Bildmuseet reopens with Ringgold, Sansour and Cyrén

On 27 August, Bildmuseet reopens after being closed due to the coronavirus situation. Thus, we can finally welcome to press previews – digital and on-site – of the exhibitions that would have opened before summer.

Three new exhibitions are installed when Bildmuseet opens its doors: a retrospective of the acclaimed artist and civil rights activist Faith Ringgold; Larissa Sansours evocative and thought-provoking Heirloom, Denmark's contribution to the Venice Biennale in 2019; and Swedish Picture Book of the Year / Marathon by Karin Cyrén.

Faith Ringgold
As an artist, activist and author, Faith Ringgold has challenged injustices and prejudices about Afro-American identity for five decades. In a large retrospective exhibition, Bildmuseet presents her paintings, graphics and textile works from the 1960s to the 2000s.
– We are pleased to be able, first in the Nordic countries, to show such a broad presentation of Faith Ringgold's art, says museum curator Anders Jansson. The Black Lives Matter movement shows that the fight for equality is not over, and in it, Faith Ringgold has been - and still is - an important and powerful voice.

Faith Ringgold grew up during the creative and intellectual era known as the Harlem Renaissance. Throughout her artistic life, she has been in the centre of contemporary debate, with paintings inspired by the American civil rights movement and feminism, as well as with autobiographical textile stories. In her work, she draws inspiration from several visual and cultural sources; early European modernism as well as traditional quilts and their place in the history of slavery.

Faith Ringgold (b. 1930, Harlem, New York) lives in New Jersey, USA, and has been working as an artist since the early 1960s. Ringgold is represented at, for instance, Guggenheim, MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This is Faith Ringgold's first retrospective in the Nordic countries. It was initiated by the Serpentine Galleries and curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Melissa Blanchflower. For its presentation at Bildmuseet, the exhibition is curated by Anders Jansson.
With support from Fort Knox.

Larissa Sansour / Heirloom
In her exhibition Heirloom, Larissa Sansour takes us to a dystopic future where the Earth has undergone an ecological collapse. There, the human clone Alia addresses the trauma, life goals and dreams of previous generations. What stories do we take over from these? How are our lives shaped by this heirloom?
– Collective memories and exile are central themes in Sansour’s poetic works. She touches current political questions with universal relevance, as well as aspects of life, belonging and identity, says museum curator Brita Täljedal.

The heart of the exhibition is the two-channel science fiction film In Vitro. After an environmental disaster, humans are forced to live underground and an abandoned nuclear reactor serves as an orchard. There, the creator of the orchard is lying on her deathbed when a young clone comes to visit her. The exhibition includes a monumental sculpture, Monument for Lost Time.

Larissa Sansour (b. 1973, Jerusalem) is a Danish-Palestinian artist and director who is based in London. Her films have been shown at film festivals and art museums all over the world. Heirloom was commissioned by The Danish Arts Foundation for the Danish pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2019.

Swedish Picture Book of the Year / Marathon
Karin Cyrén’s Maraton [Marathon] has been named the Swedish picture book of the year and honoured with the national award Snöbollen [The Snowball]. The exhibition contains Cyrén’s original paintings for the book. The story with no words is cross-border and cosmopolitan, full of quirky comedy and incorporated mini-dramas. The race - the marathon - is full of pain, tricks and triumph.
Karin Cyrén (b.1984) is a Swedish illustrator and picture book creator based in Stockholm.

Press previews of the three exhibitions will be offered both digitally and on location at Bildmuseet. Please let us know which parts you are planning to join. R.S.V.P. before 20/8.

Tuesday 25 August
10:00-11:00 Faith Ringgold, live-streamed press preview via Zoom. Participating are director Katarina Pierre and museum curator Anders Jansson. Opportunity for long-distance participants to connect with and control a "living avatar" in the exhibition space (Note, a limited number of avatars).

Wednesday 26 August
10:00-11:00 Larissa Sansour, live-streamed press preview via Zoom. Conversation between the artist on a link from London and director Katarina Pierre at Bildmuseet.

12:00-16:00 Press preview on location in Bildmuseet. Opportunity for journalists to experience the three new exhibitions before the public opening.

Press images: http://www.bildmuseet.umu.se/press-images

Further information

Anders Jansson, museum curator (Faith Ringgold)


anders.jansson@umu.se, +46 90 786 91 10


Brita Täljedal, museum curator (Larissa Sansour / Heirloom and Swedish Picture Book of the Year)

brita.taljedal@bildmuseet.umu.se, +46 90 786 77 14

Helena Vejbrink, media contact
helena.vejbrink@bildmuseet.umu.se, +46 90 786 90 73