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that were replicated in the pavilion, they had an opportunity to simulate the sustainable Copenhagen lifestyle. However, some of the activities were not suitable to be directly copied from Denmark to China. For example, the difference between the Chinese and Danish bicycle mechanisms caused complications and accidents on bicycle lanes, which resulted in the temporary closure of the biking activity. Moreover, due to concerns surrounding the swimming ability of potential visitors, the simulation of swimming in the harbour water was cancelled before the Expo opened.¹⁶ These complications caused a clash in the simulacra and affected the hyperreal experience of Danish life, rendering visitors as spectators rather than participants.

       Copies as ‘Better’ Objects Than Originals

Superkilen Urban Park in Copenhagen is another copy and paste manoeuvre BIG in collaboration with landscape architecture office Topotek1 and artist group Superflex. Constructed in 2012 in a derelict area, the park occupies an area of three hectares with a length of 750 metres.¹⁷ It is situated in the dense residential neighbourhood of Norrebro, an ethnically diverse district of Copenhagen with more than 60 nationalities.¹⁸ The park was split into three zones, each with a different colour, acknowledging the coexisting multicultural society. The Red Square, which is most suitable for sports and cultural activities, is overwhelmingly covered in red and pink shades. Undulating white stripes on the black asphalt ground of The Black Market, the middle section of which is designed for social activities and plays. The most extensive section, The Green Park, is organised to accommodate sport and picnics.

Throughout the park, the designers installed and displayed more than a hundred pieces of original and replica urban furniture. Each item is inspired by the 60 nationalities in Norrebro: Benches, tables, rubbish bins, trees and plants, murals, fitness equipment, sports fields, playground structures, and lighting elements. Some of these objects were purchased from catalogues or transported from their countries of origin. Other objects were recreated from photographs or redesigned in Copenhagen.¹⁹ Martin Rein- Cano from Topotek1 compares Superkilen with the traditional praxis of copy and paste in the 17th-century English Romantic gardens, which re-contextualised structures and elements from divergent cultures.²⁰

Not all of the objects are authentic, and it is challenging to differentiate the replicas from the originals. Some of the items were transported directly from their country of origin, including soil from Palestine and a double chair from Mexico. Others were reconstructed on-site, such as the Octopus Slide from Japan.²¹ As Ingels notes, 30 objects were redesigned from documents out of necessity.²² For example, a slide from Chernobyl, the original inaccessible due to radio activity, and a swing from Afghanistan are exact replicas reconstructed from archival photographs.²³ The designers of Superkilen playfully reported that they went and caught the metal bull from Spain, insinuating that they installed the original one at Superkilen. However, in reality, they had created a one to three scaled-down replica to be installed at the park.²⁴

Gyldholm Moller from BIG admits to ‘necessary’ modifications and transformations made to some objects, such as the swing bench from Iraq and fitness equipment from Turkey, to ensure they complied with Danish standards and safety regulations.²⁵

The designers claim that the redesigned version for some objects were equipped with enhanced capacity or achieved better quality than the originals, as in the case of the Landi bench from Switzerland and a neon sign from Qatar.²⁶ For Benjamin, manual reproduction is easily described as counterfeit, since the authority of the original maintains its presence. Technical reproduction goes beyond the dialectics of original and copy by introducing variations. The ability to reterritorialise fixed objects or structure becomes possible and to see images and movements that are missed by the naked eye or invisible to human perception.²⁷ From the perspective of Benjamin, the method of reproduction at Superkilen was deployed as an instrument of experimentation, to test for improved appearance, enhanced function, and safer usage. These features would be impossible to achieve with the original pieces alone.

       Superkilen as a Theme Park

Artist Rasmus Nielsen from Superflex compares Superkilen to a fun park, particularly the original vision of Epcot Center, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort, which was to have been a high-tech and efficiently planned city for people to inhabit, work, and play.²⁸ The definition of themed space refers to simulating a different time, culture, and alternative way of living.

A theme park offers its visitors singular and personal experiences in artificially-created environments and atmospheres.²⁹ Produced as commodities, the Disney Corporation theme parks integrate entertainment, illusion, fantasy, and desire. For Baudrillard, they are much more than mere representations of imagination. They are capable of substituting reality for a much more perfect, irresistible, and credible appearance.³⁰ Eco evaluates Disneyland as a mythical representation of daily life and authentic copy, which is newer and more fulfilling than real life.³¹

      Looking to Superkilen, the replicated objects cannot be differentiated from the originals. According to Eco, simulacra assimilate reality and produce hyperreality in the appearance of a themed urban park. Mediated by the third order of simulacra, the environment of Superkilen intends to make users feel as if they are at home. By installing familiar urban furniture from the home country of locals, the designers transform dreams and hopes into a mixture of reality, spectacle, and commodity. These replicas and copies produce a more vivid environment, with more accessible objects from all around the world in a safer atmosphere. As a result, original objects become forgotten memories, as the interpretation and perception of the replicas replace that of the original objects

      The Danish Pavilion and the Superkilen Urban Park make use of a combination of originals and copies to generate hyperreal atmospheres. The intention is to replicate the authenticity of daily life, the feeling of strolling in Denmark or ones home country in the case of Supkerkilen. The strategy of transporting originals to the artificial environment of the Danish Pavilion was to simulate the sustainable Danish city life. In comparison, at Superkilen the technique of reproduction and replication was used to improve aesthetics and enhance function for safer usage. To achieve these intentions would be challenging without BIG’s exploitation of copy and paste as a design manoeuvre.

      While it is difficult to differentiate replicas from originals, objects displayed as public collage become exhibits rather than authentic, immersive experiences. The act of decontextualisation and replication does not result in success at all times. Unanticipated complications can cause a clash in the simulacra and affect the hyperreal experience of an authentic day in Denmark. Regardless, the hyperreal environments created at the Danish Pavilion and Superkilen blur the distinct and clear borders of original and copy. They substitute reality for a much more fulfilling, credible, and newer artificial appearance in favour of spectacle, dream, and desire.

      Turkish

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