Nordic Delights

Dejan Antonijević, Nermin Duraković, Michelle Eistrup, Behzad Farazollahi, Anawana Haloba, Sasha Huber, Henrik Lund Jørgensen, Jane Jin Kaisen, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Bita Razavi, Bella Rune, Adolfo Vera, Nita Vera, Carla Zaccagnini

An exhibition organized in collaboration between Oslo Kunstforening, Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki and Kalmar Konstmuseum, Sweden.

Curators: Marianne Hultman, Kristine Kern, Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger.

It is difficult today to speak of a cohesive Nordic art scene, or national scenes for that matter, even in the relatively small countries that comprise the Nordic region. But still we do, every now and then.

For Nordic Delights the curators have discussed the concept of the Nordic region, as well as each country’s different art scenes from the 1990s onwards. What we have observed is that the art scenes, once they are represented nationally and in group exhibitions, still tend toward homogeneity.

We all have our own opinions of what Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or Finnish contemporary art is. The best example of a cohesive representation of Nordic art is probably the Nordic Pavilion in the Giardini in Venice, designed in 1962 by the Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn. The pavilion is Swedish-Finnish-Norwegian state property; each country owns one third. Every other year you can see Nordic architecture, or contemporary art as part of the Venice Biennale. But even here, we observe, Denmark and Iceland have their own pavilions next to the Nordic. How the Faroe Islands and Greenland are dealt with is unspoken. The system of pavilions in the Giardini represents colonialism and post-colonialism in the global context.

Group exhibitions, wherein artists are lumped together on the basis of domestic origin, are problematic. They often leave a bad aftertaste. While at the same time they constitute a sort of sample of what occupies a certain art scene during a certain period or time.

In Norway the biennale Momentum in Moss has had a Nordic curatorial perspective since its inception in 1998. In 2015 Gallery F15 (both Momentum and Gallery F 15 are part of a cluster of exhibition spaces under the name Punkt Ø) showed the exhibition Siksi – The Nordic Miracle Revisited compiled by Gertrud Sandqvist and John Peter Nilsson. The exhibition showed a selection of Nordic artists from the 1980s and 90s which were also associated with the magazine Siksi.

Siksi was published by the Nordic Art Center in Helsinki between 1986-1995. The then young Nordic scene was contextualized within a post-modern discourse. Siksi, which was bilingual, gave non-Nordic readers insight into a local, peripheral art scene. This was the beginning of what later came to be coined The Nordic Miracle.*

In 1999, Siksi merged with Index Contemporary Scandinavian Images and became NU: The Nordic Art Review, which was published until 2003. The magazine covered the Nordic art scene as well as international architecture, design, music and fashion. NU: The Nordic Art Review, functioned as a bridge between the so-called local and the global.

The Carnegie Art Award was another important feature that contributed to the interconnection between the Nordic countries. It was established in 1998 by the Swedish financial group Carnegie Investment Bank to promote Nordic contemporary painting. Between 2003 and 2014 the award exhibition toured in the Nordic countries every other year together with a book. Three artists were awarded and one got a scholarship. The Carnegie Art Award was the worlds largest art award.

Now and then attempts have been made to put together more comprehensive national presentations on home ground, such as in Lights On at Astrup Fearnley in 2008 or På: Tiden. Ny svensk konst (About time: New Swedish Art) in 1996 or Modernautställningen (The Moderna Exhibition) a periodic exhibition organized every four years with its first edition in 2006, both at Moderna Museet in Stockholm. The Høstutstillingen (The Autumn Exhibition) at Kunstnernes Hus, Vårsalongen (The Spring Salon) at Liljevalchs Konsthall in Stockholm and Forårsudstillingen (The Spring Exhibition) at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen are other proven models.

In Svenska Hjärtan (Swedish Hearts) at Moderna Museet in 2004 and in Om – berättande i svensk samtidskonst (About the narrative in Swedish contemporary art) at Norrköping Museum of Art in 2002, we have attempts to break up the homogeneity found within the national art scene. These shows are, however, exceptions.

Nordic Delights can be seen as yet another attempt to break the norm. The artists included in the exhibition all live and work in the Nordic countries yet most of them have their roots elsewhere. This time it is the so-called minorities who are in the majority rather than the reverse, which is most common.

The title Nordic Delights alludes to Turkish delight, al-hulqum or lokum, which means “comfort of the throat” in Turkish. According to one source a British traveler became so delighted by the sweet that he started to import it to England under the name “Turkish delight”.

Nordic Delights is created on behalf of Norske Kunstforeninger and in conjunction with the Nordic Conference Kunstens verdi i tallenes tid. Oslo Kunstforening in turn invited Denmark, Finland and Sweden to collaborate on the exhibit.

A collaboration with Fotografisk Center, The Finnish Museum of Photography, and Kalmar Kunstmuseum, with a starting point in camera-based art, due mainly to two of the collaborating institutions having a curatorial emphasis on photography. 

Next stop for Nordic Delights is Kalmar Konstmuseum October 1 – November 20, 2016. In 2017 Nordic Delights will be shown at Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen January 14 – March 5 and at The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki May 16 – August 13.

Nordic Delights is part of Oslo Kunstforening's 180th anniversary. The exhibition has been made possible with the generous support of the Nordisk kulturfond, Nordic Culture Point and The Norwegian Association of Art Societies. Thank you Bengt-Olof Johansson and Joanna Sandell, Kalmar Konstmuseum and Advokatfirma Ræder.

*In 1998 Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Laurence Bossé curated the exhibition Nuit Blanche - Scenes Nordiques: les années 90 at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. The exhibition coined the term The Nordic Miracle of the 90s. Thirty artists were included in the exhibition, among them Henrik Plenge Jacobsen, Esko Männikkö, Olafur Eliasson, Elmgreen & Dragset, Bjarne Melgaard, Vibeke Tandberg, Knut Åsdam, Ann Lislegaard, Ann-Sofie Sidén, Eija-Liisa Ahtila. Nuit Blanche was shown together with an exhibition of Nordic painting from the turn of the century.