This year it will be fifty years since the Edstrand Foundation came into being. This means a long tradition of financial support and encouragement to, initially - local Scanian art, one that has grown over the years to encompass generous awards to outstanding artists from all of Scandinavia. Taken together, the awards today add up to the largest grant for pictorial artists in Scandinavia and the Edstrand Foundation has developed from an almost private affair to an important fellowship aimed at the best among young Nordic artists.

This year's exhibition at the Rooseum is the third consecutive annual event in which all the current recipients' works are presented. The collaboration between the Rooseum and the Edstrand Foundation has changed the awarding of grants from an internal matter for a small, local circle to a broad, international event for those interested in art and the more knowledgeable among the general public.

The idea behind the exhibitions at the Rooseum has been to create a solid, personal presentation of each winner without imposing a special theme on the group show; to give to each artist a generous amount of space to allow for the best possible presentation of his or her artistry and in this way highlight the artist in question, such is the intention behind the award. This has worked well, and the exhibitions have been much appreciated by the visitors to the Rooseum. This year, two additional special anniversary awards are given out. The works of these recipients are being shown in a small retrospective presentation. This year's main award recipients are Henrik Plenge Jakobsen (Denmark); Maaria Wirkkala (Finland); Birgir Andrˇsson (Iceland); Hans Hamid Rasmussen (Norway) and Rita Lundqvist (Sweden), Karin Granqvist, Charlotte Gyllenhammar and Matts Leiderstam. Recipents of the special anniversay awards are Brita af Klercker and Anders …sterlin.

The collaboration between the Rooseum and the Edstrand Foundation has been interesting and highly stimulating. I have been privileged to serve as curator for all three years that the award exhibitions have been shown at the Rooseum, and I would like to thank those who have made these exhibitions and this collaborative venture possible. This goes both for the governing board of the Edstrand Foundation, who selected the award winners with great enthusiasm and skill, and the advisory board of the Foundation, consisting this year of Ola Billgren and Anders Kappell. In addition, I would like to direct my heartfelt thanks to all the artists involved for their commitment to the task. Without their dedication the exhibition would not have been possible. Finally, I would like to thank the staff of the Rooseum for their, as always, magnificent job of installing the exhibition.

 
Magnus Jensner Acting Director/Curator