Another Story: Written in Light

The whole picture in place! It all began with Cindy Sherman, Annika von Hausswolff and Andreas Gursky. Then came Diane Arbus, Irving Penn and Christer Strömholm. Moderna Museet’s radical new hanging of the collection focusing on photography continues and now presents the concluding part of Another Story: Written in Light features the pioneers of photography from 1840 to 1930, including Julia Margaret Cameron, Eadweard Muybridge and Henry B. Goodwin. Now visitors can enjoy some 1000 works from the Moderna Museet collection of photography, one of the finest collections in Europe. In addition, the book Another Story. Photography from the Moderna Museet Collection has been published together with Steidl.

In 2011, Moderna Museet’s new directors, Daniel Birnbaum and Ann-Sofi Noring, launched a new presentation of the collection. Another Story gives a fresh angle on art history, based on works from the Moderna Museet collection and fills the entire exhibition area of the permanent collection until February 2012.

“We want to show the museum collection from a new perspective, but also to present an alternative art history, not one that is more true, but simply another perspective. We have noted a strong demand among our visitors to see more of Moderna Museet’s large collection of photography. With this venture, we hope to contribute in a way that only we can, and to give the public what they have a right to expect from us, namely a historic dimension. We are also intensifying our research into photographic images,” says Daniel Birnbaum, director of Moderna Museet.

“We are planning to publish four new books about our photography collection together with the German publishing company Steidl. The first book, Reality Revisited, was published in autumn 2010. This is followed by Another Story. Photography from the Moderna Museet Collection in November. This is a ground-breaking project, both for the wider public and for experts on photography. Ours is the largest curated presentation on photography ever to be undertaken by a Swedish museum,” says Ann-Sofi Noring, co-director.

Moderna Museet has one of Europe’s finest collections of photography, ranging from 1840 to the present day. Many of the most famous names in the history of photography are represented, and the collection comprises more than 100,000 works. The new presentation of the permanent collection exhibition was performed in three stages.

In February, Moderna Museet opened the first part, Another Story: Possessed by the Camera, which presents contemporary photographic art. From the 1970s, people have challenged the notion that the purpose of art is to show authentic identities. Instead, the camera is used to emphasise the potential of role-play and how identity can be constructed.

Just before summer, Moderna Museet opened Another Story: See the World!, presenting the period 1920-1980. This part features documentary photography and photo journalism, surrealistic photography and pioneers such as Diane Arbus, Irving Penn and Christer Strömholm. The period covers a world war and many events that changed our perspective on life, both externally and internally.

In Another Story: Written in Light we look at the early days of photography. This part presents the pioneers of photography from 1840 to the first three decades of the 20th century, delineating the infancy of photography, from the moment when Louis Jacques Mandé Daquerre and William Henry Fox Talbot developed the photographic technique. From autumn 2011 to February 2012, the entire permanent collection exhibition will consist of photography and photographic art. In 2012, many of our famous paintings and sculptures will, of course, be on display in the exhibition again, in a new presentation of the collection.

Among others Christer Strömholm, Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman, Dawid, Tuija Lindström, Annika von Hausswolff, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lennart Olson, Man Ray, Hilla Becher, Bernhard Becher, Duane Michals, Eva Klasson, Hans Hammarskiöld, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Helmut Newton, Vibeke Tandberg, Liina Siib, Anneé Olofsson, Gerry Johansson, Miriam Bäckström, Andreas Gursky, Samuel Fosso, Thomas Ruff, Malick Sidibé, Sally Mann, Inez Van Lamsweerde, Denise Grünstein, Monika Englund, Catharina Gotby and many more.

Another Story
Written in Light
1000 Photographs from the Moderna Museet Collection
Kuratoren: Daniel Birnbaum, Ann-Sofi Noring

Künstler: Diane Arbus, Miriam Backstrom, Bernd und Hilla Becher, Julia Margaret Cameron,  Dawid , Monika Englund, Samuel Fosso, Henry B. Goodwin, Catharina Gotby, Denise Grünstein, Andreas Gursky, Hans Hammarskiöld, Annika von Hausswolff, Gerry Johansson, Eva Klasson, Inez van Lamsweerde, Tuija Lindström, Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Duane Michals, Eadweard Muybridge, Helmut Newton, Annee Olofsson, Lennart Olson, Irving Penn, Anders Petersen, Man Ray, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Malik Sidibé, Liina Siib, Christer Strömholm, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Vibeke Tandberg ...