For over a decade, Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo has placed wooden troll sculptures in natural settings across the globe. With nearly 200 creations in 19 countries, the former hip-hop artist and poet is now bringing his fairy tale-inspired works indoors for his first museum exhibition.
'The Garbage Man' at Arken Museum
The exhibit, titled 'The Garbage Man,' is hosted at the Arken Museum of Contemporary Art on the outskirts of Copenhagen. It narrates the story of mischievous trolls who secretly occupy the museum, take control, and redesign it. They construct a giant human figure made entirely of trash to teach humans a lesson about better behavior and not discarding waste in others' habitats.
'They build and leave a giant human made of trash … as a lesson for the humans to behave better and don’t put their trash where everybody else lives,' Dambo explained at his studio near Copenhagen.
From Outdoor Treasures to Indoor Exhibit
Dambo began his troll project in 2014 with two sculptures for a Danish music festival. In 2016, he hid six giant trolls in Copenhagen's wooded areas, sparking a viral sensation that attracted millions of online viewers. 'I was like, if I tell a story that combines them all, then when I’ve done this for 10 years, I will probably have made over 100 sculptures and … I have made the world into my stage,' he said.
Twelve years later, Dambo has crafted nearly 200 trolls, with his team producing about 25 new ones annually. 'Long Leif,' his tallest at 13 meters (43 feet), stands in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Typically, his works double as treasure hunts, hidden in forests, mountains, jungles, and grasslands worldwide, discoverable via an online 'Troll Map.'
Examples include 'Little Lisa' concealed in a German forest and 'Happy Kim' lounging in a South Korean botanical garden. Children climb and adults gasp upon encountering the trolls. Dambo estimates around 5 million people visit his artworks each year. 'The sculptures bring people out to experience things that they would otherwise have been too lazy or maybe not creative enough to go and visit,' he noted. 'My trolls, they bring people to all these small, little corners of the world.'
Unique Designs and Environmental Message
Each troll has a distinct name and design. For the Arken exhibit, opening Sunday and running until Nov. 29, Dambo based new works on friends from his youth. They possess 'personalities of a late teenage, young 20s type of group of boys that are causing havoc, and the type of gang that would break into a museum and fill it up with trash,' he said.
Trolls are common in Scandinavian folklore, but Dambo uses them as a medium to convey messages about waste and recycling. His sculptures are constructed almost entirely from discarded materials like wooden pallets, old furniture, and whisky barrels. A museum setting allows him to experiment with materials unsuitable for outdoor exposure, such as discarded electronics, cardboard, and clothing.
In one exhibit corner, a troll named 'Dyna Dee' sleeps on a 6-meter (nearly 20-foot) pile of discarded clothing from a local recycling organization. Dambo hopes visitors leave with a desire to consume less. 'It’s not really about recycling, it’s about you probably have enough clothes in your cabinet to wear for the rest of your life,' he said. 'This is not my recycling project, this is my stop buying stuff project.'
