Last week to the first snow covered the latest public art work at Umeå university most beautifully. This post will focus on Mandana Moghaddan's Vinden bär oss med sig [The wind carry us with it] inaugurated in early November. 

Is it a sculpture or an installation? Well, it is a furnished room without walls, all made of concrete. It reminds of a student's dorm, but it could be just any room with a desk, a chair and an unmade bed. A hotel room, a single room flat, or a refugee accommodation. Occasionally one can hear recorded phone calls. People speaking in different languages of everyday matters or sending their love to family and friends. 

Mandana Moghaddam (http://mandana-moghaddam.com) have made many sculptural installations, the most famous is a well where people in two different places can talk with each other. For Umeå she was also thinking of communication - more specifically - our need to be in touch with our home. It might be that you left for studies and long for some kind words when you are not getting the results you hoped for, or want to celebrate great grades or receiving grants. Or, like too many people right now,  you are forced to leave home for violent, threatening, catastrophic reasons. Moghaddam did this journey herself, and says she has lived in, and left, many rooms like this one. No matter where she was (or still is) the telephone was the life line to the people dear to her. So necessary when wanting to be a part of their lives and make sure everybody are ok.

Another important aspect of this art work is accessibility. We are supposed to enter this room, listen to the voices speaking, and to sit down by the desk where the light is always shining. Today this creature was placed in the room. Hopefully a sign of how quickly people at campus have accepted and started to examine its potential.

Back from my long summer vacation during which I saw some great exhibitions, but lets start where I finished in June: Havremagasinet in Boden.

Their main event was Entry prohibited to foreigners - a title that caused some discussions among visitors as it was read as a political statement regarding the migrant situation in Europe. To some extent the exhibitions was about the current alarming developments on who is allowed to enter Europe and other more prosperous areas of the world, but it also explored other areas of colonialism and (ethnic) injustice.

The exhibition that I will highlight here, however, was the room dedicated to Eva Zettervall. I have been a fan for more than 20 years, so I guess it was inevitable that her work would get a firm grip on me. The above painting, Tatuerade kvinnor av träd och blod där gryningsljuset tränger sig fram [Tattoed women of trees and blood where the morning light breaks through], is just one example of Zettervall's huge paintings. The vibrant and flooding red colour is vital for almost all of the paintings, as is the female characters standing, fighting, protesting, caressing or taking refuge from violence.  She calls the exhibition Röda rummet [The Red room] and it has a sibling in another summer exhibition of hers, Julie och Jean [Julie and Jean], in Strömstad. Both are connected to the author August Strindberg (1949-1912), but Zetttervall uses his critique of the bourgeoisie society of the late 19th century in her own way. Her inspiration to political change comes from the flux of feminist movements active today, Röda rummet is dedicated to the activities of the Pussy Riot in Russia and Femen in Ukraine. Their activism is made present in images of protest as well as the ones of the everyday private life. See more of her own words from Havremagasinets homepage:http://english.havremagasinet.se/

Eva Zettervall is not the only feminist artist that has been inspired by the writings of Strindberg, even though he is usually blamed for being misogynist. Also Siri Derkert (1888-1973), who gave him credit for liberating women from the bourgeoise cage, used his works for inspiration. She also made a few portraits of him, one is part of her public work Kvinnopelaren [The female pillar], 1958, at one of the platforms of the Central Station of the Stockholm Underground. The image below is borrowed from Instagram - and you can see part of Derkert's art work in this short film on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwXNTKlGB1w

It is quite clear that misogynist are not safe from feminists!

Summer is here and soon my summer vacation will kick in. Besides fighting off mosquitos, reading a lot of novels and watching my sweetheart barbecuing our dinner I will visit some art exhibitions, and I really look forward to whats on at Havremagasinet in Boden (Norrbotten county). Havremagasinet is one of my must do:s of the summer because they always have fantastic exhibitions of international, national and local artists. Find out more here: http://english.havremagasinet.se

Have a great summer (if you are on the northern hemisphere)!

