Germans are Crazy about Danish Culture

A brief overview of the Danish culture in Germany: two books by Jussi Adler-Olsen have become bestsellers; the Geronimo song by Danish singer Aura Dione ruled the charts in the beginning of November 2011; at the same time Melancholia by Lars von Trier was ranked 16th on the top movie lists, and 200 thousand Germans watched it; Caecilie Nordby band staged to a full audience at the Berlin Jazz Festival; while Danish singer Mads Langer went on a small tour to Germany with stops in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, and Cologne.

“In general, I can see Germans getting more open to the Danish culture. Germans know our cinema, design, and music; for example, Agnes Obel or Nikolaj Znaider, a violinist and conductor. For many artists Germany is a high priority area which will become even more attractive in the coming years,” says Per Erik Veng who is the Head of Communication, Culture & Public Diplomacy at The Royal Danish Embassy, Berlin.

“Prima from Denmark” (German: Prima aus Dänemark). At the end of the 50s this expression referred to Caroline the cow which was created to sell Danish butter products in East Germany with the slogan “Prima. First quality from Denmark.” Today this expression to a considerable degree refers to the German attitude towards the Danish culture and art.

“What is important is that Danes don’t think that Germany is only Berlin. There are a great number of opportunities in a big country; next year Danes will focus on Munich,” Per Erik Veng says. “The Danish art is popular with Germans, as it is with New Yorkers. In fact, Berlin is the friendliest place towards the art in Europe at the moment. If there is cooperation between good artists and good galleries, there will be buyers in Germany, probably not even in Berlin itself but in other wealthy cities in the German-speaking world,” he adds.

The last weeks showed that the economy of culture brings quite high profit to the Danish State Treasury. The profitable “culture pipeline” could be well laid down to the south where the biggest sales market in Europe with 80 million Germans is.

“Denmark has the potential for high profit growth and can become even more popular with Germans, but it will surely demand some efforts. Germany is the biggest trading partner of Denmark, and even more creative things might work out,” Per Erik Veng comments.

Head of Communication, Culture & Public Diplomacy at The Royal Danish Embassy also believes that one day Denmark will withdraw from the culture of English-speaking countries which Denmark has been into for so long.

“May be it’s time to find the cultural background that is closer to Denmark, the German background which became the foundation for the Danish culture ages ago. We should dare to begin a dialogue with Germans and start “selling” Danish culture. We need to be strong and prepared, to meet the German cultural arena face to face. For example, the language should be German, as well as you should know the culture of the country,” Per Erik Veng says.

 

 

Original text, photo: DR.dk