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Four Nordic museums join forces to promote new talents in fashion
Initiating a collaborative platform to highlight contemporary fashion. ”The contemporary Nordic fashion scene is a rich cultural field that merits more attention from the museum sector,” says Hanne Eide, curator of contemporary fashion at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo.
By JOHAN MAGNUSSON
29 Nov 2022

EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art (Finland), the Röhsska Museum of Design and Craft in Gothenburg (Sweden), the National Museum in Oslo (Norway), and Copenhagen Contemporary (Denmark) all share an interest in contemporary fashion in the context of design, art and craft. Now teaming up with ALPHA, the Copenhagen-based organisation for emerging fashion designers, one museum each year over the course of four years will host an exhibition which will coincide with physical and digital programmes and events.

— I have long wanted to engage with museums across the Nordics in a long-term project to create a shared exhibition platform to feature new talents in fashion. Together with these prominent museums, we can now share the work of talented designers in the region with the wider public, and at the same time create greater awareness about the cultural value of fashion, says Ane Lynge-Jorlén, director of ALPHA.

Robin Söderholm. Backstage at ALPHA, 2021.

The collaboration will commence in May 2023 with an exhibition at the Röhsska museum in Gothenburg, focusing on emerging Nordic fashion designers’ use of knitwear and print:

— The collaboration with ALPHA and the other museums aims to strengthen the positioning of Nordic fashion through its cultural and artistic capital. The initiative indicates a commitment between our institutions to create platforms for dialogue and co-creation to celebrate Nordic fashion in a changing world, says Nina Due, director of Röhsska museum.

The year after, in 2024, the National Museum in Oslo will host an exhibition, followed by EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art in Finland will follow suit with an exhibition in 2025.

— The contemporary Nordic fashion scene is a rich cultural field that merits more attention from the museum sector. We’re delighted to take part in this collaborative project and to strengthen the critical discourse around the fashion phenomenon in the Nordic region, says Hanne Eide, curator of contemporary fashion at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo.

— For us, it will be interesting to collaborate with our Nordic colleagues and give a platform to young fashion designers, who in their work often mirror phenomena of our time, Pilvi Kalhama, director of EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, comments. Experimenting and searching for new ways of exhibiting is characteristic of us as we often exhibit works that can be situated at the cross-section of art and design.

Denmark’s largest institution for contemporary art and culture, Copenhagen Contemporary, concludes the collaboration with an exhibition in 2026, which director Marie Laurberg describes as ”groundbreaking”. 

— We’re excited about this collaboration on exhibiting emerging fashion design. Dedicating our programme to contemporary art and emerging creativity where creative fields are merging, we regard fashion design as an important and rigorous expression of contemporary aesthetics, she says.

Elina Äärelä. “Silent Voice”, 2021.