Wilhelm Freddie, Sex-Paralysappeal, 1936 © Wilhelm Freddie Bildupphovsrätt 2023

Nordic Surrealism

Symposium

5.5 2023 – 6.5 2023

Stockholm

How was the Nordic region influenced by surrealism? Prominent researchers and curators meet for two days at Moderna Museet to discuss the surrealist styles, impacts and meanings in Nordic art life and history. Hear them explore tendencies and new perspectives on artists, writers, collectors and exhibitions.

How was the Nordic region influenced by surrealism? Prominent researchers and curators meet for two days at Moderna Museet to discuss the surrealist styles, impacts and meanings in Nordic art life and history. Hear them explore tendencies and new perspectives on artists, writers, collectors and exhibitions.
What did surrealism mean in the Nordic countries? When was surrealism introduced and how did it manifest itself? How was surrealism received, and what role did it play in various national contexts?

In the symposium “Nordic Surrealism”, researchers and curators attempt to answer these questions. Take part in their presentations on subjects spanning from the Paris-based artist Greta Knutson-Tzara, the situationists and their links to surrealism, to collage and comics. Nordic surrealism is revealed as a rich and multifaceted and surprisingly vibrant phenomenon.

In 1930s Denmark, artists interested in surrealism gathered around the publication Linien, and the exhibition “Kubisme=Surrealisme” (1935) brought international surrealism to Copenhagen. In 1930s Sweden, the Halmstad Group became famous and had an international breakthrough. Among more recent surrealist initiatives are the Imaginist artist group in the late 1940s, and the Stockholm surrealist group, formed in the mid-1980s.

In Iceland, surrealism did not gain a foothold until the 1960s, and a decade later, it was radicalised by the young members of the Medúsa group. In Norway and Finland, surrealism never grew into a movement but had a major influence on several poets and artists. “Nordic Surrealism” explores these tendencies and offers new perspectives on artists, writers, collectors and exhibitions.

The symposium is organised by Andrea Kollnitz, Department of Culture and Aesthetics, and Kristoffer Noheden, Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University, together with Moderna Museet with funding from the Swedish Research Council.