The inaugural exhibition of the National Museum wants to challenge

In the inaugural exhibition “I call it art”, the National Museum challenges itself. We want new audiences to experience the value of art.

Debate
This is a discussion post. Opinions in the text are the responsibility of the writer.

In his debate article in Aftenposten on September 9, artist Sverre Bjertnæs asks several questions about the National Museum’s inaugural exhibition “I call it art” and what the new National Museum building will actually contain. We would like to clarify this.

When Bjertnæs wants the new National Museum to tell our “vision of what art is and what it is and has been important in Norwegian art history”, you will not be disappointed. With nearly 6,000 central works of art, architecture and design from ancient times to the present day, spread over 90 rooms with a total area of ​​10,000 square meters, we will do just that in the permanent group exhibition when we open in 2021.

Provide information to the audience

The inaugural exhibition “I Call It Art” features works by Norwegian artists that are not part of the museum’s collection.

There are several reasons why artists are not bought, but not because they make bad art. Some should have been bought long ago, others are at the beginning of their art. Some have been very visible on the international art scene, others have not. We have chosen to show a large selection so that the audience knows a wide variety of artistic practices.

We have searched for artists and searched for art across the country because there are good artists and art outside of Oslo as well, and because the National Museum takes its national responsibility seriously.

We have made studio visits and portfolio screenings based on our own knowledge of the Norwegian art field, and have received advice from contact persons at medium-sized art institutions in the areas we have visited.

It was also important to have an overview of the artists working outside the “exclusive cycle” of the art field, and also to cover the parts of the country that we were unable to visit. That is why we hold an open presentation, something that institutions rarely do at the National Museum.

A little more

We want to emphasize that the exhibition contains fantastic works by nearly 150 artists, with complex themes, unorthodox solutions for displaying art, and new working methods at the National Museum. Then there will be a debate, and we want it.

But dismissing our work as a “trick” and “insult”, as Bjertnæs does, is over, especially for the artists in the exhibition.

We have worked according to established professional criteria such as quality, but we have also expanded our curatorial toolbox and can use sociology, statistics and other tools to gain new perspectives on what creates value in the field of art in Norway today. .

Sounds banal

With “I call it art”, we invite the public to judge for themselves. Whether this is a “disclaimer as a defining power,” as Bjertnæs asks, is up to the public.

Our goal is for the public, after a visit to the new National Museum, to be left with a more complex picture of art in Norway, and to feel that art is important and that it concerns them.

It may seem banal, but it is true: the National Museum is the museum of Norway in its entirety.