Symposium: The Importance of Graphic Art within Modern Art History in the Nordic Countries

Name: Symposium: The Importance of Graphic Art within Modern Art History in the Nordic Countries
Start: 2025-09-26T14:00:00+02:00
End: 2025-09-26T17:00:00+02:00
Location: Sjølystveien 8, 4610 Kristiansand, Norway

Schedule

Fri Sep 26 2025 at 02:00 pm to 05:00 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Sjølystveien 8, 4610 Kristiansand, Norway | Kristiansand, VA

As part of the interdisciplinary festival FRAGMENT in Kristiansand, and the exhibition Lasting Impressions. Nordic Printmaking from Munch to Today, Kunstsilo invites you to a symposium offering different perspectives on the art history of graphic art: In what ways has printmaking developed as an art form in modern art history, and what role has it played within the Nordic countries?
PROGRAM
14:00 Welcome
Maria Mediaas Jørstad. Director, Kunstsilo
14:05 Introduction
Else-Brit Kroneberg. Head of Collections, Kunstsilo
14:15 The Boom of Norwegian Graphics! Explosive Power in the Tangen Collection
The presentation examines the distinctive qualities of Norwegian graphic production and explores its significance, both for individual artistic practices and for the art field in general.
Merete Hovdenak. Art historian, Curator and Executive Director of Contemporary Art Centers in Norway (KiN)
14:45 A Voyage of Discovery: Collecting Nordic Art for the British Museum
This presentation will focus on a unique collecting project based at the British Museum to acquire works on paper by Nordic artists from the late 1940s to the present day.
Jennifer Ramkalawon. Curator of Modern and Contemporary Nordic Graphic Art, Dept. of Prints and Drawings, British Museum
15:15-15:30 Short break
15:30 The significance of print art for the German artist group Brücke
German Expressionism, which began with Brücke, can probably be regarded as Germany’s most significant and influential contribution to the international avantgarde and the beginnings of Modernism. Apart from painting and drawing, the artists built on various printmaking techniques to disseminate their works more widely. They developed a particular interest in the medium of the woodcut deeply rooted in German tradition, using it for innovative and pioneering works.
Dr. Iris Müller-Westermann. Former Director, Moderna Museet Malmö
16:00 Sharp Edges and Bright Colors
This presentation will highlight some observations on the modernist Finnish prints in the Tangen Collection.
Timo Valjakka is an artist, writer and curator based in Helsinki. He is also advisor for the Finnish acquisitions to the Tangen Collection.
16:30 Concluding panel discussion
Moderated by Else-Brit Kroneberg
17:00 End of seminar
Kunstsilo’s exhibition Lasting Impressions. Nordic Printmaking from Munch to the Present presents over 120 works from the Tangen Collection, supplemented by works from Kunstsilo’s two other collections: Christianssands Picture Gallery and The Sørlandet Art Collection. The exhibition is part of the Year of Printmaking 2025 in Kristiansand and marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the shared print workshop Myren Grafikk.
The symposium is also connected to the publication The Tangen Collection. Art on Paper, published by Orfeus Publishing. The three-volume work presents approximately 2,500 prints and drawings by around 700 Nordic artists.
FRAGMENT is a festival and collaborative initiative between a number of art and cultural institutions in Kristiansand. The festival has the artistic will to experiement and break new grounds as found in modern art as a point of departure and the aim to present a wide range of artistic expressions from the Nordic countries. It fosters interaction between different professional cultural institutions, while facilitating and contributing to the creation of new productions and forums for discussion with a culturally interdisciplinary focus.
This year’s festival is the second in line and takes place 24th to 27th of September. As part of the Festival Kunstsilo will have a double exhibition opening in the evening on Thursday the 25th of Sept. Kristiansand Kunsthall will host another seminar on print art in collaboration with the University of Agder the same day.
For full festival program (in Norwegian) see: https://www.fragmentfestival.no/program2025