100 Years with the Nationalmuseum
The Swedish Travelling Exhibitions started as a temporary organization in 1965. Our first task was to bring art from the national museums to people in Sweden who would otherwise not have much chance of seeing it. The picture is from our very first exhibition, a travelling exhibition entitled “100 Years with the Nationalmuseum”. This exhibition included work by several world-famous artists. Among the works was Rembrandt’s painting of Simeon in the Temple which, in the picture, is being carefully checked, guarded and packed in order to travel the country on a lorry.
Climate chambers
Swedish Travelling Exhibitions’ largest exhibition from the point of view of floor area was the noted “Climate Chambers”. The exhibition covered 600m2 and was toured throughout Scandinavia in 1994-95. There were five chambers each devoted to an extreme type of climate. The aim was to reach all the human senses and to give people environmental experiences which were not just limited to form and materials.
The picture shows the interior of the Steam Chamber in which visitors could, for example, reflect on the fact that what, initially, develops in order to create life instead contributes to its destruction. The artists responsible for the exhibition were Bigert & Bergström.
Erwin Wurm
Erwin Wurm is an internationally famous artist who has addressed the concept of political correctness. In a series of “Instructions on how to be politically incorrect” Wurm gives visitors a chance to reflect on what is “correct” with regard to situations and actions both on a political and a social level. Wurm has also given us entry points to these using humour as a euphemism. People can choose to see Erwin Wurm’s work as humorous and entertaining but those who choose to consider it more deeply will discover the obvious links with, for example, the reactions to the Western world’s actions after the terror attack of 11 September 2001.
“Spit in Someone’s Soup” is the first solo exhibition devoted to sculptor Erwin Wurm in Sweden. The exhibition, which opened in the autumn of 2007, was produced in collaboration with Marabou Park in Sundbyberg. There is more information about Erwin Wurm and the exhibition “Spit in Someone’s Soup” under “current exhibitions” on our website.
In the picture: Erwin Wurm: Two Ways of Carrying a Bomb (Instructions on How to be Politically Incorrect) 2003. Photo: Susanne Nilsson.
People and Boats in the North
As we have noted, travelling exhibitions need to be packed and transported as required. Sometimes the packaging or the method of transportation actually form part of the exhibition. One example of such an exhibition is “People and Boats in the North”.
With the smell of tar in the atmosphere, the exhibition presented 20 captivating narratives about coastal dwellers’ lives and their unique working boats from all over Scandinavia as well as Estonia and the Shetland Isles. The boats were essential to people’s livelihood but they also led to contacts with other peoples and countries. Although all the boats had similar functions, they are all very different. They were built without plans or templates. The working boats are functional and very beautiful, created using intuition and a strong sense of form. The exhibition was mounted on a vessel, the MS Nordwest, that visited 17 ports in six countries during four months of 1999. A range of events was organized in each of the ports in conjunction with the visit. For example there were parades of old working boats under sail, tastings of recipes from former times, boat-building demonstrations or musical programmes with coastal connections.
Sex is Not Natural
With the exhibition “Sex is Not Natural” we wanted to make visitors aware of the fact that what may seem entirely natural and private is influenced and steered by our surroundings. The aim was to encourage people always to questions the rules that govern our behaviour.
God has 99 Names
In Sweden there are almost one million people for whom religious beliefs play an important role. Sweden is often called the world’s most secularized society at the same time that statistics show that 67 percent of Swedes adhere to so-called private religion and believe in their own way. Interest in existential matters is high, not least among youngsters, but venues for such discussions are few and far between. “God has 99 Names” was an exhibition to be experienced with interactive possibilities in the form of a journey that offered visitors an opportunity to explore the multi-religious world of everyday Sweden.