Rooseum-THE EDSTRAND FOUNDATION ART PRIZE 1998

September 19 - December 13, 1998

Curator: Magnus Jensner

Grantees 1998:
Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Olafur Eliasson, Anette Harboe Flensburg,
Annika von Hausswolff, Ann Lislegaard, Mikael Lundberg,
Lena Mattsson, Monika Nyström, Kennet Williamsson.

Foreword

The Edstrand Foundation is a nearly 50-year-old institution in the Scanian art world. A study of the foundation's history tells much about the changes in the art scene during the last decade. The foundation's support of art has evolved from an informal type of patronage, based of the personal art interests of the Edstrand siblings, to an economically powerful institution with an expressed grant policy. No longer may the prizes be characterized as alms to a poor profession but, rather, as prestigious rewards for distinguished artistic achievements. The changes in the nature of the prizes has placed the foundation into an authoritative position in the art community, where the grants play a role in affirming quality within an art scene run wild with no established system for evaluation.

The Edstrand Foundation has also shown a pliancy with regard to the geographic expansion of the art world. Moving beyond its roots in the local art scene, the foundation, in recent years, has extended the grant program to include artistic production throughout the Nordic region. This was a logical adaptation to the transnational art scene in the Nordic countries since the late 1980s. It is, however, increasingly difficult to speak of a national or Nordic art scene. Today, we find ourselves in the midst of a somewhat new situation, where integration with the international art community is already a reality, and many signs indicate that regional and global art communities will cooperate ever more in interlinked projects. Fitting with the foundation's receptivity to changes in art, in the future, selection of grant recipients will be done with an eye to regional, Nordic, and international art. This is a challenging concept, completely in line with Rooseum's exhibition policy.

Responsive to the art community's open-minded attitude toward artistic media, the Edstrand Foundation has chosen not to create any artificial limitations with regard to media in handing out the prizes. Today, where barriers are regularly being dismantled, and where media often overlap or hybridize, it is all the more difficult to refer to an artist as a painter, a sculptor, a photographer, or an installation artist. This observation is all the more evident upon viewing the prize winners of recent years. Instead of focusing on media, the choice of recipients has been based on the ability of each artist to handle his or her medium or media and the possibilities of expression related to the medium's properties.

From a past where samplings from the oeuvres of art grant winners were displayed mostly from a sense of duty, recent years have found awards regularly accompanied by exhibitions. In connection with this change, it may also be noted that award shows are increasingly being incorporated into the exhibition programs of various institutions. The Hugo Boss Prize, which is linked with the Guggenheim Museum in New York, serves as one example. But it is perhaps the Turner Prize, awarded by the Tate Gallery in London each year, which has garnered the most attention of late.

With this exhibition, a cooperation is being forged between Rooseum and the Edstrand Foundation. Rooseum has committed to produce shows for three years based on the work of the Edstrand Foundation Art Prize winners, which will be included in the museum's normal exhibition program. This means that the distribution of the prizes will change from being an internal affair for a small segment of the art community, to being an open event with an accessibility guaranteeing a greater participation from the art public.

This year's exhibition is not dominated by any artistic tendency or any medium. Rather, the show is distinguished by contemporary art's multifaceted use of media, which includes painting, sculpture, craft, photography, film, video, installation and performance or combinations of these media, where the distinctions between them reach a state of dissolution. Due to the diverse artistic tendencies and media represented here, we have chosen to put together a show which has the quality of nine separate exhibitions, in order that each artist may work with complete spatial integrity. Despite having no predominant theme, it should not be misconstrued that there are no affiliations between the works. It is, however, the individual artistry which is the focus of the exhibition rather than any thematic similarities. If one insists on seeking out points of unification within the exhibition, I think the artistic quality is a good starting point. This is the essential factor in evaluating contemporary Nordic art's new golden age, which is increasingly spoken of today.

I would like to thank all who have made this collaboration possible. This includes, of course, the Edstrand Foundation, which placed its trust in Rooseum as the exhibition site, and also the foundation's advisory board of Ola Billgren, Staffan Nihlén, and Sune Nordgren. The high standards they used in selecting the winners significantly contributed to an exciting exhibition. I would also like to direct a big word of thanks to the artists who, on short notice, took on the exhibition project with enormous energy. Last but not least, I want to thank Rooseum's personnel and, foremost, the curator of the exhibition, Magnus Jensner.

