Section activities.
After the annual general meeting on March 21, 2000, at Tensta konsthall, Ulf Rollof showed his appreciated exhibition ”Desert” and the director Gregor Wroblewski informed the meeting about the activities of the place. Anna Gunnert was elected new member of the board. 16 new members were elected. After the annual general meeting at Swedish Broadcasting in Stockholm on March 28, 2001, Kristofer Lundström and Peter O Nilsson informed the meeting about the new daily news TV program on culture, Kulturnyheterna. A lively discussion followed. At the meeting Lena From was elected new member of the board. 17 new members were elected.
Christian Chambert published an article in the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter on August 3, 2000, defending the Art History department in Lund, which was threatened to lose half of its financial resources. Furthermore the Swedish AICA section wrote a letter of protest to the board of the University of Lund, September 7.
The Swedish AICA is constructing a home page – www.aicasweden.org – where all members have been invited to publish their addresses etc. Until now only five members out of 241 refused to participate. Joel Westerberg is new web master.
Three of our colleagues died: Catharina Bauer, Ingamaj Beck and Ilmar Laaban.
International AICA.
On March 22, 2000, the members Ingamaj Beck, Christian Chambert and Jan Håfström participated in the seminar on the Ars Aevi project in Sarajevo arranged by Swedish Travelling Exhibitions (Riksutställningar) at The College of Fine Arts (Konsthögskolan) in Stockholm.
Christian Chambert represented the president of AICA, Kim Levin, at the Ars Aevi meeting in Sarajevo on June 24 – 25.
The board of the Swedish section participated in the planning of the AICA round table ”Untranslatable Distances” in Ljubljana on June 23.
Christian Chambert and John Peter Nilsson belong to the Editorial Board of Art Planet.
Art in public space.
The Swedish AICA section is since 1999 collaborating with National Public Art Council (Statens konstråd) on a series of programs on art in public space which are free of charge and open to the public. The seminars are held in the exhibition room of National Public Art Council in Stockholm. Ann-Sofi Noring is coordinator of the project.
1. Mats Stjernstedt talked with Monika Nyström, March 30, 2000.
2. Leif Nylén discussed with Joakim Pirinen, May 18.
3. A panel discussion was arranged about the piece by Silja Rantanen
at Arlanda Airport, including the artist, Gert Wingårdh and Catharina Gabrielsson with Peder Alton as moderator, October 17. 4. Andreas Eriksson presented his work, February 13, 2001.
5. Pontus Kyander talked about the piece by Maaria Wirkkala, March 14.
On December 4, 2000 a round table was arranged by the National Public Art Council in collaboration with Swedish AICA, IASPIS (International Artists? Studio Program in Sweden) and The Foundation Culture of the Future (Framtidens kultur). The theme was ”The Stockholm Conference” – perspective on art in public space New York – Sweden”. On the panel: Laura Raicovich, Anne Pasternak, Pontus Kyander, Martin Wickström with Annika Öhrner as moderator.
”Does it matter.”
The series of lectures on art theory and the theory of architecture, which started in December 1999, continued during the spring of 2000. The Swedish AICA collaborated with IASPIS and SA (the association of the architects in Stockholm). Coordinators: Milou Allerholm, Daniel Birnbaum, Christian Chambert and Catharina Gabrielsson. The lectures took place at The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (Konstakademien) in Stockholm.
1. Renata Salecl talked about ”The Arts of War and the War of Arts”, February 14, 2000.
2. Jennifer Bloomer lectured on ”XYO1: Architecture, Information and Cosmology”, March 13.
3. Robert Segrest talked about ”Drift/Zones: Posthuman Urbanism in America”, March 17.
4. Sarah Wigglesworth lectured on ”Girl’s Talk: Reflections on a Gendered Architectural Practice”, April 10.
5. Marysia Lewandowska and Neil Cummings talked about ”In an emergency, sharpen a pencil with a vegetable peeler”, April 25.
Art reviews.
On October 1, 2000, Swedish AICA, in collaboration with the Biennal of Cultural Reviews 2000 in Malmö, arranged a round table discussion of ”The New Rooms of Art Reviews”; moderator: Christian Chambert; panel: Cecilia Gelin, Pontus Kyander, John Peter Nilsson, Bo Madestrand, Tine Nygaard and Katya Sander.
”What’s going on.”
The collaboration with IASPIS continued on the series of lectures in ”What’s going on”. On October 13, Adam Szymczyk talked about the art scene in Warsaw at The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm.
”The Super critics.”
On January 25, 2001 the section arranged a panel discussion on the ethics of art criticism at Färgfabriken (”Colour factory”), Stockholm, in collaboration with Färgfabriken and ABF (Workers’ Educational Association). The meeting was free of charge and open to the public. The title: ”The Super critics. Can anybody think whatever he or she wants?” Panel: Anna Brodow, Mårten Castenfors, Lars O Ericsson, Nils Forsberg, Anders Olofsson, Ulrika Stahre and Björn Östlund. The panel was moderated by: John Peter Nilsson and Jan Åman.
Future activities.
Swedish AICA is considering the possibility to arrange a series of programs at Liljevalch’s Art Gallery (Liljevalchs konsthall), Stockholm, in collaboration with its new curator Niclas Östlind.
We are also planning a seminar in Stockholm on the research work on art criticism of the Art History department in Lund. Contact person: Jan-Gunnar Sjölin.
In the spring of 2002, Swedish AICA in collaboration with National Public Art Council and Swedish General Art Society (Sveriges Allmänna konstförening) for the first time will award a price to the best art critic during the year.
Christian Chambert
President of Swedish AICA