Copenhagen Cathedral on Fire

The Danish-Argentinean artist duo Thyra Hilden & Pio Diaz
will set Copenhagen Cathedral on fire.

Copenhagen Cathedral on Fire is part of Thyra Hilden & Pio Diaz´
international, aesthetic manifestation City on Fire.
Around the end of the year 2005 the duo exhibited
their first installations in Rome at the Danish Institute and the
Trevi Fountain respectively. It was not a coincidence that Rome
became the first setting for the project, seeing that the city
possesses a significant symbolic value, that is closely related
to the intentions of City on Fire.

By burning the Church of Our Lady Thyra Hilden & Pio Diaz
want to make us reflect on the element of fire and its most
destructive form, war. Military actions and terrorist attacks,
like the one in New York September 11th, 2001,
are not new phenomena, but have taken place for centuries.

Copenhagen Cathedral on Fire should remind us of the large number of political, cultural and religious showdowns in history and of terrorism’ s cynically targeted offensive towards pivotal cultural symbols and icons – an offensive that can be seen as part of an effort to hurt the counterpart mentally and identity-wise.

At the same time the installation should make us consider whether we actually see the fire in the world around us or if war and violence have been reduced to transient images, that burn away on the retina as soon as we turn off our television sets or computers?