Bo Nilsson
Director

The foundation named for Reinhold Edstrand and his sisters Thekla and Gunhild was created in Malmö in 1950 by artists, relatives and friends of Thekla Edstrand as a tribute to her on the occasion of her 70th birthday. The basis for the foundaton was the Edstrand family's interest in art, which found its primary expression in the extensive collection of modern art housed at 6 Slottsgatan. The building had been acquired by Reinhold Edstrand in 1918 and had been specially modified to accommodate a growing number of works by contemporary painters, sculptors, graphic artists, and designers.

Following Reinhold's death in 1923, the property was taken over by Thekla. With time, she became famous for her passionate interest in art, for presiding as hostess over innumerable artists' gatherings, and for her expressed desire to make a lasting contribution to cultural life. It was the fulfillment of this that the founding group had in mind when they gathered on June 27, 1950. The group consisted of artist Martin Edmond, artist Johan Johansson and his wife Gerda, Thekla Edstrand's sister Gunhild Nordqvist, and her friends Axel and Gunhild Roos. All served with Thekla on the first board of trustees.

The mandate of the trustees was to further artistic endeavors in various ways, including through the purchase of art works and through grants to benefit artists, espeially young and promising artists.

The operation was funded through gifts from a number of generous and committed individuals, among them Ernst Fisher, then head of the Malmö Museum. In addition to the building, Thekla's contribution consisted of stock, which would later prove valuable.

In August 1951 the foundation decided to award its first grant, which amounted to 2,000 Swedish Crowns. The recipient was Brita af Klercker, an artist from Lund, who thus became the first of many artists who were to recieve encouragement and improved working conditions as an Edstrand Grantee over the years. Shortly thereafter, Thekla Edstrand herself got a taste of what it was like to be honored and celebrated. Svenska Dagbladet writes in December of 1951:

"On Friday, Miss Thekla Edstrand of Malmö was awarded the Illis Quorum Gold Medal, Fifth Class. The honor was bestowed upon a leading friend of art who has supported Scanian art in numorous ways. She has been instrumental in launching many of Scania's leading artists at a stage when they were still completely or virtually unknown."

The Edstrand home was for long a meeting place for the cultural world. Many of the artists frequenting the place were also represented in the collection: Johan Johansson, Martin Edmond, Ernst Norlind, Svante Bergh, along with other local luminaries.

The collection also included works by modern classics such as Josephson, Hill, Agueli and Isakson as well as some non-Scandinavian modernist. Two days a month the house was thrown open to the general public, and alterations to the interior were undertaken in 1954 to enhance the presentation of the works. In this Thekla Edstrand was greatly helped by her nephew Mårten Nordqvist, another of the family's enthusiasts.

In spite of enormous efforts by Mårten Nordqvist, the foundation found it increasingly difficult to finance and administer both a permanent exhibition and a grant program.

Operating the old-fashioned property with its costly inventory became burdensome, and in the '70s they saw themselves to sell off a major work - a painting by Ferdinand Léger - in order to meet expenses.

Finances improved for a while, but when Mårten Nordqvist retired from the post of chief curator in 1982 and no one could be found to take over the responsibility, it was decided to put the property and parts of the collection up for sale.

One can only regret this loss of a part of Scanian art and cultural life. Even so, the sale made it possible to maintain another aspect of the foundation's mission, namely to provide a source of financial support. This function has even been dramatically strengthened - mainly thanks to the profitable sale in 1989 of stock owned by the foundation which made it possible to increase support levels. Starting in 1983 and continuing every year since, several artists have thus recived both recognition and substantial financial assistance.

In later years, the Edstrand Fellowship has become a recognized source of financial support within art also at the national level and is no longer limited to the reginal scene. The decision in 1993 to venture beyond the borders of Sweden has gladded the hearts also of artists in our neighboring Scandinavian countries.

September 19 - December 13, 1998 Curator: Magnus Jensner

September 19 - December 13, 1998

Curator: Magnus Jensner