Crossing Borders opens at Arlanda 19 March

Nationalmuseum’s exhibition Crossing Borders presents a collection of contemporary photographic portraits. The exhibition opens at Stockholm Arlanda Airport 19 March and is part of a joint project with Swedavia to put art and design on show at airports in Sweden. The portraits on view have all been acquired to the Swedish National Portrait Gallery.

An airport is where people who travel across borders meet. In the exhibition 22 portraits of Swedes who work or have become known famous outside Sweden is on view. They are musicians, writers, diplomats, businessmen, athletes, inventors, actors and researchers. Their work takes them away from Sweden and also across borders that are not only geographic. It may involve breaking a world swimming record or changing our views of global social changes. For Nationalmuseum this exhibition involves crossing a border. Its art will be on display in a venue it has never previously visited.

Several generations of photographers are represented from Hans Gedda and Denise Grünstein to Sanna Sjöswärd and Magnus Laupa. They seek different forms of expression and inspiration from both advertising and fashion photography, as well as film and video. Sometimes this adds to the theatrical quality. The portraits are deliberately staged. At the same time there are examples of intimacy and distance, close-ups and formal poses. Thomas Wågström’s portrait of the biochemist and inventor Petra Wadström was commissioned for this exhibition but the others have been produced in other contexts. They have all been acquired to the Swedish National Portrait Gallery that Nationalmuseum administer.

The Swedish National Portrait Gallery is the oldest of its kind in the world and has been housed at Gripsholm Castle since 1822. The ever-growing collection comprises almost 5,000 portraits. From the outset, the intention has been to feature subjects who have made valuable contributions to Sweden – the same as the idea behind the Crossing Borders exhibition. For many years, this concept was synonymous with the establishment, consisting mainly of elderly gentlemen. In more recent times, the collection has broadened its selection to include representatives of widely diverse sections of Swedish society. With the portraits from Crossing Borders some of the great figures of our time have joined the collection – Swedes who currently enjoy at least the same degree of international fame as Carl von Linné and August Strindberg did in their day.

The exhibition is part of a joint project between Nationalmuseum and Swedavia to put art and design on show at airports in Sweden. Exhibiting at Arlanda Airport, which last year handled almost 21 million passengers, gives Nationalmuseum the opportunity to reach a wider, more international audience. The joint project will continue in the autumn at Umeå Airport with a design exhibition.

The exhibition Crossing Borders is on show in Terminal 5 at Arlanda, gate F26-68, from March 19 to August 3, 2014. Those traveling from Terminal 5 who have passed security control can see the exhibition. A 3D digital model is available at www.nationalmuseum.se/crossingborderseng. An app has been produced for the exhibition that serves as an audio guide, and contains pictures, audio files and texts.  

Portraits in the exhibition

·  Gisle Bjørneby, Nina Stemme, opera singer

·  Eric Broms, Zlatan Ibrahimović, fotball-player, 2011

·  Eric Broms, Peter Stormare, actor and director, 2002

·  Peter Cederling, Henning Mankell, author and theatre director, 2011

·  Peter Cederling, Therese Alshammar, swimmer, 1998

·  Fredrik Etoall, Robyn Carlsson, singer and songwriter, 2010

·  Hans Gedda, Tomas Tranströmer, author and Nobel laureate, 2006

·  Hans Gedda, Jonas Gardell, author, framatist and entertainer, 1992

·  Hans Gedda, Anne Sofie von Otter, opera and concert singer, 2006

·  Denise Grünstein, Inga-Britt Ahlenius, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), 2007

·  Denise Grünstein, Barbara Hendricks, opera and concert singer

·  Jörgen Hildebrandt, Hans Rosling, medical doctor and public speaker, 2012

·  Magnus Laupa, Tuva Novotny, actor, 2005

·  Sanna Sjöswärd, Theodor Kallifatides, author, 2012

·  Sanna Sjöswärd, Lennart Nilsson, photographer

·  Thron Ullberg, Thomas Alfredson, film director, 2008

·  Thron Ullberg, Jan Eliasson, politician, diplomat and Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, 2008

·  Thron Ullberg, Michael Nyqvist, actor, 2009

·  Thron Ullberg, Noomi Rapace, actor, 2010

·  Thron Ullberg, Bill Skarsgård, actor, 2010

·  Thomas Wågström, Ingvar Kamprad, entrepreneur and founder of IKEA, 2010

·  Thomas Wågström, Petra Wadström, biochemist and inventor, 2014

Further information
Hanna Tottmar, press officer, hanna.tottmar@nationalmuseum.se, +46 767 23 46 32
Åsa Öhman, PR officer, press@swedavia.se, +46 10 10 90 100

Caption
Eric Broms, Zlatan Ibrahimović, 2011; Hans Gedda, Anne Sofie von Otter, 2006.  

Nationalmuseum is Sweden’s premier museum of art and design. The collections comprise older paintings, sculpture, drawings and graphic art, and applied art and design up to the present day. The museum building is currently under renovation and scheduled to open again in 2017. In the meantime, the museum will continue its activities through collaborations, touring exhibitions and a temporary venue at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, Fredsgatan 12, Stockholm. Nationalmuseum collaborates with Svenska Dagbladet, Fältman & Malmén and Grand Hôtel Stockholm. Gripsholmsföreningen (the Society of Friends of Gripsholm Castle) and Källemo have contributed especially to Crossing Borders. For more information visit www.nationalmuseum.se.

Swedavia is a State-owned group that owns, operates and develops ten airports across Sweden. Swedavia also owns Göteborg City Airport and is a minority owner in the company that operates the airport. Our role is to create the access Sweden needs to facilitate travel, business and meetings – in Sweden, in Europe and around the world. Safe, satisfied passengers are the foundation of our business. Swedavia is a world leader in developing airports with the least possible environmental impact. The Group has revenue of just over 5 billion Swedish kronor and some 2,400 employees.