ROOTED – The Edstrand Foundation 75 Years

This exhibition tells a remarkable story: every year since 1951, the Edstrand Foundation has awarded one of the largest art scholarships, thus substantially contributing to the evolving art scene in and around Sweden. Established in tribute to the siblings Reinhold, Gunhild and Thekla Edstrand’s passion for contemporary art, the Foundation has supported generations of young artists in their practice, by giving them the means to focus on their artistic development. Thus, this anniversary exhibition also celebrates 75 years of art history and offers an insight into how such an interest and involvement in art can benefit society at large.

One might be forgiven for assuming that a jubilee exhibition such as this would present a chronological account of art in Sweden over seven decades – but the Edstrand Foundation’s history, which concerns artistic development, is far from linear.  The 20 artists selected to represent the Foundation’s unique achievements can all confirm that the process of creating art is far from straight or predictable. On the contrary, this exhibition as a whole indicates connections across vast distances in both time and space. The artistic contributions transform the architectonic rooms into active zones, where the statements made by the works flow back to the worlds they came from and will be linked to in the future. The nature of the exhibition medium is such that the works will blend with each other, and new constellations will give rise to new relationships and circular temporalities.

Welcome to the anniversary exhibition ROOTED, which does not mark the end of a 75-year history but offers glimpses of a living movement that put down roots and continues to blossom.

Laura Goldschmidt, curator

Participating artists: Brita af Klercker (1906–2001), Ola Billgren (1940–2001), Cecilia Edefalk (b. 1954), Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967), Matts Leiderstam (b. 1956), Elmgreen & Dragset (b. 1961, 1969), Miriam Bäckström (b. 1967), Astrid Svangren (b. 1972), Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg (b. 1978, 1978), Luca Lee Frei (b. 1976), Andreas Eriksson (b. 1975), Nina Canell (b. 1979), Tamar Guimarães (b. 1967), Jens Fänge (b. 1965), Meriç Algün (b. 1983), Ingela Ihrman (b. 1985), Tarik Kiswanson (b. 1986), Marcus Matt (b. 1992), Hannes Östlund (b. 1993), Clara Gesang-Gottowt (f. 1985).