Bildmuseet 40 Years
October 29–31, 2021
What is the role of art in our contemporary moment marked by climate change, challenged democracies and human rights, and where millions of people are forced to become refugees? What is the role of art during a current pandemic?
To celebrate Bildmuseet’s 40th anniversary, we invite you to join a digital forum on our website on Friday–Sunday, October 29–31, 2021. You will meet artists, curators, researchers, authors, musicians, dramatists and other specially invited guests answering the question: What do we need art for?
Preparing for this anniversary year, we have had reason to think about the role of art in society. The coronavirus pandemic has also brought the question of its significance to a head. What do we need art for when life is at stake? Has the closing down of art spaces, museums, theatres, music scenes, libraries and other cultural spaces had any consequences at all? Has art and culture a crucial and critical function in our society? If so, what is it?
To Bildmuseet’s anniversary forum, we have invited a number of people we think will contribute interesting points of view to this discussion. Some of them are artists and curators with whom we have previously collaborated and who are part of Bildmuseet’s history. We have also invited other individuals who, based on their professional and personal experiences, we hope can help us answer this urgent question.
You will meet John Akomfrah, artist and filmmaker, London; Antonia Alampi, curator, researcher, writer and Artistic Director for SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin; Gavin Butt, researcher in visual culture, performance and queer studies and Professor of Fine art, Northumbria University, Newcastle; Mats Caldeborg, artist and Artistic Director of Konsthall Norra Kvarken, Järnäsklubb; Jumana Emil Abboud, artist, Jerusalem; Sofia Jannok, musician, Umeå; Grada Kilomba, artist, philosopher and writer, Berlin; Maria Lind, curator, art critic and Cultural Counsellor at the Embassy of Sweden, Moscow; Dennis Lyxzén, musician, Vännäs; Naeem Mohaiemen, artist and filmmaker, New York; Cedric Nunn, photographer and documentary filmmaker, Mangethe; Tone Olaf Nielsen, curator, writer and Co-founder and former Program Director of Trampoline House and its exhibition space CAMP/Center for Art on Migration Politics, Copenhagen; Stina Oscarson, dramatist, theatre director and author, Stockholm; Katarina Pierre, Director of Bildmuseet, Umeå; Katarina Pirak Sikku artist, Jokkmokk; Lars Strannegård, President of the Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm.
