Art is also..
– Unexpected art forms and the borderland between art and everyday life.
Endless Lamppost
Artist: A-Kassen
Location: Herning Station
Endless Lamppost is a remarkable sculptural work that simultaneously unites the everyday and the monumental. The artist collective A-Kassen has created an enlarged version of a classic streetlamp, stretching an impressive 32 meters into the sky. The piece plays with scale and perception, turning something ordinary—a streetlight—into something almost absurd through its sheer height.
The work explores the relationship between art and functional architecture, challenging our understanding of objects in public space. It evokes a sense of both familiarity and distortion, making it a powerful example of conceptual art in the urban environment.
De Geometriske Haver (The Geometric Gardens)
Artist: Professor C. Th. Sørensen
Location: Birk Centerpark, Herning
The Geometric Gardens are a landscape art gem, where nature is shaped with architectural precision. The gardens are formed by neatly trimmed hornbeam hedges that create a system of spaces in various geometric shapes. It’s a play between order and chaos, where the hedges act as green walls and the openings serve as windows to the surroundings.
The gardens showcase a rare ability to fuse art, architecture, and landscape design. There is a meditative quality to the work, where visitors can move through sharply defined spaces and experience the transition between enclosure and openness. Notice the contrast between the strict form and the organic growth of the plants.
Lenin i Lund
Artist: Unknown (Soviet state sculpture)
Location: Lund, near Herning
In the middle of a Danish garden in the village of Lund rests a four-meter-tall statue of Lenin—a monumental bronze figure from the Soviet era. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the statue was purchased by Danish textile manufacturer and art collector Aage Damgaard, who brought it to Central Jutland. The work serves as an ironic commentary on the fall and transformation of ideologies.
By placing a politically charged statue in an unexpected, private context, the piece makes a powerful statement about the mutability of history—and of ourselves. It functions as a kind of large-scale “readymade art,” where the original meaning is transformed by its new setting. Lenin, once a symbol of power and revolution, becomes here an absurd and humorous element in the idyllic Danish countryside.
De 4 Hjertekamre
Artist: Marianne Jørgensen
Location: Sønder Felding
This land art installation consists of four large, heart-shaped depressions in the ground, framed by cobblestones. The four chambers are connected by paths that invite visitors to explore the piece. The organic forms evoke both human anatomy and the soft curves found in nature.
Jørgensen’s work is a poetic reflection on the heart as a symbol of life and emotion. The choice of materials—the hard stones against the soft grass—creates a tension between the constructed and the natural. The piece also has a more active dimension, as it is only fully realized when visitors move through the chambers.
Normannerne
Artists: Poul Gernes and Per Kirkeby
Location: Søby
In the area surrounding the Søby Brown Coal Museum, you’ll find the Viking ship from Poul Gernes and Per Kirkeby’s cult film The Normans from 1970.
The Normans and the Viking ship from the film are not officially classified as artworks; rather, they are remnants of a piece of art—the Viking ship used during the filming of The Normans.
Damen der varmede sin ende over ilden (The lady who warmed her rear over the fire)
Artist: Poul Schat Jacobsen
Location: Nr. Snede
This nearly 4-meter-tall sculpture depicts a woman standing in a distinctive pose, warming her rear over a fire. The subject is everyday, almost humorous, capturing a moment of human warmth and intimacy. The piece sparked quite a debate when it was installed in a roundabout in Nr. Snede. Not everyone was equally enthusiastic about the curvaceous female figure—some called it sexist, while others saw it as a humorous and locally rooted cultural statement.
The work plays on a combination of humor and realism. It addresses human habits and physicality in a way that can provoke both laughter and reflection. With its simple, recognizable form, the sculpture has an immediacy that makes it accessible to a wide audience.
