Migration: Traces in an Art Collection 14.5–22.9 2019 MIGRATION: konsthall Tensta T R A C E S IN AN ART COLLEC TION 2 2 översätt Konica Minolta 1 Migration: Traces in an Art Collection Xet Erixson, reflecting the scene as it 14.5–22.9 2019 occurred in his mind’s eye. But those who found accommodation in the How have artists over the past 150 museum left behind drawings, as well, years related to the concepts of exile which remain in the collection. Many and migration? By following their were small works on paper, depicting traces in a museum’s collection, in this life in concentration camps, including, case that of Malmö Konstmuseum, we among other things, portraits of other discover compelling answers to this prisoners, a strong testimony of an question. This exhibition focuses on abominable period in history. various experiences of migration and displacement from the perspective of Another group of works recalls art, and on the museum as a source of relations between Sweden and knowledge. the Baltic countries before and after World War II. In 1939 Malmö Malmö Konstmuseum originated as Museum received a private donation a study collection at a private school slated for the establishment of a in Malmö in the 1840s. There were Latvian collection in the museum. A archaeological finds, stuffed birds, rare selection of forty-five artworks was coins, minerals and artworks that the purchased as a greeting, or a gesture teachers would use in their teaching. In of solidarity, to the young Latvian the 1880s, the collection had become nation. Seven months later, Latvia so extensive that the city of Malmö had been occupied. Many Latvian decided to take over its administration. artists escaped to Sweden, leading At the turn of the century, the the museum to acquire, in 1946, a foundation was laid for the art group of their works, now exhibited collection, today considered one of the for the first time in sixty years. These foremost in the country, and in 1937 unique paintings tell stories about the it was moved to a brand-new building artists’ experiences of war, escape close to Malmöhus Castle, which was and everyday life in Latvia, but also built during the Danish Renaissance. about the exile in Sweden. The Latvian For many years, the museum collection is presented in a separate emphasized Nordic contemporary publication, edited by Lotte Løvholm. art in its exhibitions, although the international and more art-historical A third group of works sheds light on dimensions of the collection remain to the increasing political consciousness be rediscovered. and engagement in world events that was formative for much of the art A key starting point for the work world in the 1960s and ’70s. It also presented in ‘Migration: Traces in includes a number of contemporary an Art Collection’ is the events of works that comment, in different spring 1945, which took place at the ways, upon the image of migration and museum at the Slottsholmen island in translocation in a globalized world— Malmö. After the end of the Second one of the most discussed topics of our World War, the city of Malmö was time. inundated with refugees arriving from the concentration camps on the White For one year, Tensta konsthall, Buses of the Swedish Red Cross. The together with CuratorLab at Konstfack city’s public buildings quickly became University and under the supervision overcrowded. Overnight, Ernst Fischer, of Joanna Warsza, studied public art the director of the museum, decided collections, with a particular focus to transform it into a refugee center, on Malmö Konstmuseum. In its final providing hundreds of beds. This event stage, the course concentrated on is depicted in a monumental painting the terms ‘migration’ and ‘exile’ from from the same year by the artist Sven an art perspective, which form its 2 2 contribution to the exhibition during a programme the 14–17 of May. The exhibition design, created by Luca Frei, consists of a number of freestanding screens and colour fields. The colors are inspired by Rythme Couleur, a painting by Sonia Delaunay-Terk from 1952. For Frei, it goes without saying that the work of Delaunay, a Jewish-French artist, is suitable as a starting point, considering her eventful life and her idea of color as something that can transform in its meaning, depending on the material it appears in. Luca Frei’s artistic practice often begins with an investigation of archival material, which he then transfers into three-dimensional form. The exhibition design is titled Contrappunti and will also be used when this exhibition is shown in Malmö later this year. Curators: Maria Lind and Cecilia Widenheim Artists: Meriç Algün, Muhammad Ali, Sahar al-Khateeb, Albin Amelin, Pia Arke, Kärlis Baltgailis, Maja Berezowska, Carlos Capelán, Sonia Delaunay- Terk, Eduards D Dzenis, Ewa Einhorn / Jeuno JE Kim, Sven Xet Erixson, Öyvind Fahlström, Jörgen Fogelquist, Luca Frei, Leon Golub, Jäzeps Grosvalds, Isaac Grünewald, Maxime Hourani, Marija Induse- Muceniece, Charlotte Johannesson, Björn Jonson, Käthe Kollwitz, Jakob Kulle, Runo Lagomarsino, Lotte Laserstein, Lars Laumann, Franco Leidi, Per-Oskar Leu, Janis Karlovic Liepins, Lage Lindell, Sven Ljungberg, Sirous Namazi, Endre Nemes, Gerhard Nordström, Minna Rainio / Mark Roberts, Ninnan Santesson, Vassil Simittchiev, Jadwiga Simon Pietkiewicz, Niklavs Strunke, SUPERFLEX, Olle Svanlund, Paola Torres Nuñez del Prado, Birgitta Trotzig, Ulf Trotzig, Tage Törning, Peter Weiss, Jacques Zadig and Anders Österlin. 