Wanna Be Mermaid Sculpture, Horsens Harbour

A mermaid with an unsettling twist on Horsens Harbour

Wanna Be Mermaid stands at the edge of Horsens Harbour, a pale, almost porcelain figure gazing out over the water with a mix of innocence and unease. Created in 2019 by Danish artist Maria Rubinke, the sculpture picks up Denmark’s famous mermaid motif and turns it on its head. Instead of a polished ideal, you meet a figure that feels fragile, slightly eerie and strangely human, as if caught mid‑transformation between girl and sea creature. Placed against the open water, the piece becomes a quiet focal point on the quay. Fishing boats, marina masts and low industrial warehouses form a rough backdrop, sharpening the delicate lines of the mermaid’s body. Up close you notice carefully modelled details – the curve of her back, the tension in her pose – that suggest both vulnerability and defiance.

Maria Rubinke’s darkly playful imagination

Maria Rubinke is known in Danish contemporary art for blending sweet, almost toy‑like forms with hints of the macabre. Her sculptures often look childlike at first glance, then reveal something unsettling in their expressions or proportions. Wanna Be Mermaid fits squarely in this universe: it feels like a fairytale figure that has stepped out of a storybook and into the real world, only to discover it does not quite belong. This tension between dream and reality plays out in the sculpture’s title as well. "Wanna Be" captures a sense of longing and not‑yet‑achieved identity. Is this a girl wishing to escape to the sea, or a mermaid wishing to walk on land? The ambiguity invites you to project your own reading, making the short encounter linger in the mind long after you leave the quay.

Part of Horsens’ growing Sculpture Boulevard

The mermaid is one of many public artworks that form Horsens’ Sculpture Boulevard, a three‑kilometre trail of contemporary sculptures running from the train station to the harbour and marina. Along this route you encounter works by prominent artists such as Christian Lemmerz, Tal R, Michael Kvium and others, placed in parks, squares and along the new harbour promenade. Wanna Be Mermaid marks a key point where the art route meets the water. Together with Rubinke’s later harbourfront work and neighbouring pieces by other artists, it helps stitch the former industrial waterfront into the cultural life of the city. You can experience the sculpture as a standalone highlight or as one chapter in a longer walk through Horsens’ urban art.

Atmosphere on the quay through the day

The mood around the sculpture shifts with the weather and time of day. On bright, breezy mornings, the harbour feels open and maritime, with cries of gulls and clinking rigging surrounding the still mermaid. On grey days, the pale figure can appear ghostly against steely water and concrete, emphasising the work’s more melancholic undertones. Towards evening, when the sky colours over Horsens Fjord and harbour lights begin to glow, the setting becomes unexpectedly atmospheric. Reflections in puddles, light on metal hulls and the silhouette of the mermaid together create a quietly cinematic scene that photographers in particular tend to seek out. Even a brief stop invites you to slow down, walk a circled path around the sculpture and feel how the harbour frames it from every angle.

A short but memorable harbourfront stop

Wanna Be Mermaid is a compact attraction: you need only a short time to see it, yet it folds naturally into a broader harbour stroll. Benches and open quays nearby make it easy to linger, watch ships move in and out and compare this contemporary mermaid with the more traditional images you may know from elsewhere in Denmark. Because the work is fully accessible in the open air, you can visit at any hour and in any season, whether as a contemplative solo stop, a moment of curiosity with children, or a quick cultural detour on the way through the marina. It encapsulates Horsens’ ambition to bring ambitious contemporary art directly into everyday city life – right where land meets sea.