Projects 1998

Nuit blanche – Nordic Video Tour

Screenings:

Feb – May 1998 at
Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Nov 1998
at Soros Center for Contemporary Art, Bratislava (SK)

Dec 1998
at Soros Center for Contemporary Art, Chisinau (MD)

Curator: Hans Ulrich Obrist

Selectors/curators: Swedish part, Maria Lind, intendent, Moderna Museet, Stockholm / Simon Sheikh, DK / Maaretta Jaukkuri, FIN / Gunnar B Kvaran, IS / Jon Ove Steinhaug, NO


NUIT BLANCHE - NORDIC VIDEO TOUR

Introduction

In February 1998, the exhibition "Nuit Blanche" opened at the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. This exhibition, which was part of the project "Visions du Nord", presented works by 23 contemporary Nordic artists and artists' groups. Its curators, Laurence Bosse and Hans Ulrich Obrist had travelled the whole Nordic region and built a network of contacts. They commissioned five Nordic curators to compile one cassette each, presenting current video art from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. As an "exhibition within the exhibition", these cassettes were shown in the museum in Paris, and are also touring with a re-edited version of "Nuit Blanche" to the art museums of Bergen in Norway, Pori in Finland and Gothenburg in Sweden.

The Council of Ministers supported the "Visions du Nord" initiative, and NIFCA provided assistance to the curators of "Nuit Blanche".

It was therefore natural for the curators of the whole exhibition, and with the idea of organising a separate tour for the "Nuit Blanche" video programme.

Together, the curators of these cassettes represent unique hands-on knowledge of contemporary art in the five countries. Simon Sheikh, responsible for the Danish selection, is a critic and curator who publishes and edits the Danish quarterly art journal "Øjeblikket". He selected works by Knut Åsdam, Lisa Strömbeck, Jørgen Michaelsen, Peter Hoist Henckel, Annika Lundgren, Cecilia Wendt, Søren Martinsen, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, Annika Ström and Peter Land.

Maaretta Jaukkuri, chief curator at Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki and a long-time connoisseur of Nordic art, has made the Finnish selection. It consists of works by Juha van Ingen, Lea&Pekka Kantonen, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Pentti Otto Koskinen, Teemu Mäki, Pekka Nevalainen, Fanni Niemi-Junkola, Vesa-Pekka Rannikko, Seppo Renvall.

Gunnar B. Kvaran, director of the Art Museum of Bergen, Norway, and previously director of the City of Reykjavik Art Museum, has put together the Icelandic cassette. It contains works by Steina Vasulka, Finnbogi Petursson, Ósk Vilhjálmsdóttir, Hlynur Hallson.

Jon Ove Steihaug, a researcher at Olso University and curator of the Nordic pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 1997, presents contemporary Norwegian video art, by: Knut Åsdam, Tommy Olsson, Sofie Persvik, Sol Sneltvedt.

Maria Lind, who selected the Swedish videos, is curator at Moderna Museet in Stockholm with a record of freelance and commissioned curatorial projects including the Manifesta 2 in Luxembourg 1998. The following Swedish artists are shown: Tobias Bernstrup, Pål Hollender, Lotta Antonsson. & Annika von Hausswolf, Lova Hamilton, Annika Eriksson, Maria Lindberg and Ann-Sofi Siden.

The "Nuit Blanche - Nordic Video Tour" is a project ideally suited for a extensive tour troughout the world. NIFCA is pleased to co-operate with the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, with the curators of "Nuit Blanche" and of the five cassettes.

NIFCA thanks all the participating artists for allowing their work to go on such a long and unpredictable journey.

The cassettes have for example been shown at Montevideo in Amsterdam, Soros Centers in Slovakia, Moldavia, Kazakhstan, at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm and at Salon3 in London.

Text by Anders Kreuger, Director at NIFCA in 1999

Text from the booklet for Nuit Blanche - Nordic Video Tour (published in 1999)

READ MORE about the booklet