During the weekend a new exhibition opened at Kvinnohistoriskt Museum in Umeå - or more precisely - an art installation. It is called About: Blank Pages, made by EvaMarie Lindahl and Ditte Ejlerskov, and it all began when they realised that women artist were almost totally absent from the well known Taschen's Basic Art Series. Currently the series covers 92 men and 5 women, missing out world famous artists such as Cindy Sherman, Yoko Ono, Jenny Holtzer, and Louise Bourgeois. They contacted Taschen and adressed the problem and gave them a list of 100 names for future issues, but from what I understand they are still waiting for an answer. You can find more information here: http://www.kvinnohistoriskt.se/4.1ba1eb9814afeb38cc9c733.html

So why is this important in 2015 when everybody knows there are famous women artists in Western art history? Because we always tend to find it necessary to rediscover women artists. Why? Because they never make it into the general surveys, the history books or the great exhibitions — oh, sometimes they do, I know, especially when presented in solo exhibitions that illustrates a lifetime achievement (like the Louise Bourgeois-exhibiton I mentioned in an earlier post). But still these events do not seem enough to make women artists part of the canon of art history. When National Gallery in London had a big exhibition on the Impressionists earlier this spring, they kind of forgot to include the women — oops! — and this was brilliantly commented by art historian Griselda Pollock. You can find her article here: https://theconversation.com/the-national-gallery-is-erasing-women-from-the-history-of-art-42505

Another example of continuing rediscovering and rewriting is Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-c.1656) who's Allegory of Painting (1638-39) you can see below. One of the first publications presenting her for a wider audience is art historian Anna Banti's novel Artemisia (1947). Then, more that 30 years later, art historian Mary D. Garrard started publishing studies presenting the artist in late 1980s before the biography Artemisia Gentileschi, with a catalogue of all her known works, was published in 1991. A touring exhibition including works of her father Orazio Gentileschi made ground for new publications discovering Gentileschi during 2001-2004 (often comparing her with her father), and this was also when Susan Vreeland wrote her novel, The Passion of Artemisia (however, I suggest you read Banti). And so it continues with new discoveries and new editions of former publications. I do think Gentileschi is quite well known today even if  there is a tendency to invent her story again and again. She is still often excluded in books and exhibitions on Italian Baroque art — and, of course, Taschen have not included her in their Basic Art Series.

"Digital Navigations, Storytelling and Accessible Art History" was the titel of the paper I presented at Nordik 2015 in Reykjavik two weeks ago. To cut it short I talked on "Why do my students not Google enough?". Generally students seems to have low digital literacy. They do look for texts (Wikipedia, exhibition presentations etc.) as a way to find "real" answers to my questions (and perhaps in hope of not having to read textbooks), but they don't seem to search for reproductions of art works or interact with digitised art collections. I foolishly thought they were more skilled than me, but it can be quite challenging to find things if you don't know how to navigate in different digitised environments. One problem is that museums tend to have their own logic archiving collections and this often organises how the collections gets digitised. So now I am planning new assignments that will help future students explore the Internet for art treasures.

This is the abstract:

Digital navigations, storytelling and accessible art history

Digital art collections have improved dramatically in the past decades. Attempts are made to extend existing collections and interaction with on-line visitors is encouraged by making galleries, tagging images with information outside established art terminology that enables new ways of searching etc. There are also other forums for discussing and exposing art: digital archives like Google Art Project, and archives for digitally born artworks like deviantArt. These digital places attract “nerds”, who both interact and engage themselves in the communities. Unfortunately students often are not part of these interactions. In order to make art students use digital art archives better, more research is to be done on the various tools of interaction and the meaning-makings of art blogs, twitter accounts and Facebook-groups etc. This could make the discipline of art history more relevant to social developments by developing new critical methods and educate new kinds of curators and art critics.

Last week I was at Nordik 2015, an art historical conference arranged every third year. This time we had the great fortune of visiting Reykjavik and Iceland. The conference ended with an excursion to "art and nature", and the photos included in this post is from this four hour long trip. More specifically it is from our first stop at Kópavogur Art Museum dedicated to the sculptor and stained glass artist Gerdur Helgadóttir (1928-1975). 

Though the window you can see the church with on of her more famous stained glass windows. Sadly, it was closed on our visit but we could see some of her drawings of it in the exhibition, Birting (Illumination), also including eight contemporary artists inspired of Helgadòttirs work. You can find more on the museum and the exhibition here: http://english.gerdarsafn.is

I will give you more information on the content of the conference, as well as my paper presentation, in coming posts - promise!

While preparing a paper for a Nordic art history conference next week I found myself thinking of photo slides... The sounds of both of the fan of the slide projector and the mechanism of changing slides. The warm, dusty smell and the semi-darkness of the classroom. A sense of nostalgia for sure, but do I really miss them?

Doing digitised presentations do have so many advantages. No colleague can "borrow" your lecture's most important photo, you can have a full archive of all your presentations and still do alterations, and it is a lot easier to travel with a USB-stick than with a tray of 15-50 slides that might accidentally fall upside down, spread across the room, 2 minutes before your important conference presentation. No more reddish versions of medieval wall paintings, violet façades of renaissance cathedrals, or coloured paintings in black and white. More importantly, you can also include other media and use different tools while teaching.

