Setting the Tone of the Exhibition

Anslagets Konst - att sätta tonen för en utställning

2024 - 2025

Malmö Art Museum, curated by Jacob Fabricius

Setting the tone is a phrase rooted in the world of music, suggesting an initiation or opening of a piece. Just as the first lines of a book can draw us in, or the opening notes of a song can evoke emotion, how is the tone set for an exhibition?

Setting the Tone of the Exhibition explores how an exhibition takes shape, theme, and format. It also highlights the curator's role and possibilities - the individual who organizes and orchestrates the exhibition through elements like titles, exhibition design, works, and programming.

Setting the Tone of the Exhibition consists of five possible openings for five possible exhibitions, arranged across five distinct opening rooms with unique atmospheres and themes. Each presentation showcases and guides the visitor through imagined exhibition openings as envisioned by the curator. There's no "right" way to experience these five concepts; each path is merely a suggested way to approach the exhibitions.

Each of the five exhibitions has its own graphic design. In each one, a sign is displayed with information such as: Title (working title), Theme (keywords), Introduction, Artists, and Works. The sign can be seen as an unfolding "portfolio" that contains the exhibition's essential identity, its codes, and other necessary information. These "portfolios" are intended to act as navigation points for visitors, where they can use the keywords to foster further reflection and imagination. They summarize how the works set the tone for the exhibition, while also opening up possibilities for how the exhibition can live on in the future.

This is an experiment.

The exhibition is made in collaboration with Region Skane, Art Hub Copenhagen, Aarhus University, Lilith Performance Studio, Institut Funder Bakke, Simian, 15. Juni Fonden, the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Danish Arts Foundation.

Participating artists: Ola Billgren, Christian Boltanski, Annika Eriksson, Oscar Eriksson Furunes, Andrea Fraser, Jules Fischer, Ryan Gander, Eva Grubinger, Henriette Heise, Jakob Jakobsen, Tetsumi Kudo, Lap-See Lam, Louise Lawler, Shuang Li, LILITH, Lucky 3, Reba Maybury, Claudia Martínez Garay, Carsten Nicolai, Gerhard Nordström, Henrik Olesen, Ovartaci, Michala Paludan, Adrian Piper, Vandy Rattana, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Sung Tieu and Magnus Wallin.