Moderna Museet c/o Magasin 3

Exhibition booklet no 2
Text: David Neuman, Director Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, and Richard Julin, Curator Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall
No of pages:
14

Language: Swedish and English edition
Year: 2002
Translation: Sina Najafi, Astrid Trotzig
Graphic design: Givelldesign


EXCERPT:

Moderna Museet c/o Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall by David Neuman and Richard Julin

It is a privilege and a challenge to choose work from the comprehensive and immensely rich collection of Moderna Museet. Looking at the collection while organizing this exhibit brought back many emotions and memories, not to mention how incredibly fun the preparatory work was. It was like seeing old friends and acquaintances. Exhibitions and moments from the past, that have left significant traces, came rushing back.

When we analyzed the collection a little more carefully, we found many artworks which we were not familiar with, and others we had forgotten. There are many surprises in Moderna Museet’s permanent collection. Faced with the task of putting together an exhibition from these vast holdings, we realized that we needed to discover a few of the many enticing strands within the selection.

We chose two basic points of departure, as well as an associative attitude toward the art that we think was crucial to the formation of the exhibition. We are presenting a sculpture show with an emphasis on abstract work.

If you look at the exhibition chronologically, the earliest works are Francis Picabia’s Prenez garde à la peinture (1916), Nell Walden’s Komposition (1917) and Passion (1918), Man Ray’s Lampshade (1920), and Viking Eggeling’s drawing Diagonalsymfonien (1920), which is a sketch for his later film of the same title.

The works point toward an abstract language that we follow through various epochs in the collection. Nell Walden’s abstract nature pieces and Francis Picabia’s machine abstractions touch on two themes that run parallel throughout the exhibition.

The exhibition has a tendency to show works that are perhaps not the best-known in Moderna Museet’s collection. Much have either never been exhibited in Sweden or have not been on display for quite a few years. The artists’ nationalities were not a factor in our decision, although the final selection has a balanced number of Swedes and foreigners.

The installation is not chronological. Rather, the works have been placed as a result of associations that can be made between them. Our hope is that viewers will be able to view the show as a whole, and that what is on display in these halls can create new experiences for them.