100% FOREIGN? is a documentary art project with 100 portraits and 100 texts of 100 citizens, who statistically represent the 167,000 people granted asylum in Denmark since 1956 from 29 contries. 

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Since 2015, the refugee debate has dominated the media. After various regulations designed to keep people from seeking asylum in Denmark, discussions shifted towards trying to define the level of "danishness" and "foreignness" of former refugees.

 

With 100% FOREIGN? 100 former refugees respond to this question, with 100 complex and widely different stories of being a citizen in Denmark today. Non like the question, the answers are very complex stories of belongings, longings and dreams, reminiscent of people and places, attitudes to society, gender, culture and religion. 

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All 100 portraits are staged in Tivoli – An entertainment park and national treasure. Tivoli has represented "danishness" and "foreignness" since 1843 trying to balance curiosity, tribute, oversimplification and displacement. In 100% FOREIGN? Tivoli is used to hack mainstream representations of refugees as victims of their destiny. The participants chooses their backdrop and bring in objects and people who are dear to them. 

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Participants are selected on the basis of four statistical criteria: country of origin, gender, year of arrival in Denmark and family reunification as well as diversity in political, religious, ethnic and professional backgrounds.

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100% FOREIGN? is the first major art-documentary collection of this population’s personal accounts. The 100 stories have been handed over to Copenhagen City Archives, paving the way for an updated and more representative account of the danish population.  

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