Melting Barricades, Inuk Silis Høegh and Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen: Renmarkstorget; organized by Nuuk Art Museum
Torsdag 18 juni kl. 08:00 - 17:00
Defend your country! Join the Greenlandic army today!
In 2004, two officers marched through the pedestrian street in Nuuk, megaphones in hand, recruiting citizens for a new national military. Volunteers were measured, weighed, and asked about their dog sledding, hunting and snowmobile skills. Hot seal soup was served after enrolment. For those hours, the Greenlandic military was a reality.
This spectacular recruitment campaign was the beginning of Melting Barricades — an art project in which artists Inuk Silis Høegh and Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen assumed the roles of Major General and Lieutenant Colonel. Two years later, the newly formed army invaded Denmark, congratulating Copenhageners on their new citizenship in the United States of Greenland.
The campaign did not stop at the street. Military recruitment posters were plastered across bus stops throughout Nuuk — the same everyday public spaces where citizens encounter advertising and news. Standing here in Umeå, you are now part of that same tradition.
With humour, irony and theatrical force, the project raises urgent questions about sovereignty, colonialism, defence policy and geopolitical power — questions that have only grown more pressing since.
Melting Barricades is presented here as a pop-up exhibition in connection with the Arctic Arts Summit, Umeå, June 2026. Curated by Nuuk Art Museum.