NUIT BLANCHE – VALKEAT YÖT, Pohjoismaista 90-luvun taidetta

Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Tommi Grönlund, Petteri Nisunen, Huutajat, Aki Kaurismäki, Marja-Leena Hukkanen, Esko Männikkö, Ólafur Eliasson, Thorvaldur Thorsteinsson, Björk, Jeremy Dellerin, Nobuyoshi Arakin, Mika Vainion, Cecilia Edefalk, Jan Svenungsson, Bjarne Melgaard, Knut Åsdam, Henrik Plenge Jakobsen

Nuit Blanche – White Nights, Nordic Art of the 90s
November 21, 1998 – January 10, 1999

Press Release:
The Nuit Blanche exhibition, curated by the French Laurence Bossé and Swiss Hans-Ulrich Obrist, offers a Central European perspective on Nordic contemporary art of the 1990s. When the exhibition was displayed in Paris in early 1998, it sparked discussions about Nordic “madness” and the “miracle” that referred to the revitalization and internationalization of Nordic art in the 1990s. The central theme of the Nuit Blanche exhibition is the pluralism of contemporary art and the interaction between different artistic genres. Accordingly, alongside “traditional” visual artists, the exhibition also features representatives of film and music.

The Nordic leg of the exhibition has been realized through the collaboration of the Bergen, Pori, and Gothenburg art museums. The Nordic tour version includes a selection of works from the extensive Paris presentation, with Finnish artists Eija-Liisa Ahtila (video installation), Tommi Grönlund and Petteri Nisunen (resistance wire installation), the male choir Huutajat (video piece), Aki Kaurismäki (videos), Marja-Leena Hukkanen (photographic series Golden Land of Longing), and Esko Männikkö (photographs).

From other Nordic countries, the exhibition features Icelandic artists Ólafur Eliasson (photographs), Thorvaldur Thorsteinsson (collages and photographs), and Björk in a collaborative project with English artist Jeremy Deller, Japanese artist Nobuyoshi Araki, and Finnish artist Mika Vainio (video, collages, photographs, sound work); Swedish artists Cecilia Edefalk (painting) and Jan Svenungsson (installation); Norwegian artists Bjarne Melgaard (watercolors) and Knut Åsdam (video). Danish artist Henrik Plenge Jakobsen has created a video work, The Best of Denmark, for the exhibition.

The exhibition is also accompanied by five video art compilations showcasing Nordic video art, curated by Maaretta Jaukkuri (Finland), Gunnar B. Kvaran (Iceland), Maria Lind (Sweden), Simon Sheikh (Denmark), and Jon-Ove Steihaug (Norway). Additional programs, including performances and music events, will be announced separately. The exhibition publication, Nuit Blanche – Scènes nordiques: les années 90 (397 pages, texts in French/English, abundant illustrations), is available at the Pori Art Museum.

The exhibition Nuit Blanche – Scènes nordiques: les années 90 was organized by the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, where it was on display from March 6 to May 10, 1998. The exhibition was produced by l’Association Paris-Musées with support from the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Translated with ChatGPT