Surrealism in the Nordic Countries Symposium
Conference
Start date: Friday 5 May 2023
Time: 10.30
End date: Saturday 6 May 2023
Time: 17.00
Location: Moderna museet, Skeppsholmen, Stockholm
Arranged by Moderna Museet and Stockholm University 5–6 May. Attendance is free, but please register in advance.
What is the significance of surrealism in the Nordic countries? When does surrealism take shape in the region and what does it look like? How is surrealism received and what role does it play in different national cultures? In this symposium, scholars and curators present a range of different answers to those questions. Delving into topics from Paris-bound painter Greta Knutson-Tzara, to situationists approaching surrealism, to collage and comics, the papers approach surrealism in the Nordic countries as a rich and diverse phenomenon with surprising longevity.
In 1930s Denmark, painters gravitated around the journal Linien to promote surrealism, and the 1935 exhibition Kubisme=Surrealisme brought international surrealism to Copenhagen. In 1930s Sweden, the Halmstad Group rose to both national and international prominence, and later surrealist initiatives include the artist group the Imaginists formed in the late 1940s and the Surrealist Group of Stockholm with a start in the 1980s. In Iceland surrealism only took hold in the 1960s and was radicalized by the young Médusa group a decade later. And in Norway and Finland, surrealism has never taken the form of a movement, but has rather been an influence on a diverse cast of poets and painters.
This symposium on surrealism in the Nordic countries, held with the support of the Swedish Research Council/Vetenskapsrådet, excavates these tendencies and presents new perspectives on artists, writers, collectors, and exhibitions.
For registration please contact:
Andrea Kollnitz, Associate Professor in Art History, Department of Culture and Aesthetics
andrea.kollnitz@arthistory.su.se
Kristoffer Noheden, research fellow in Cinema Studies, Department of Media Studies
kristoffer.noheden@ims.su.se
Programme
Friday 5 May
| 10:30 | Introduction (Welcome by Anna Tellgren, Moderna Museet, Andrea Kollnitz and Kristoffer Noheden) |
| 10:45–12:30 |
PANEL 1 – Exploring and Exhibiting Surrealism in Sweden Martin Sundberg (Jönköping County Museum) – “Greta Knutson’s Fairy-Tale Surrealism” Mats Jansson (University of Gothenburg) – “The Introduction of Surrealism in Sweden and the Case of Folke Dahlberg” Erika Danker (Mjellby Art Museum) – “Exhibition as a Medium for New Perspectives: Mjellby Art Museum” |
| 12:30–14:00 | Lunch at Moderna Museet |
| 14:00–15:45 |
PANEL 2 – Surrealism and Situationism in Denmark Camilla Skovbjerg Paldam (Aarhus University) – “‘Common Humanity’: Sonja Ferlov Mancoba’s Intercultural Surrealism” Per Stounbjerg (Aarhus University) – “The Construction of Surrealism in Danish Literary History” Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen (University of Copenhagen) – “The Surrealism of the Situationists” |
| 15:45–16:15 | Coffee |
| 16:15–17:30 |
PANEL 3 – Predecessors and Collectors in Norway Kari Brandtzaeg (Munch Museum) – “Rolf Stenersen (1899–1978) – a Forgotten Protagonist of Surrealism in Norway?” Lars Toft-Eriksen (Munch Museum) – “The Automatism of Edvard Munch: A Case Study of the Symbolist Genealogy of Surrealism” |
| 19:00 (about) | Dinner |
Saturday 6 May
| 10:30–12:15 |
PANEL 4 – Surrealism in Iceland and Finland Solveig Gudmundsdottir (University of Iceland) – “Nocturnal Revelations: Notes on Surrealism and Esotericism in the Art of Alfreð Flóki” Benedikt Hjartarson (University of Iceland) – “A Collective Adventure Called Surrealism: Tracing a Tradition of Youthful Revolt” Harri Veivo (Université Caen Normandie) – “Jet-Lagged Surrealism in Finland” |
| 12:15–13:30 | Lunch at Moderna Museet |
| 13:30–14:45 |
PANEL 5 – The Halmstad Group and the Imaginists Helen Fuchs (Halmstad University) – “The Decorative as a Surrealist Method in the Halmstad group” Kristoffer Noheden (Stockholm University) – “The Persistence of Imaginism: Gudrun Åhlberg” |
| 14:45–15:15 | Coffee |
| 15:15–16:30 |
PANEL 6 – Visions and Margins Andrea Kollnitz (Stockholm University) – “Surrealism as Other: On the Cases of Thea Ekström, Endre Nemes and Stellan Mörner” Niklas Nenzén (Uppsala University) – ”The Pine Cone Man: John Andersson and Surrealism” |
| 16:30–17:00 | Concluding discussion |
Last updated: April 21, 2023
Source: Department of Culture and Aesthetics