The Society for Somaesthetics and its Journal of Somaesthetics mourn the death of Else Marie Bukdahl (1937-2026) while paying grateful tribute to her exemplary life and the important contributions she made to art and culture, including her central role in the field of somaesthetics. Professor Bukdahl was one of the three founding editors of The Journal of Somaesthetics, which was first conceived, named, and introduced to the internet in July 2013 from her seaside cabin on the dunes of Vesterklit, North Jutland, by the North Sea. In that same cabin she collapsed from a stroke and died in hospital shortly thereafter on July 14th, 2026.
Else Marie Bukdahl was a world-renowned scholar who served as Rector of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts for twenty years and as a distinguished board member of the New Carlsberg Foundation, the Danish Council of Ethics, and the Danish National Research Foundation. Described as the uncrowned queen of the Danish artworld, she used her academic prestige to advance projects of wide-ranging international scope, generously deploying her powers to help others and to build bridges between cultures by forging creative links between people and institutions through shared appreciation of the arts.
Already international in having a Danish father and Norwegian mother, Else Marie’s cosmopolitan culture extended throughout Europe and beyond. Besides creating a twenty-one-year collaboration with Chinese artists and curators and their Danish counterparts, she engaged Islamic culture both in research and in exchange activities with Sharjah, while also being active in projects of the Center for Body, Mind, and Culture at Florida Atlantic University. But her most powerful and enduring international connection was with France. A specialist on the art criticism of Denis Diderot (who she playfully described as her French lover), Else Marie was the person who introduced contemporary French philosophy to Denmark’s cultural scene by bringing authors like Jean-François Lyotard and Michel Serres to the Academy she directed. The title of the Danish documentary film made about her, Verdensdamen – Else Marie Bukdahl (2019), highlights her cosmopolitan culture and international renown by identifying her as “The Lady of the World.”
Else Marie was a crucial figure in the development of somaesthetics and its connection to visual art and design. Besides being one of the founding editors of the Journal of Somaesthetics, she contributed key articles to multiple issues. One of them involved an extensive interview with the major contemporary artist Olafur Eliassen, who was her student at the Academy, one of the many students and colleagues who loved her and benefited from her support and guidance. Else Marie was truly an irresistibly lovable person, sweet but strong, who radiated vibrantly welcoming energy and encouraging, youthful hope – even at the age of eighty-nine. Besides her seven texts in The Journal of Somaesthetics, which included a fascinating interview with ORLAN, Else Marie contributed vital chapters to books in the Brill series Studies in Somaesthetics and served on its editorial board. Authors and readers will continue to be inspired by her writings and by her exemplary life.
In loving memory, Richard Shusterman
