

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Photo of the Winter Garden in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (1907).

In this double lecture with guided tours, the ideas behind the Winter Garden of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and the Palm House of the Botanical Garden of Copenhagen are unfolded in a discussion of the ways in which contemporary British glasshouses inspired the Jacobsen benefactors. The initiatives to create palm houses in Copenhagen are thus revisited and analysed with a socio-economic and cultural-political lens: It is argued that in addition to bringing sculptural beauty and green lushness to the visiting public, the plant collections of the Glyptotek and Botanical Garden were also examples of how private benefactors self-positioned themselves in a world, which was characterised by imperial exploitation and representations of Europe as the only true civilisation.​

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Photo by L. Hemmingsen (2025).

Hvordan iscenesættes og formidles sydafrikansk samtidskunst på den globale kunstscene? I dette Art Hour Foredrag, arrangeret i anledning af særudstillingen Igshaan Adams: Weerhoud, præsenteres resultater fra antropologisk feltarbejde på Sydafrikas kunstgallerier og museer, foretaget i forbindelse med ph.d. afhandlingen Demanding Recognition: Curatorial Challenges in the Exhibition of Art from South Africa (2019). Feltarbejdet bestod blandt andet af interviews med en lang række sydafrikanske samtidskunstnere, kuratorer og kunsthistorikere, der satte fokus på kolonitidens fortsatte påvirkning af museale praksisser. I analysen af, hvordan samtidskunst fra Sydafrika fremstilles, samt hvilken betydning disse fremstillinger har for sydafrikanske kunstneres virke, udfoldes det, hvordan kolonitidens verdenssyn fortsat påvirker museumsvæsnet og den globale kunstscene.

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Photo of the Zeitz MOCAA by V. Nielsen (2018).

Lecture at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen for colleagues in the research cluster Global Entanglements, presenting findings from the research project Passion or Politics? The art collecting practices of Carl Jacobsen in a socioeconomic and cultural political context 1878-1914 hosted by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

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Photo of the Winter Garden at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek by V. Nielsen (2025).

Lecture at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen, based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in museums and art galleries in South Africa, as part of the research behind the PhD thesis Demanding Recognition: Curatorial Challenges in the Exhibition of Art From South Africa (2019).

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Photo from the opening of the Zeitz MOCAA by V. Nielsen (2017).

Private indsamlinger af kunst var i tiden omkring år 1900 et prestigefyldt projekt, som i Danmark var karakteriseret af indsamlere som bryggerigiganten Carl Jacobsen (1842-1914), der i 1897 stiftede Glyptoteket. I 1906 udvidedes bygningen med en frodig Vinterhave, der fik plads under en mægtig kuppel i glas og stål. København fik dermed endnu et prægtigt åndehul, i tilgift til Botanisk Haves Palmehus fra 1872-74, som Carl Jacobsens far, J.C. Jacobsen (1811-1887) havde taget initiativ til.

På denne særomvisning udfolder jeg tidens tanker om museumsrummet som samfundsdannende projekt: Hvilke internationale strømninger var Carl Jacobsen præget af i sin indsamlingspraksis, og hvordan afspejler Glyptotekets samlinger – og måden de er udstillet på – samtidens kulturpolitiske dagsordner? Foruden at bringe skulpturel skønhed og grøn frodighed til folket, var Glyptotekets – og Botanisk Haves – samlinger af kunst og natur nemlig også eksempler på private mæceners selvpositionering i en verden, der var præget af imperial udnyttelse og fremstillinger af Europa som den eneste rette civilisation.

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Photo of the Winter Garden in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek by V. Nielsen (2021).

Research Seminar at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, presenting findings from the research project Passion or Politics? The art collecting practices of Carl Jacobsen in a socioeconomic and cultural political context 1878-1914 hosted by the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

Drawing of the Palm House in the Botanical Garden of Copenhagen (Jacobsen og Rothe 1879).

Talk at the seminar ‘Living collections through the prism of the humanities and social sciences’ presenting research conducted in botanical gardens and plant collections in Copenhagen and Los Angeles, as well as the key findings of the journal article The Colonial Roots of Botany: Legacies of Empire in the Botanic Gardens of Oxford and Kew (2023), published in Museum Management and Curatorship vol. 38, issue 6: 696-712.​

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Photo of the Huntington Botanical Gardens by V. Nielsen (2024).

Talk at the internal seminar 'The colonial roots of house plants' in the Hidden Plant Stories network, presenting the findings of the journal article The Colonial Roots of Botany: Legacies of Empire in the Botanic Gardens of Oxford and Kew (2023), published in Museum Management and Curatorship vol. 38, issue 6: 696-712.​

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Photo of the Danny Gate (1632-33) in the Oxford Botanic Garden by V. Nielsen (2024).

Paper at the Museum Why? Practice, Agency and Knowledge in the Art Museum conference, co-organised by PASS - Center for Practice-based Art Studies and the Nordic museum network Museum Why?, showing how the exhibition of art at the Iziko South African National Gallery was discussed and redefined in response to demands for equal access and more diverse representation. The paper analyses the critique of the three white curators behind the Our Lady-exhibition (2016), expressed by a group of South African contemporary artists, as well as members from the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce, who challenged the legitimacy of the curators to represent South Africa's diversity of voices, protested against the treatment of victims of gender-specific violence, and criticised the continued exclusion of subaltern parts of the population. Based on anthropological fieldwork carried out in and around the gallery from 2016-18, in relation to my PhD thesis Demanding Recognition: Curatorial Challenges in the Exhibition of Art from South Africa (2019), the paper presents the different positions expressed in the public debate surrounding the exhibition and shows that the museum space continuous to reinforce for some the feeling of belonging and for others the feeling of exclusion: the art gallery remains a place, where it is easier for white, well-educated voices to speak and be heard. However, the protests against the National Gallery in Cape Town challenged and created a public debate that made the institution recognise its privileged position in society and made it incorporate a more diverse plurality of voices.

