Whither the Winds!

Artists: Rosa Barba, Charif Benhelima, Matthew Buckingham, Jimmie Durham, Maj Hasager, Olav Christopher Jenssen, Mary Kelly, Joachim Koester, Matts Leiderstam, Sharon Lockhart, Lars Nilsson, João Penalva, Nina Roos, Jim Shaw, Sophie Tottie, Emily Wardill, Haegue Yang

At the occasion of Lund University’s 350th jubilee, Lunds konsthall dedicates a substantial group exhibition to artists who have taught at the Malmö Art Academy. The Academy, which is part of Lund University, was founded in 1995, continuing some of the activities of the Forum schools of painting and printmaking in Malmö.

In a relatively short time, the Academy has built a solid reputation for itself. Today it offers an advanced and varied array of courses and programmes, all adapted to the students’ individual needs, and receives a high number of applications every year, not just from all parts of Sweden but also from the neighbouring Nordic countries, Europe and the rest of the world. It is a great advantage for our region that some of the sharpest students and teachers of contemporary art continuously gather here.

The exhibition Whither the Winds! presents a selection of the many accomplished artists who have been affiliated with the Malmö Art Academy throughout the years: as professors, lecturers and visiting tutors or in the doctoral programme. We get to see works by Rosa Barba, Charif Benhelima, Matthew Buckingham, Jimmie Durham, Maj Hasager, Olav Christopher Jenssen, Mary Kelly, Joachim Koester, Matts Leiderstam, Sharon Lockhart, Lars Nilsson, João Penalva, Nina Roos, Jim Shaw, Sophie Tottie, Emily Wardill and Haegue Yang. Without doubt a magnificent panorama of the many precise forms of expression and modes of storytelling that today’s art comprises.

In collaboration with the Sommarlund festival, Lunds konsthall has built a stage in its inner courtyard and developed a programme titled “Lunds konsthall Outdoors.” For this we have invited three artists studying at or just graduated from the Malmö Art Academy—Axel Berger, Joanna Pereira and Ana Rebordão—to produce three new temporary works in response to the city of Lund and its communities, all meant to be shown in public space. We hope to be able to continue this new initiative also next summer.

Lunds konsthall warmly thanks Professor Gertrud Sandqvist of the Malmö Art Academy for the extraordinary collaborative curatorial process resulting in Whither the Winds! and for her catalogue essay that provides unique insight into art education today. Heartfelt thanks also to all the artists for the outstanding work they have contributed to this exhibition.

Of course we also wish to thank all the lenders whose generosity have made the exhibition possible: Magasin 3 in Stockholm; Simon Lee Gallery in London; Galleri Riis in Oslo; Galleri Nicolai Wallner in Köpenhamn; Galerie neugerriemschneider in Berlin; Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Galleri Thomas Wallner in Simris, and not least those private lenders who also contributed. A very special thanks to Lund University’s Jubilee Fund and to Birgit and Håkan Ohlsson’s Foundation for supporting the realisation of this exhibition so generously.