2 3 first organization for contemporary 1.Meriç Algün art, AllArtNow, was cofounded Born in Istanbul, based in Stockholm in Damascus by Nisrine and Abir Boukhari. Through AllArtNow, Ali The Concise Book of Visa Application developed his artistic practice, Forms, 2009, book 580 pages, exhibiting in many projects in Syria furniture and abroad. It was also during this residency that he discovered the The questions and personal experience impulse for what would become the of migration are of major importance series Fears Fresh (2009–11). to the artistic practice of Meriç Algün. By exploring the situations In 2009, when Ali was living in of travelling or what constraints she London, it was a daily routine of his has experienced when migrating to browse the newspapers in order from Turkey to live in Sweden, she to stay updated about the world. deals with issues of migration and its An effect of this habit was that he limitations as expressed in political seemed to develop a sense, without and bureaucratic challenges. In the actually ‘reading’ or ‘seeing’ any handmade The Concise Book of Visa concrete signs, for when upheaval was Application Forms, she has collected approaching. In the financial reports, all the visa application forms in the an ominous shadow of contemporary world. This work reveals the absurdity developments in Syria and the Middle of constraints constructed to control East seemed to slowly emerge. From people’s movement. In the exhibition, these hints and clues, Ali processed the artist displays the book offering photographs from the Financial Times the audience to browse it wearing into images that later came to serve white gloves, referring to the proper as models for Fears Fresh, a series treatment of an archival item. In other of prints that he worked on for two displays of Algün’s work excerpts years back in Syria, where by then the from the visa application forms war and the Arab Spring had, in fact, have been used for huge billboards broken out. In the midst of the turmoil, exposing decontextualized and Muhammad Ali fled his homeland sometimes comical questions such across the Mediterranean, making his as ‘Do you want to live temporarily or way to Sweden. P S permanently?’ V S 3. Sahar al-Khateeb 2. Muhammad Ali Born in Ramallah, based in Stockholm Born in Al-Malikiyah, based in ,2017 ,دايح / Stockholm Neutralitet / Neutrality found furniture, mixed media Fears Fresh, 2009–2011, 9 prints The installation Neutralitet / Neutrality is composed of used wooden ,دايح / When Muhammad Ali was studying at the Faculty of Fine Art at Damascus furniture, carefully selected and University in the early 2000s, the transformed by using various tools in curriculum focused mainly on a collage of forms floating between traditional techniques, painting ceiling and floor, and organized to chief among them. Conceptual or reflect on the shape, meaning, and video art was as-yet unheard of, construction of household objects but Ali started to look for resources such as chairs and tables. The about contemporary art abroad, title of the work refers to Sahar research which led him to explore al-Khateeb’s perspective on the the moving image. In 2005, Syrias’s installation, positioning the artist as 2 4 a viewer and questioning the status was Amelin’s work De sista arierna, quo. In the majority of her projects (The Last Aryans), a linocut illustrating al-Khateeb uses parts of domestic two German soldiers, one forcefully furniture as a medium to explore restraining and throttling the other the topics of human existence and while surrounded by the skulls and identity, issues of absence and the bones of the deceased. Gallows stand present, and the notion of ’the other’ in the background with the noose free in society. Consequently, the practice from its victim while the two soldiers of the artist is evolving over time, in fight in the foreground. Although the particular reflecting life in Palestine publication was meant to be spread and in Sweden. Neutralitet / Neutrality widely around the country, only two was commissioned by Malmö editions were ever published after ,دايح / Konstmuseum for the occasion of the nationwide Pressbyrån stopped the Show and Tell exhibition in 2017. its distribution because of its radical The artist made the work during the content.