Danes love design, so no wonder this sculpture is a hit! Doesn’t it remind you of a Danish vindmølle (windmill)?

Every second juni måned [YOONie MAWNeth] (month of June), a series of sculptures pops up along kysten (the coast) just south of Århus midtby (the city centre of Aarhus). Tilskuere (spectators, literally ”to-lookers”) of all ages walk through the strandsand (beach sand) in order to catch a glimpse of the latest state-of-the-art, mind-bogglingly original skulpturer [skoolpTOORor] i alle størrelser (of all sizes). The open air udstilling [OOTHstilling] (exhibition) is called … Sculptures by the Sea (in English!)

This year a kæmpe [KEM-beh] (giant) must have lent a helping hand, for a lot of the sculptures are really store (big, in the plural!) Long tørresnore (clothes-lines, literally ”drying-strings”) catch the sun i alle regnbuens farver (in all the colours of the rainbow). In the ocean a giant flaske (bottle) is anchored. It has a giant brev [breᵒᵒ] (letter) inside, with a message in Danish (yay!) which you can read if you come to Århus and go for a svømmetur (swim). The Danish word for ”bottle message” is flaskepost.

In case you’d like a hut full of spejle [SPILE-eh] (mirrors), an electronic wind organ that makes your private trees play music, or a crumbling ler (clay) sculpture of two lovers, kunstværkerne (the works of art) are til salg (for sale). Priserne (the prices), however, are quite steep… Kunstnerne (the artists) come from countries like Kina (China), Danmark and Australien [aooSTRAHly-uhn].

The first Sculpture by the Sea was shown in Sydney in 1997. In 2009, udstillingen (the exhibition) made its debut in Denmark. How did a piece of Australia find its way to Denmark? Well, the Danish kronprins (crown prince) Frederik is married to an Australian, kronprinsesse Mary…

It’s a fun oplevelse (experience) to follow the beach with some friends and try to guess which crazy idea comes next. And in case you get tired, this year has a surprise: a small færge [FARE-weh] (ferry) that carries passengers from one end of the beach to the other.