The exhibition is the first in a new series at Louisiana which will explore the relationship of architecture to culture and identity; memories and narratives are reflected materially and spatially. Three themes stress the New Nordic, evident in the clash between the architects' cultural roots and the global perspective that is an inevitable condition today.
Theme I: Reassessing the site-specific
The introduction to the theme is a film where the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor and his Finnish colleague Juhani Pallasmaa discuss Nordic culture and identity. The architects share the view of place as a mutable entity in which they can interweave physical, cultural and mental processes to renew place-specific building culture. Also featured are video artist Elina Brotherus, film-maker Pi Michael and film producer Wilfred Hauke from dmfilm, in collaboration with ARTE. To show similarities and differences in the Nordic countries the museum has invited five Nordic architects to build a house each: Studio Granda, Iceland, Johan Celsing, Sweden, Jarmund/Vigsnæs, Norway, Lassila Hirvilammi, Finland and Lundgaard & Tranberg, Denmark.
This section attempts to identify tendencies in public building that reflect the distinctive Nordic sense of community. The Nordic welfare model is viewed here as a processual, mutable entity that helps to form what is perceived as Nordic identity and culture: where is the community going, and what new institutions represent the welfare society of the future? Many public buildings are conceived as icons of brand new or renovated older neighbourhoods.
The third and last theme in the exhibition focuses on specific articulations of public space, and on how values in the Nordic countries are expressed in the way the city is arranged. For this section too, two important installations have been created. In the first the architectural firm SLA has created an artificial landscape as a setting for a number of narratives about how nature and landscape are combined in integrated ways. The second installation, "Life Between Buildings" is about architect Jan Gehl's ideas on how city space is experienced and used.
From 29 June through 21 October 2012
New Nordic: Architecture & Identity
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Humlebæk, Denmark
