Edvard Eriksen, "Little Mermaid" (1913)

While the Little Mermaid takes a break from observing Copenhagen’s harbor as she visits China next year, Denmark will get two replacements.

On the harbor site where the statute sits, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will participate in what the Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority is calling a “cultural exchange” between Denmark and China. The selection of Ai is interesting, because he was an outspoken critic of China’s handling of the Olympics last summer and also of its response to the Sichuan earthquake last year. Ai participated in the creation of the so-called Bird’s Nest stadium for the Beijing Olympics but later disassociated himself from the games because of heavy state security.

The Danish authority was coy about describing what exactly it is that Ai will put on the mermaid’s perch in Langelinie Park, but it gave some clues. It said there will be a multimedia installation that “simultaneously registers, documents and articulates the movements and changes that take place during the months where the mermaid is away, including her absence from Langelinie and her presence in Shanghai.”

It added that the technology involved will include cameras and Internet connections. The installation, still in the conceptual stage, will be accessible day and night.

For the more literal-minded, there will also be a replacement statute of another Copenhagen mermaid on display nearby. A copy of Mermaid, a 1921 work by Danish sculptor Anne Marie Carl Nielsen, will be produced from an original cast and placed permanently at the Royal Library, according to an article from the Copenhagen Post that was posted on the government’s website.

Nielsen's original statute, which is less anthropomorphic than the harbor version, sits at the Danish National Gallery. The reproduction was financed by a fund established by the artist and her husband, the musician and composer Carl Nielsen.

The exchange of Ai’s work for the statue in the harbor — which was created by Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen after the fairytale character created by Hans Christian Andersen — was paid for by the New Carlsberg Foundation, established by the family behind the Danish brewery.

The Little Mermaid might enjoy her trip to China, where she will be participating in the World Expo Shanghai 2010. The statue, which is easily accessible from the park, has been repeatedly vandalized.