Still... I am thinking of those photo slides, the sound, smell and semi-darkness, and how they were  such an important part of making me an art historian.

May is approaching fast and spring is definitely here - even if it is chilly at night and small heaps of snow remains in the shadows here in Umeå. I want to celebrate spring with the help of artist Elsa Beskow (1874-1953), a famous illustrator but also an author of children's books. She always did accurate depictions of the scenery in her images, as she wanted children to learn more about wild life and respect nature. Here are two illustrations from different stories, but they both depict the lovely blue Hepatica Nobilis (or in Swedish, Blåsippa).

No, I have not been to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, but to Moderna Museet in Stockholm where they have a retrospective exhibition with the work of Louise Bourgeois. Outside the museum is a copy of her famous Maman: the gigantic spider that rises lika a gothic cathedral offering shelter - if you're not a victim of serious arachnophobia. The exhibition poetically called "I have been to hell and back" - missing Bourgeois end line: " And let me tell you, it was wonderful" - is a must if you are visiting/living in Stockholm. It ends May 17. A large portion of the works have never been exhibited before.

What struck me with Bourgeois' art was that it seems so full of hope. Even in the most traumatic themes there is a sense of tenderness, mending and humour. A lust for creativity, curiosity, and learning from various experiences. I left it with a lot more knowledge of the artist, but also much more calm, sane and happy.

Moderna Museet have published an eighteen minute video on YouTube on both Bourgeois and the exhibition (with English subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=21&v=JFFWJyuda3g

Today is World Art Day according to The International Association of Art because April 15 is also Leonardo da Vinci's birthday (more info on IAA can be found here: http://www.iaa-europe.eu). So how can one celebrate World Art Day? Besides having lots of cake, you should of course look at art! 

Here's a little guide:

Go to a museum, a gallery, an exhibition and look for art, or go to any public art work that catches your eye. It can be old, it can be the latest scream, it can be by the most famous artist ever or an amateur piece by your aunt. The good thing about art is that the more you see, the more you learn. And not just about art, you also learn an awful lot about yourself - so do not worry too much about quality.

While looking at a sculpture, a painting, a performance or a video - basically at the art work of your choice - you can ask yourself one or many of the following questions:

1) What am I looking at? How could I describe it to someone else?

2) What is this piece of art telling me? Does it evoke emotions or memories? Is it illustrating something? Does it make me curious or furious, and if so why?

3) How is it made? What technique or method is used? 

4) How does the colours, movements, actions, symbols, or its size and placement influence me? How am I supposed to look at it - am I seeing it from above, from below, close up or from a distance? How is the art work framed?

5) What might be the context? Is is referring to political issues, historical events, or other current subjects or questions? Is there  written information close to the art work - what does it say and does it influence my understanding of the art work? Does the place/space/room where it is affect my reading?

6) Who is the artist? What is his/her background and what else have the artist done besides this piece? 

If you do this at your first, second, third visit you will probably notice how you can reach a deeper understanding of art. And please use art historians, guides at museums and galleries (like my friend Ivar showing Heart of Trees by Jaume Plensa in Umedalens Skulpturpark in the above photo), the internet, or take courses in art history to learn even more.

Happy World Art Day! 

Easter is approaching and it is time to dwell on various renditions of the hymn Stabat Mater. The theme of the Virgin in mourning became popular in the 13th century, a time of raging wars and plagues that devastated many peoples lives. However, no matter how difficult your own life was, it was nothing compared to the sacrifices of the Virgin Mary and her Son. And if you believe in the Christian message you should also be grateful - because of their great offering, humanity will be saved  on Judgement Day.

The above Pietà by the anonymous workshop of Passionsmästaren is from Gerum parish church on Gotland. The sad Virgin holds her dead son's body in a loving caress. She sits on his sarcophagus and the two other Marys (also described in the Bible) supports her in mourning. It is an image that is quiet and calm in composition, while intense and emotional in content. 

This year my favorite Stabat Mater are by Pergolesi and Karl Jenkins. Which ones are yours?

Sometimes I google images for inspiration to various topics in my teaching. Visual material is my prime analytic tool when defining research questions, so it is also a way for me to see if there are any new angles in a topic that can challenge my perception and preconceptions. This time the  results was quite unexpected and made me wonder if I'm living in a parallell universe...

