Bonniers Konsthall

A description of the process of opening a new konsthall can easily turn into an extended catalogue of practicalities. How do the alarms and blackout system actually work, who should we employ as guards and guides, who will make the website, the invitation card for the openings, and the catalogues, what days and times of the week will we be open… Things that may seem to have very little to do with art as such, but which are still essential cogs in the quite extensive machinery required for an exhibition and an art venue to come into existence and to run smoothly. This is a matter of striking a balance. Of simultaneously focusing on small, important details while also keeping the broader context moving. What kind of place do we want Bonniers Konsthall to be? What should happen there? Which artists do we want to work with? Who are our visitors and how are we to speak to them?

During the year that I have been working with Bonniers Konsthall, these questions have been my daily work – in discussions with the board, in working with the team, and in meetings with artists, curators, architects and critics who I have shown round the building. To keep oxygen flowing into the process, during the spring, we invited people to a series of roundtable discussions to talk about new ways of working with art and art institutions. Guests came from diverse fields – art teachers, curators, marketers, art critics and researchers – with those of us who work at Bonniers Konsthall also taking part. And perhaps most important of all: during the spring, we have tried out our wings by doing three art events outside the building. We wanted to begin producing; to test out our way of working, and to provide examples of the special atmosphere and energy that we want to characterise the work of Bonniers Konsthall.

Bonniers Konsthall is a new art institution in a brand new building. The page appears to be completely blank. But nothing arises out of a vacuum. The Konsthall is a continuation of the work of the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation, which has been supporting young Swedish art for twenty years now. This will be manifest in our large inaugural exhibition, in which all fifty-two grant recipients have been invited to show new artworks.

Providing support for artists and for the emergence of new art is an important part of Bonniers Konsthall. That is why it has a guest studio to which we will be inviting artists and curators to make new works and exhibitions especially for Bonniers Konsthall. The first guest was the Dutch artist Gabriel Lester, who spent time in Stockholm in March to make a new film installation for our façade. In February, we will be opening a solo exhibition by the Italian artist Monica Bonvicini, who will be making a new work for our large exhibition space. As part of a programme of smaller exhibitions, films and seminars, we will be commenting on the discussion contained in her works about the experience of architecture and space.

Bonniers Konsthall works with contemporary art. We want to try to say something about the present by working with art that made now. We want to test out new art and to show what has not yet been accounted for and accepted. An important part of our exhibition work will be larger theme exhibitions that pose questions about the current situation, and which situates art in relation to other contexts. Right now, we are working on a large group exhibition that will take as its starting point the crossing of boundaries between visual art and literature that is currently occurring. This is a way of taking a closer look at the fascination with storytelling and the staging of past time that is found in art and culture today. Part of the exhibition is an anthology with contributions from authors and artists, and which is planned for publication in parallel with the exhibition in autumn 2007.

Bonniers Konsthall will be taking part in the ever-more intensive exchanges between the Swedish art scene and the rest of the world. We want to give the Swedish public a chance to see art that has not previously been shown in Sweden, and to collaborate on exhibitions with international art institutions. The word ‘exchange’ has particular significance for us, and we want to link the international art discussion into the local context in which we are working.

The freedom to formulate one’s own remit and to come up with new ways of working with contemporary art is a challenge and a responsibility. A key to how Bonniers Konsthall will be taking up this task, I believe, can be found in the building itself. With its location in the heart of the city and its transparent façade, it is an edifice that signals openness and participation. Art exists in the world. Through a rich programme of talks, seminars, publications and our reading room, we want to create possibilities for encounters with art. During the autumn, most of the artists taking part in the inaugural exhibition will be talking about their works in a series of artists’ talks on Wednesday evenings. We will also be registering the fact that we are in a new building, and in a series of conversations during the late autumn we will be discussing spaces for art from various perspectives.

Welcome!

Sara Arrhenius
Director Bonniers Konsthall