https://www.youtube.com/embed/LoC1eRuTxAM” target=”_blank”>http://

LONDON / COPENHAGEN — DT500 MAG

Before “creator culture”, before every cultural moment was documented in real time, DT500 MAG was already building a portrait archive of the people shaping contemporary culture through music, identity, creativity and nightlife.

One of those early portraits was DJ Mai Schaarup, featured by DT500 MAG as part of its original “Role Models” series.

Titled “The Five Hundred Faced – DJ Mai Schaarup in Vibrant Copenhagen,” the feature followed Schaarup within Copenhagen’s vibrant cultural and nightlife landscape, presenting her not simply as a DJ, but as part of a wider conversation about identity, visibility, music and the people who create cultural spaces for others.

The piece reflects an early editorial principle that remains central to DT500 MAG today: culture is shaped by people who create spaces, challenge expectations and make it possible for others to see themselves differently.

Schaarup’s inclusion in the series was part of DT500 MAG’s broader interest in documenting individuals who could be understood as contemporary role models — not necessarily because they occupy traditional positions of authority, but because of the communities, ideas and cultural environments they help create.

The 2018 feature also represents an important part of DT500 MAG’s own editorial history. Long before its current focus on contemporary cultural criticism, authority and the present, the publication was experimenting with portraiture, video, music and cross-border cultural reporting between London and Northern Europe.

Today, revisiting the Mai Schaarup feature offers an opportunity to look back at the questions that informed DT500 MAG from the beginning:

Who becomes a role model? Who creates the spaces where culture happens? And what does it mean to document the people shaping a city’s cultural life?

The Mai Schaarup portrait remains part of the DT500 MAG archive — a snapshot of Copenhagen, music and cultural identity at a particular moment, while also marking the beginning of an editorial project that continues to examine the people and ideas influencing contemporary culture.

Read the original DT500 MAG feature:
“The Five Hundred Faced – DJ Mai Schaarup in Vibrant Copenhagen”

DT500 MAG is an independent London-based cultural publication examining contemporary culture, authority and the present, with a particular interest in the intersections between art, film, fashion, music, media and public life.