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Photo of the Iziko SANG by V. Nielsen (2016).

How are colonial legacies dealt with in museums and botanic gardens? With examples from my anthropological fieldwork in museums and botanical gardens in Oxford, London and Los Angeles, this double lecture address some of the dilemmas that are discussed internationally within the museum world and its associated research environments.

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Photo of the Palm House in Kew Gardens by V. Nielsen (2023).

Panel discussion and artist performance fostering a visual and conceptual dialogue on ethnobotany across diverse cultural landscapes. Ethno-Botanic Resonance was organised by CREATE, the Research Centre for Creative Arts, Cultures and Engagement at the School of Art, Architecture and Design at the London Metropolitan University, in partnership with the Liliesleaf Trust UK and PF25 cultural projects, and in collaboration with the Chelsea Physic Garden.

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Photo of the Palm House in Kew Gardens by V. Nielsen (2023).

Talk presenting findings from the journal article The Colonial Roots of Botany: Legacies of Empire in the Botanic Gardens of Oxford and Kew (2023), published in Museum Management and Curatorship vol. 38, issue 6: 696-712.​

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Photo by V. Nielsen (2023) of the Danny Gate (1632-33) and Magdalen Tower (1509) seen from the Oxford Botanic Garden.

Talk presenting the findings of the chapter ‘Diversifying Public Commemorations in Cape Town and Copenhagen’ published in the anthology De-Commemoration: Removing Statues and Renaming Places (2023) ed. by S. Gensburger and J. Wüstenberg, Berghahn Books.

Talk in the lecture series Kunstens Globale Kredsløb based on the research conducted on curatorial challenges in the exhibition of art from South Africa, published in the Rutledge-anthology Global Art in Local Art Worlds: Changing Hierarchies of Value (2023) ed. O. Salemink, A.S. Corrêa, J. Sejrup and V. Nielsen and the journal article 'Koloniale Klassifikationer: Kunstbegrebet til Forhandling på Museer I Sydafrika' (2021).

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Photo from the opening of the Zeitz MOCAA by V. Nielsen (2017).

Talk presenting the findings of the chapter ‘Ajouter et soustraire : décoloniser les espaces urbains au Cap et à Copenhague’ published in the anthology Dé-commémoration : Quand le monde déboulonne les statues et renomme des rues (2023) ed. by S. Gensburger and J. Wüstenberg, Éditions Fayard.

Talk presenting the findings of the chapter about the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town at the book launch of the anthology Global Art in Local Art Worlds: Changing Hierarchies of Value (2023) ed. O. Salemink, A.S. Corrêa, J. Sejrup and V. Nielsen, Routledge.

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Photo from the opening of the Zeitz MOCAA by V. Nielsen (2017).

Talk at the PRM Research Seminar presenting the postdoctoral research on changing curatorial practices conducted at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, as well as findings from the doctoral research on curatorial challenges in the exhibition of art from South Africa, published in the Rutledge-anthology Global Art in Local Art Worlds: Changing Hierarchies of Value (2023) ed. O. Salemink, A.S. Corrêa, J. Sejrup and V. Nielsen.

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Photo of wooden figures from Nigeria on display in the Pitt Rivers Museum by V. Nielsen (2021).

Talk presenting the findings of the chapter about the Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town at the book launch of the anthology Global Art in Local Art Worlds: Changing Hierarchies of Value (2023) ed. O. Salemink, A.S. Corrêa, J. Sejrup and V. Nielsen, Routledge.

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Photo from the opening of the Zeitz MOCAA by V. Nielsen (2017).

Talk at the Linacre College Tuesday Seminar presenting the postdoctoral research on changing curatorial practices conducted at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and Musée du Quai Branly in Paris.

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Photo of wooden mask from Nigeria on display at Musée du Quai Branly by V. Nielsen (2022).

Online talk at the NordGlob Seminar Series presenting the postdoctoral research on changing curatorial practices conducted at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and Musée du Quai Branly in Paris.

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Photo of figure from reliquary ensemble collected in northern Congo on display at Musée du Quai Branly by V. Nielsen (2021).

Panel debate at the Golden Days Festival in Copenhagen presenting findings from the doctoral research on curatorial challenges in the exhibition of art from South Africa, published in the Rutledge-anthology Global Art in Local Art Worlds: Changing Hierarchies of Value (2023) ed. O. Salemink, A.S. Corrêa, J. Sejrup and V. Nielsen.

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Photo of the Ditaola series by Mohau Modisakeng (2014) on display at the Zeitz MOCAA by V. Nielsen (2017).

Online talk in the Department of Continued Education course Decolonisation at the Pitt Rivers Museum presenting the postdoctoral research on changing curatorial practices conducted at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and Musée du Quai Branly in Paris.

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Photo of wooden mask from Côte d'Ivoire on display at Musée du Quai Branly by V. Nielsen (2023).