A quiet cultural moment unfolded at Artbank in Naarm/Melbourne this week, as His Majesty King Frederik X of Denmark, alongside Australian born Queen Mary, officially opened Hybrid Futures, a survey exhibition of the work of Australian-Danish artist duo Rhoda Ting and Mikkel Bojesen. As a presentation of contemporary practice, the occasion captured a convergence of art and diplomacy.
Image credit: Queen Mary of Denmark observing Deep Time, 2023, light installation, 3 pcs. 270 x Ø45 cm by Rhoda Ting and Mikkel Bojesen.Courtesy the artists and Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert. Photography Ryan Wheatley
Royal visits have long held symbolic significance, but increasingly they are leveraged to reinforce shared priorities between nations. In this context, Hybrid Futures operates on multiple levels. It is both an ambitious, research-driven exhibition and a platform for which Denmark and Australia to articulate mutual interests in sustainability, innovation, and cross-cultural exchange. The support of the Danish royal family formalises this alignment and elevates the exhibition beyond the gallery into the realm of soft power.
Presented by the Danish Ministry of Culture and Palaces, with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the exhibition reflects a growing recognition of the arts as critical infrastructure within global relations. Its staging at Artbank, an Australian Government initiative committed to embedding contemporary art into public and private life, further reinforces this institutional alignment.
Presented by the Danish Ministry of Culture and Palaces, with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the exhibition reflects a growing recognition of the arts as critical infrastructure within global relations. Its staging at Artbank, an Australian Government initiative committed to embedding contemporary art into public and private life, further reinforces this institutional alignment.
Image credit: King Frederik X and Queen Mary with Rhoda Ting and Mikkel Bojesen. With After Care, 2026, silicone, pumps, valves, arduino board, wood, metal, gravel, shade fabric,150 x 200 x 200 cm. Courtesy the artists and Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert. Photography Ryan Wheatley
At its core, Hybrid Futures is concerned with entanglement of biological, technological, and environmental systems. Ting and Bojesen’s practice, developed between Melbourne and Copenhagen, embodies this connection. Working across sculpture, film, and living installations, they examine how life emerges, evolves, and endures within processes that are often overlooked, whether microscopic, incremental, or ongoing.
Rather than presenting static objects, the exhibition foregrounds process, capturing moments within ongoing cycles of growth, adaptation, and transformation. The result is a body of work that resists singular interpretation and instead proposes a world shaped through constant negotiation and exchange.
Collaboration sits at the core of Ting and Bojesen’s practice, spanning science, technology, and living systems. In We Are All Hybrids (2023), a striking sculptural form appears both alien and familiar, drawing on environmental DNA data developed with evolutionary biologists at the University of Copenhagen. Each work merges multiple species into a single, AI-generated organism. Produced through 3D printing and industrial finishes, the sculptures position evolution as relational and ongoing, shaped as much by human technologies as by natural processes.
Rather than presenting static objects, the exhibition foregrounds process, capturing moments within ongoing cycles of growth, adaptation, and transformation. The result is a body of work that resists singular interpretation and instead proposes a world shaped through constant negotiation and exchange.
Collaboration sits at the core of Ting and Bojesen’s practice, spanning science, technology, and living systems. In We Are All Hybrids (2023), a striking sculptural form appears both alien and familiar, drawing on environmental DNA data developed with evolutionary biologists at the University of Copenhagen. Each work merges multiple species into a single, AI-generated organism. Produced through 3D printing and industrial finishes, the sculptures position evolution as relational and ongoing, shaped as much by human technologies as by natural processes.
Image credit: Rhoda Ting & Mikkel Bojesen, Mycogenesis, 2021, fungi, yeast, bacteria microbes from Novonesis laboratories, glass, resin, Iron, stainless steel, LED lights, reflective textile, 110 x 300 cm. Courtesy the artists and Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert. Photography Ryan Wheatley
A related sensibility emerges in Mycogenesis (2021), where living microbial cultures are cultivated within suspended glass vessels. Fungi, yeast, and bacteria grow and interact in contained yet active environments, forming delicate, shifting networks over time. Installed on a steel framework and framed by reflective textile and light, each glass form emits a soft glow. What first appears controlled quickly reveals itself as alive, as a subtle halo effect draws attention to processes unfolding beyond stillness. The work resists any sense of stasis, instead presenting life in motion, quietly asserting its presence.
While Hybrid Futures marks a significant milestone for Ting and Bojesen, its broader significance lies in its institutional and geopolitical framing. The convergence of government bodies, curatorial expertise, and artistic practice points to an increasingly integrated model of cultural production, one in which exhibitions function as sites of dialogue, negotiation, and influence.
While Hybrid Futures marks a significant milestone for Ting and Bojesen, its broader significance lies in its institutional and geopolitical framing. The convergence of government bodies, curatorial expertise, and artistic practice points to an increasingly integrated model of cultural production, one in which exhibitions function as sites of dialogue, negotiation, and influence.
Image credit: King Frederik X and Queen Mary with Rhoda Ting and Mikkel Bojesen at HYBRID FUTURES, Artbank Melbourne, 2026. Courtesy the artists and Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert. Photography Ryan Wheatley.
As Melbourne audiences encounter the exhibition over the coming weeks, its immediate impact will be aesthetic and conceptual. Its longer-term implications, however, are more strategic. In an era defined by instability and acceleration, the capacity to build relationships across borders, through culture as much as policy, has become essential.
The royal opening, then, is more than ceremonial. It signals a continued commitment to the role of the arts in shaping how nations engage with one another. In Hybrid Futures, that engagement is not framed by spectacle but by a considered exploration of the systems that connect us all.
The royal opening, then, is more than ceremonial. It signals a continued commitment to the role of the arts in shaping how nations engage with one another. In Hybrid Futures, that engagement is not framed by spectacle but by a considered exploration of the systems that connect us all.
Rhoda Ting & Mikkel Bojesen’s Hybrid Futures is on display at Artbank Melbourne until 18 April 2026
The exhibition is co-curated by Sydney-based Sally Dan-Cuthbert & Copenhagen-based Sofie Dirks Gottlieb. HYBRID FUTURES is supported with funds from a joint grant under the Danish Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
The exhibition is co-curated by Sydney-based Sally Dan-Cuthbert & Copenhagen-based Sofie Dirks Gottlieb. HYBRID FUTURES is supported with funds from a joint grant under the Danish Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
