Gothic Modern, Ateneum, Helsinki
To the secular artists of the late 1800s, medieval religious art continued to be important, albeit in new ways. Gothic Modern featured nineteenth and twentieth-century art inspired by the Middle Ages, including works by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The aesthetics and myths of the past never become obsolete, and are still present in our thinking today. This was also true of the artists in this exhibition, including Arnold Böcklin, Edvard Munch, and Käthe Kollwitz, who touched on perpetually relevant topics such as death, sexuality, and confusion.
Astrid Nondal, Pneuma, Galleri Haaken, Oslo
Astrid Nondal’s meticulously painted landscapes are rooted in art history but executed in a relaxed idiom, which gives them a meditative quality. The colours and rhythms are reminiscent of early modernism, but the calmness of the images seems to stem from Nondal not consciously pursuing a language of her own, and consequently having one. She has ostensibly rejected modernism’s demand for innovation and instead turned inwards, adhering only to her own criteria. We accept the images as landscapes, but no landscapes look like this; no skies are this pink. What was on display was landscape painting as a shared experience.
Wang & Söderström, Techno Mythologies, Christian IV’s Brewery, Copenhagen
The Swedish duo Wang & Söderström’s Techno Mythologies was recognised as the best exhibition of 2024 by the Danish Arts Foundation. Their practice reflects the contemporary dissolution of the boundaries between art, design, and installation. The works all appear to have a function. It is clear that Wang is a furniture and interior designer and Söderström is an architect – and that the future of art comes from the outside. The aesthetic is a mixture of science, medical instruments, and archaeology, rendering the objects vaguely familiar, but at the same time unidentifiable. Like forgotten memories you never had.
Ernst Billgren came to prominence in the 1980s and has remained one of Sweden’s most celebrated artists. His versatile practice includes painting, sculpture, scenography, design and writing, but he is best known for his paintings and mosaics featuring animals in period costumes. In 2025, he will have a major solo exhibition at the National Museum of Sweden.
For this year’s contributions to the Advent Calendar, see here
