The Superstar Syndrome

The exhibition presents original Hans Christian Andersen manuscripts, letters and diaries from The Royal Danish Library’s collection, bringing them together with Nicolas Winding Refn’s atmospheric visual universe. Room by room, visitors will encounter a series of unique installations in which the boundary between archival material and artistic interpretation becomes blurred and dissolves.

The Royal Danish Library holds the world’s largest Hans Christian Andersen collection, including more than 50,000 pages of letters and manuscripts. The collection is inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, making it an unparalleled resource for exploring and presenting Hans Christian Andersen’s life and work.

Nicolas Winding Refn is known for making the outsider’s perspective and the darker sides of human nature hallmarks of his artistic practice – themes that also recur beneath the surface of Hans Christian Andersen’s writing. The Royal Danish Library has invited him to approach the collection not simply as an interpreter, but as a kindred spirit, exploring the darker and more vulnerable sides of Hans Christian Andersen.

The exhibition is a richly immersive experience in which Hans Christian Andersen’s world meets Nicolas Winding Refn’s visual language. Nineteenth-century cultural heritage and contemporary artistic expression are woven so tightly together that it becomes impossible to tell where the writer ends and the director begins. Visitors are invited to surrender to this encounter and allow themselves to be completely absorbed by it.

The title of the Hans Christian Andersen exhibition, The Superstar Syndrome, points to the idea of the artist as a larger-than-life, carefully constructed public persona. It reflects the theatricality and self-staging associated with both Hans Christian Andersen and Nicolas Winding Refn, while also hinting at the vulnerability and darker tensions that can accompany the desire to be seen, recognised and remembered.

The exhibition at The Black Diamond is part of The Royal Danish Library’s work to make Hans Christian Andersen’s writing and legacy more accessible to everyone. It forms part of a broader initiative centred on the Library’s Hans Christian Andersen collection, which over the coming year will also include educational programmes for schools, an event about Hans Christian Andersen’s letters and a major digitisation project that will make the collection’s letters and manuscripts freely available online by the end of 2027.

The exhibition opens in May 2027 at The Black Diamond, The Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen.

The Superstar Syndrome is shown at The Black Diamond, The Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen, from May 2027 to March 2028.

A standard ticket to the Hans Christian Andersen exhibition costs DKK 105, while visitors under the age of 27 pay DKK 60. Admission is free for annual pass holders. A 20% discount is available on early bird tickets.

The exhibition is designed as an immersive, atmospheric experience for a mature audience and is recommended for visitors aged around 13 and above. With its focus on complex and emotionally charged aspects of Hans Christian Andersen’s universe, the exhibition offers adults and young people in particular an opportunity to explore his work in greater depth and discover new layers in the familiar fairy tales.

The exhibition has been made possible with support from Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Augustinus Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansen Fonden and Knud Højgaards Fond.