Arken Museum of Modern Art

Arken opened in 1996 on reclaimed land beside the beach at Ishoj, and the building came out of a competition won by a student, Soren Robert Lund, who was twenty-five: a white concrete deconstructivist structure of angled planes and a long curved main hall called the Art Axis that runs the length of it like a ship's deck. The collection concentrates on Danish and international art since 1990, with strong holdings of Damien Hirst, Olafur Eliasson, Ai Weiwei and the Danish artists of the same generation, and it mounts large temporary shows. The setting is part of the appeal: the museum sits on the sand with the beach on one side, and its terrace and the surrounding dunes are used as sculpture ground in summer.

What you actually see

• The Art Axis - a long curved hall running the length of the building.
• Contemporary Danish and international art - Eliasson, Hirst and their contemporaries.
• The beach setting - the museum standing directly on the sand.
• Outdoor sculpture - works set out on the terrace and dunes in summer.

When to go

Year round; the beach setting is better in summer but the museum is an indoor visit. Two to three hours. Closed Mondays. Large temporary exhibitions draw crowds at weekends.

Honest expectations

It is a long way out and the walk from the station crosses bleak reclaimed ground. The permanent collection is smaller than the building suggests and much of the space goes to temporary shows. The architecture divides opinion sharply. The cafe is limited.

Nearby

Ishoj beach runs alongside; central Copenhagen is about half an hour by train.