The day after a massive demonstration in Copenhagen dozens of protesters are awakened early by police officers arresting them in their beds. Investigations have taken place overnight on Facebook comparing personal profiles with police footage of the protest. I am in my studio, also looking at images. As I browse through the many stacks of small prints on my table I try to wrap my head around the paradox: the technology, provided as a service to help you find and attend an event, is the same one that gets you arrested the day after. That really is our predicament today.

HRTLND is an exploration of life in our rapidly changing world, photographed across 20 European and North American countries over the last decade. Through images of urban life, demonstrations, migration and a new military training facility, the project reflects on the paradoxes and tensions shaping modern society, highlighting the double bind between security and control, freedom and surveillance, and the gradual militarization of everyday life.

The project presents a hyperreal landscape where the ordinary is interwoven with the unsettling, challenging the viewer to question what is visible and what remains obscured. In HRTLND Holm captures the undercurrents of global capitalism, militarization, and societal fragmentation, offering a layered narrative that is as much an artistic statement as it is a political act.

Mads Holm (b. 1990, Copenhagen) is a Danish photographer and writer whose work explores themes of surveillance, power, and contemporary society. He holds an MA in Photography & Society from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague and a BA in Fine Art Photography from Glasgow School of Art. He also studied at International Center of Photography in New York and attended Fatamorgana, The Danish School of Art Photography. Holm’s work has been exhibited widely across Denmark, the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. His work has been recognized with several awards and nominations.

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