Earlier this week I had a seminar on Taste and Aesthetics in a course on design history. So I quite simply googled the word "aesthetics" (though in Swedish: "estetik"). I'm not sure what I was expecting. Perhaps som portraits of Immanuel Kant, some images that might have been used to define beauty... What I got was 10 pages of images illustrating plastic surgery. Both of beautiful young women in commercials or in more instructive images used as information of various treatments (I guess thats the chosen terminology), and of celebrities known for their perhaps not so successful facelifts, use of botox and implants. The above image is one of the top results and comes from an advertisement of a Swiss clinic.

OK. I was not trying to get all moralistic about it, even if I felt a slight sense of panic. Plastic surgery is getting more widespread in Sweden, but still it is not common. I went to my male colleague next door and asked him to do the same google search, since the result might be influenced by gender. But no; the same images in a slightly different order.

I'm confused. What does it mean when the philosophical concept of aesthetics in popular use now seems so strongly identified with plastic surgery? Have beauty nowadays turned into a question of (female) good looks and charm?

An "update": When discussing this issue with a colleague who is doing an inventory of popular trends and future buzzwords, I may have found another key for understanding why aesthetics is so connected with plastic surgery. According to some predictions Western culture is turning into a "transformation culture", where we transform various aspects of our lives. House make-overs, changes in life styles with exercise and diet are obvious examples, so why not also the growing industry of plastic surgery?

The status of images were debated by medieval theology as there was a fear of the possible seductive character of images. Among the common people of the parishes images were far more popular than texts — and far more accessible — so in order to gain control over this powerful emotional trigger a lot was written on how to create, read and use images in churches. She is a bit "late", but this quote by Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) would have been a good read for both Gregory the Great (540-604) and St. Bernard (1051-1153). Both suggested quite a strict use of art and images in Christian devotion and favored the use of "mental images".

"I had so little ability to represent things in my mind, except for what I could see. I could profit nothing from my imagination, [unlike] other persons who can see things in their minds wherever they pray...for this reason I was such a friend of images. Unhappy those who by their fault lose this good! It surely seems that they do not love the Lord, for if they loved him, they would delight in seeing his portrait, just as one is still happy to see someone one loves dearly" (quote from J. Kienschnick, "Material Culture" in The Oxford handbook of Religion and Emotion, 2008, p. 227)

This portrait of Teresa of Avila is according to Wikipedia made by an unknown artist, but Bernini made a famous sculpture of The Extacy of St. Teresa of Avila in Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. I guess it is fair to say that she herself became a loved image.

In February I was browsing through an archive with clips from Scandinavian newspapers and accidentally found an almost heartbreaking story about a Virgin lost and found. 

In September 1961 the police wanted information on a sculpture of a Madonna from Steninge parish church in Halland that had been lost for 38 years (!). The church was now restored and the parish wanted their precious artifact back. The photo reminds of the ones used for missing persons with such a sad expression on the Virgins face (the sculpture is in fact a Pietà as you can see below). It was taken in 1923 during an inventory — the same year that the Virgin mysteriously disappeared from a museum exhibition in Gothenburg. 

Then, in 1974, the Madonna is reported to be found, but this caused new problems for the parish. A discussion over who should have the custody over the Virgin was being raised. The parish wanted her back as it was her original home, as if talking of a real person. The museum thought the Virgin was too valuable and too fragile to be placed back in the church, taking no responsibility over the fact that it was stolen from their care in 1923, and claimed the sculpture in a matter of public interest.

I would have to consult other archives to reveal all the details to this history, but these two pieces of the puzzle are interesting on their own. Why did the police chose to publish a detail photo of the Virgin's head? Wouldn't it be easier to recognize if it had been a photo of the whole sculpture? It really looks as if it is a missing person rather than an image, also the text is describing how the parish wants "her" back. Still it is not a religious argument behind this claim, but a question of cultural heritage. A desire of making the church whole again by bringing together artifacts of its medieval history. But why call it a "madonna"?

The museum quite naturally also discusses the matter based on cultural heritage, but probably want to preserve it for other reasons. Making it more accessible to scholars and keeping it in a safe environment. This is a common debate during the mid- and late 20th century when parish churches wanted medieval sculptures, altarpieces and baptismal fonts back from museums. There was a growing interest in Christian medieval history and it gave the church and the parish a new attraction and possible authority.

Today what is left of the sculpture is back in the church, which is probably the best solution. It is not restored to its former glory, but perserved in the state it was found in the beginning of the 20th century after some hundred years of neglect.

Just a quick update - the guide to the art works and the architecture on Umeå university campus have now been released in English. It is called Art Trail at Umeå university and is now sold for a bargin price of 100 SKR. You can find the book at the university shop, at BildMuseet and at Visit Umeå/ Umeå Tourist Center.