Press release -
Norway’s Kunstsilo Showcases Finnish Modernist Pioneers
Birger Carlstedt: Flowers Everywhere and
Irma Salo Jæger: Draft for a World Flag
Press Preview: Thursday, 25 September 2025
On view: 26 September 2025 – 1 March 2026
This autumn, Kunstsilo, Southern Norway’s new landmark museum, will open two major exhibitions featuring Finnish-born artists represented in the renowned Tangen Collection – the world’s largest collection of Nordic modernist art.
Flowers Everywhere. Birger Carlstedt’s journey toward freedom in form and colour
Birger Carlstedt (1907–1975, Helsinki) is recognised as one of Finland’s great pioneers of modernism, deeply influenced by Parisian avant-garde and modern music.
This exhibition traces Carlstedt’s artistic journey from figurative still lifes and flowers, through semi-abstraction, to pure abstraction. Inspired by Cubism and concrete art, Carlstedt developed a distinctive style in which composition, rhythm and colour resonate like musical harmonies.
The title Flowers Everywhere references Henri Matisse, whose words became a guiding principle for modern abstraction: «There are always flowers for those who want to see them». Carlstedt’s work embodies this vision, offering both calm and curiosity in equal measure.
The exhibition is curated in collaboration with Finnish curator Timo Valjakka and presented in partnership with Amos Rex in Helsinki.
Irma Salo Jæger. Draft for a World Flag
In 1968, Irma Salo Jæger (b. 1928, Soini) presented a breakthrough exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, combining painting and poetry in a series of 21 sentences and 21 paintings. At the heart of this project lay her reflections on interconnectedness—whether in the roots of a creeping buttercup, or in the emerging global networks of communication shaped by new technology.
Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the Paris student protests and the rise of cybernetics, Jæger imagined a future of peace symbolised by a “world flag.” This exhibition recreates her influential 1968 project, highlighting its enduring relevance in a time when global connectedness and technological change once again define our era.
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Kunstsilo is an award-winning, former grain silo in Southern Norway, transformed into one of Northern Europe’s most innovative powerhouses for art and cultural experiences.
The museum houses the Tangen collection, the world’s largest collection of Nordic modernism, and the permanent collections of Kunstsilo. In addition, Kunstsilo showcases international digital contemporary art, temporary exhibitions, and an expanded offer with lectures, concerts, food experiences, workshops, function rooms and events.
“52 Places to Go in 2025” – The New York Times
“How a Grain Silo in Norway Became a Global Modern Art Destination” – Bloomberg
“World’s Greatest Places 2024” – TIME
