Sleepless Nights: From the 1980s in the Moderna Museet collection

In the 1980s, a number of outstanding female artists emerged in Sweden and the Nordic region. They are the hub of the exhibition “Sleepless Nights – From the 1980s in the Moderna Museet collection”, featuring works by, among others, Cecilia Edefalk, Tuija Lindström, Ingrid Orfali and Cindy Sherman.

Two characteristics of the 1980s are the financial ups and downs and the fear of HIV and AIDS. At the same time the art market is on fire, the alternative art scene provokes, and the cold war is coming to an end. Traces of this contradictory pivotal point between the political 1970s and the artistically terser 1990s can be found in the Moderna Museet collection. This includes works by some of the international megastars but, more importantly, by a large number of famous and unknown artists from Sweden.

The artists presented in “Sleepless Nights” include Barbro Bäckström, Stina Ekman, Eva Löfdahl and Marika Mäkelä, but also international names such as Tracey Moffatt and Cindy Sherman. The exhibition title is inspired by Teresa Wennberg’s large video installation “Nuit Blanche” from 1983. Wennberg is one of the many women in art who tested and experimented with new media and materials during this period.

A few male artists will also feature, including Torsten Andersson, Max Book, Daniel Buren and Pierre Lobstein along with Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol.