GETTING THERE

are encouraged to #PlayTheStrings and ping a tune on the ropes as they walk past.

A large mirror installation, called SAME, stands perched on scaffolding above concrete stairs between the concert hall and the Scandanavian Congress Centre, also the brainchild of architecture students. People, walking up or down the staircase, stop to take selfies of the parallel construction.

New blooms have been planted near RYANAIR has direct flights from London Stansted to Aarhus and Billund from £19.99 one-way. WHERETOSTAY: Comwell Aarhus The 240 guest rooms are distributed on 12 floors. All the rooms have free Wi-Fi access. The hotel is located just 300 metres from the Central Station and is, therefore, close to the centre TOP SELLING POINT: Boutique Scandinavian hotel; ecologically aware, cards and hotel details made with recyclable paper. WORSTSELLINGPOINT: The location is good, but the view from my room — of a construction site — wasn’t. an outdoor seating area around the Central Park. Slapstick telescopes have been placed around the area too.

Look through them and you’ll not only see a tree ahead — you’ll also see a naked couple embracing on a branch.

It’s all about illusion, changing the perception of reality, imaging things that could or should be there, I’m told by the festival’s executive director, Jens Folmer Jepsen, as I start to blush, peeking through one telescope and then another, and another.

I’ve come to Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark, to see the festival’s highlights ahead of it being named the European Capital of Culture 2017, a year in which it will celebrate with the theme “rethink”.

And as I find myself a bicycle and push off from the pavement, one thing becomes clear: culture, and the homegrown Aarhus University students who are behind a lot of it, are a major driving factor for tourists and residents alike. I’ll admit that, ahead of my visit, I knew little about the city. Like most of Denmark’s tourists, Copenhagen would be been my first port of call.

But the second-largest city punches above its weight. From the moment our five-strong press team lands, the city’s Visit Aarhus marketing department are on a clear drive to show off