ABOUT

@ 2025, Talk at the Jewish Cultural Institute, Copenhagen, DK - AUGUSTA ATLA

“I am also a writer, public speaker, and debater. This forms an integral part of my artistic practice, as I am a naturally born synaesthetic artist with cross-sensory perceptions—meaning that writing and creating visual work constitute a unified language for me.
I view the artist as a catalyst, and art as a space for resistance, catharsis, care, love, critique, and the forging of new ideas.
I regard art as a mode of thinking—a site where social, collective, and political tensions are not merely reflected but actively transformed.”

Fifth-Wave Feminism?

The fifth wave of feminism has not yet reached our shores. The fifth wave views gender identity as an existential discourse and a collective transformative practice. This means that ancient cultural archetypes, such as the Madonna/whore dichotomy, are undermined as women refuse to adhere to them, instead reinventing themselves culturally and existentially.

A woman’s sexuality is her own; it is not merely an object for others’ gaze or a social construct, but an existential expression of her agency and creative power—aligned with the democratic ideals of the strong individual and freedom of expression.

The fifth wave of feminism also exposes monogamy as a social ideology rather than an unquestionable norm.

ABOUT AUGUSTA ATLA

Augusta Atla is a Danish visual artist, poet, writer, debater, art critic, and feminist activist within the field of contemporary art. She has exhibited extensively throughout Europe since 2006.

Augusta Atla’s commitment to feminism reflects her profound interest in and ongoing investigation of the methods of archiving history and re-examining our understanding of it. Since childhood, she has been driven to challenge the framing of art history and theory through a patriarchal perspective and system—ultimately aiming to combat gender-based discrimination and broaden the field of art history and theory.

After completing her art studies in 2007, Atla embarked on an eight-year odyssey through Paris, Venice, Rome, and Athens to study Western masterpieces and examine museum collections and their modes of representation. Among other artist-in-residencies, Atla spent 18 months in a studio apartment in Montmartre, Paris (FR) – apartments originally built for artists and awarded periodically by the City of Paris as an artist’s grant.

Since returning to Denmark, Augusta Atla has, alongside her exhibiting practice, been an active commentator and writer to help spur change and awareness of feminist thinking within the arts. She has published opinion pieces and essays in Danish media, appeared in numerous Danish podcasts and television programmes on art and politics. Atla’s writing has been published in Kunsten.nu, Dagbladet Information, Politiken, Weekendavisen, Jyllands-Posten, Berlingske, Magasinet Kunst, Chart Publication, Kulturmonitor, Børsen Pleasure.

Atla wrote her own column for ART MATTER (2022–2023) and served as co-editor and concept developer for an issue of Magasinet Kunst (Female Artists, 2021). She has delivered public lectures, taught, and participated in live debates on art, politics, and feminism.

Augusta Atla is currently developing a long-term dialogue project in which key figures in contemporary art are interviewed about professional aspects of the field, aiming to counter gender-based discrimination and to insist on structured innovation within art. In this discursive format, Atla has previously interviewed Camille Morineau, founder of AWARE; Valeria Napoleone, London-based art collector; art historian Katy Hessel; and the Danish Minister of Culture.

Augusta Atla’s writing explores a future landscape in which the history of gender and discussions of gender theory form part of a globally expanding feminism—aligned with the current fourth wave. Her writing seeks to illuminate historical obscurities and examine gender in art history, while engaging with the social, political, legal, anthropological, and philosophical frameworks of contemporary art and culture.

Over the past two decades, Augusta Atla has exhibited widely at art institutions and museums including Horsens Art Museum, Rønnebæksholm, Viborg Kunsthal, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Brandts, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, REMAP4 Contemporary Art Festival (Greece), Fundació Antoni Tàpies (Spain), Akademie der Künste Berlin (Germany), Tallinn Art Hall (Estonia), and the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation (Greece) – to name but a few.

Her works are held in collections such as the Danish Arts Foundation, Horsens Art Museum, Randers Art Museum, and the collection of Dimitris Daskalopoulos (GR).

Her artistic practice investigates the questions: “What is the female gaze?” and “Is my (women's) sexuality represented within the canon and archive of art?” Augusta Atla argues that we cannot see or transform cultural archetypes (Venus, the painter’s idea of the woman), nor advance equality in society more broadly, without recognising the full archive of art – one that includes female artists.

Not far from Aby Warburg’s idea, but with a feminist perspective, focusing not only on the content of the archive but also on the methods of selection

Atla is inspired by the artist Monica Ross created the Women’s Art Library, an archive and library in 1983 at Goldsmiths College, which revisits archiving methods in Western art. In a similar vein, Augusta Atla launched her own online platform (@womenpainters) in 2018 as part of her artistic practice and research. The Women Painters profile is also very much inspired by my muse Reese Witherspoon who founded Hello Sunshine – a media company that puts women at the centre of every story they create and celebrate.

Atla is a member of AICA international, AICA Denmark and Akademiraadet (DK).

Why subscribe?
Subscribers get full access to the writing of Atla – originally published in news media in Denmark. The subscription also includes a newsletter on my talks, events, and inspiration about what to see, watch, and read.

Chronology
In 2019 Atla came up with the idea of an issue of Magasinet Kunst devoted to women artists and gender issues. Atla was co-editor on this special women in the arts-edition in 2021.
In 2020, prompted by the lack of equality in the Danish art scene, Atla initiated a regular series of conversations with key people – people who are working to create real change vis-à-vis gender equality among artists. In 2020 Atla interviewed the art collector and patron Valeria Napoleone, and the interview was published in Magasinet Kunst, CHART Publication and Børsen.
In 2021 Atla interviewed Camille Morineau, an acclaimed curator and art historian, on the subject of gender equality in the world of art. In 2009-2011, Camille Morineau devised and curated the pioneering exhibition Elles@centrepompidou at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. She is also the co-founder and director of AWARE, a non-profit organisation, research centre and archiving platform that promotes work by women artists. The interview was published in the WOMEN in ART-edition of Magasinet Kunst in 2021.
In 2022 Atla interviewed the Minister of Culture in Denmark on diversity in the world of visual arts in Denmark.
In 2022-2023 Atla had monthly column on diversity and gender issues in the world of art.
In 2023 Atla fought the new blasphemy law in Denmark which censors art, she wrote articles and debated in radio, tv and podcasts.
In 2024 Atla wrote articles on artistic freedom, and on women artists using male muses.
In 2025 Atla received an award for my fight for feminism and artistic freedom in Denmark: The Finn Nørgaard Association award.
In 2025 Atla interviewed Katy Hessel, the author of The Story of Art Without Men.