Havneholmen Metro Station in Copenhagen, Denmark

Step onto the platform at Copenhagen's Havneholmen metro station, which opened in 2024, and something is not quite right: a bench hangs from the ceiling, a trash can juts sideways from a wall, an information screen tilts out at an odd angle, and the clocks overhead seem to be running on their own schedule. The disorientation is by design. It's the work of the Danish artist group Superflex, who reimagined the space as though the metro trains had been sped up to travel at the speed of light. At that speed, the artists reasoned, gravity and the shape of the room itself would shift, carrying the benches and signage along with them. The metro operator gave the artists an unusually free hand. As one Superflex member put it, they were told to "just go for it," and in places the client turned out to be wilder than the artists themselves. The distorted fixtures are paired with working versions in their usual locations, so the station remains fully functional despite the disarray. Passengers can still check the time and see when the next train arrives, even as clocks, signs, and benches appear to have wandered off course.

Read it at Atlas Obscura ↗

← Front page