ARKEN Museum of Modern Art opened in Ishoj, near Copenhagen, on March 15, 1996. Designed by Soren Robert Lund after a 1988 architectural competition, the museum arrived during Copenhagen's year as a European cultural capital and gave Denmark a new purpose-built home for modern and contemporary art south of the city. Its ship-like, deconstructivist building was part of the statement: ARKEN was conceived as both a museum and a landmark object in a coastal landscape. The institution later developed a collection of postwar Danish, Nordic, and international art, including works by artists such as Damien Hirst, Olafur Eliasson, Ai Weiwei, Elmgreen & Dragset, and Asger Jorn.
The opening helped anchor contemporary art in Copenhagen's wider regional cultural infrastructure.