Medical Museion awarded new Danish museum prize

Medical Museion has just been announced the winner of The Bikuben Foundation’s Exhibition Prize Vision 2015. In competition with 45 Danish museums we have been awarded with 3 million Danish kroner to develop and execute the exhibition project ‘Mind the Gut’ that combines art, heritage and the latest biomedical research on the importance of the microbiome, including the possible interaction with brain functions.
The Bikuben foundation has previously granted an annual retrospective honorary award “Den danske museumspris”. The new Exhibition Prize Vision, was launched last year as a replacement of the honorary award and is handed out for the first time in January 2015. It is Denmark’s largest and most prestigious museum prize, making Medical Museion is the first recipient of this great museum award.
In choosing ‘Mind the Gut’ the jury of the Exhibition Prize Vision highlighted the idea about joining the presentation of new knowledge with aesthetic and sensuous interpretation. The jury called it a visionary proposal which contains a new way to create reflection. The exhibition concept stands out with the relevant topic and the ambition to deal with the latest research on the importance of gut bacteria to the brain, and simultaneously make the particular field visible in contemporary bio-art. The jury calls ‘Mind the Gut’ an innovative exhibition concept.
The exhibition development will be performed in close collaboration with researchers at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen, and a group of not yet selected artists. ‘Mind the Gut’ will be launched on social media in spring 2015 and the physical exhibition opens in 2017.