Malmö’s Burning

The aim of the exhibition Malmö’s Burning is to feature—in a deeply personal way—images of a city that has just disappeared before our eyes. With a number of important selected works forming the hub of a revolving remix of an era, we want to rekindle memories and feelings from a time that can seem paradoxically both far behind us and startlingly close.

The exhibition Malmö’s Burning spans from the experimental and increasingly political 1960s to the 1980s, when new alternative cultures began to emerge just as the good years in terms of economic prosperity seemed to be over. Viewing that era from the perspective of today provides a new and alternative image of Malmö’s transformation through a remix of various cultural expressions, a blend of both visual art and other styles of the subcultures that have made lasting impressions on the city.

“A city of torn-down buildings: a city without memories.” In his book Hometown (1981), author Jacques Werup tells of finding those words scrawled across the façade of an old building in the Gamla Väster neighbourhood. The fate they warned of never came to pass here, however, as Gamla Väster was spared the wrecking ball. History changed course, and in the 1980s Malmö entered a new phase with the revitalisation of its cultural life that was fed in part by the emergence of new subcultures.

The exhibition strives both to sketch the city’s identity and to create a living mosaic of memories. But this is not primarily a nostalgic show. Instead, it is a manifestation of “all that other stuff” that until now has not been covered in the official writing of history. Malmö has served as a bridge between Sweden and the outside world, like it did with regards to its local culture fuelled by immigration from South America in the mid-1970s. The city also occupies a kind of cultural grey area within Sweden, with aesthetic norms that are in part distinct from the rest of the country. Malmö has proven to be a place where art, music, poetry and creativity can flourish even during periods of general stagnation. This exhibition thus also tells the story of searching for alternatives and of how do-it-yourself thinking lit a fire under a world-weary community. Malmö became a crucible of creativity where various forms of innovative thinking burned away the dross of antiquated and provincial notions.

Malmö’s Burning begins with the economic boom of the 1960s and concludes with the recession of the early 80s, just before the arrival of postmodernism and a new period of prosperity. For the exhibition, curators Clemens Altgård and Ola Åstrand have explored the margins and consciously avoided works that are already well known and documented. A number of important works rekindle memories and feelings from a time that can seem paradoxically both far behind us and startlingly close.

Participating artists:
Ninni Benediktson & Anne Nummila Rosengren, Art Bomba/Åke Dahlbom, Christian Cavallin, Stina Ebers, Leif Eriksson, Allan Friis, Pernilla Frykholm, Abelardo Gonzalez, Elisa Halvegård, Lars Hejll, Paulina Hårleman, Per Linde & Technicolor Poets, Lena Mattsson, Jessica Nilsson, Isabel Rayo, Maria Tomczak, Pepe Viñoles, Annika Wide, Jacques Zadig, Ola Åstrand.

Curators: Clemens Altgård and Ola Åstrand