Malmoe
20.3 – 3.5 1981
Malmö Konsthall invited sixteen artists from nine different countries to visit Malmö and the Skåne region for a few autumn days in 1980. The impressions from their experiences were then to be expressed in an exhibition. In addition to tours around Malmö, they traveled through the hills of Brösarp to Kivik, Stenshuvud, and onward to Kåseberga, where long conversations took place by Ales Stenar. The sea and the ancient cultural landscape inspired and left their mark on the exhibition.
Likely inspired by the Royal Grave in Kivik, Nikolaus Lang built a settlement at the Limhamn landfill and lived a Stone Age life with a bicycle for a few days. The construction — made of stone, scrap, twigs, and nylon fabric — was moved into the art hall. John Melin, the art hall’s graphic designer, closely documented the process as Nikolaus Lang meticulously arranged and stacked hand-carved flint tools in various formations.
Jerzy Kalina and his “Viking Bus–Long Bus”. In connection with the opening, the audience was invited to join an unconventional guided sightseeing tour around Malmö. The Polish artist had wallpapered the entire bus with newspapers — except for the driver’s windshield and side windows. Just as we are guided by the information presented to us through the media, the audience was completely reliant on the guide’s descriptions. The journey with the wallpapered bus, which ended in a car wash, surely became an unforgettable experience for most of the passengers.
Magdalena Abakanowicz expressed her impressions of the harbor, coast, and sea using old timber and worn, impregnated tarpaulins. The floor in the art hall´s light shaft had been dismantled, and the large, dark, oil-scented tarpaulins were arranged like a rolling sea. Pierre Mariétan worked with the concrete challenge of the interplay between sound generation and sound perception. One of his contributions to the exhibition was a project where he had schoolchildren in Malmö record sounds from the street environment, which were then played back in the art hall to create a soundscape of Malmö. The artist Pierre Mariétan also performed his own sound action on the piazza outside Malmö Konsthall.
