Christiania’s iconic ‘laws’ poster was used a as a starting point for ‘Christiania’s New Common Law’. Devised by collective debate and designed by then Christiania resident Anna Tengberg in 1979 the original poster annotates the rules of the Freetown community such as ‘no hard drugs’, ‘no cars’, ‘no weapons’. In 2012 I asked young people living in Christiania to create a set of new laws which would describe what they are or should be allowed to do, rather than what is outlawed. The results were touching, tender and spontaneous – such as ‘you are allowed to kiss’ and ‘you are allowed to wear glasses’. A selection of these new laws were made into a new design by the original graphic artist, Anna Tengburg.

The poster was commissioned as part of the exhibition ‘The People’s Instruments’ at Charlottenborg and displayed and distributed from Christiana and Charlottenborg. A copy of the poster can be downloaded here (link in to PDF).