“Whom I have seen and spoken to just once, I remember their faces clearly. I keep a reflection of them in my mind. On the other hand, my own face, though our Lord and all the people know that I look in the mirror often enough, I cannot remember it at all.” (Hans Christian Andersen: Levnedsbogen, 1832)

Look behind the glossy surface and seemingly naïve tales of Hans Christian Andersen, and you’ll find a universe full of radical uncertainty and ambiguity. Throughout his life, he remained a mystery to himself, and his artistic endeavours are attempts to understand himself and find a place to call home.

The irony is that this yearning to connect, to find a place to belong, to find himself, fueled the continued exploration of life and staging of himself through his fairytales and art. It is through all these images and stories - all these representations - that we must discover his true identity behind it all.

Yet, as you immerse yourself in his art, as you read his 3½ autobiographies (that don't add up), as you read the 10.000 letters to and from him, and dig through his most personal diaries, it seems the more you search for the true Hans Christian Andersen, the more he disappears behind the words on the page until there is nothing left except the phenomenon conjured into being through his writing - through how he presents himself to the world.

In this talk by Henrik Lübker, we will explore the blurred boundaries between performance and identity, between becoming and being in Hans Christian Andersen’s art and life.

Henrik Lübker, PhD, is a Literature Scholar, Curator, and CEO of Design denmark.