Totally Stockholm 1
Avi Levin, ‘Sunset on the Yarkon River’ Paige Sil
verman, ‘Voegel‘s Net’, installation Supermarket promo 2019, Cecilia Paredes 'Both Worlds' So first of all, apart from the venue change, what’s new at Supermarket this year? Alice: 2019 brings quite a few new items to our programme, which we are thrilled about and looking forward to presenting. Aside from regular exhibitors with exhibition booths at Sickla Front, this year for the first time we introduce ‘Associate galleries’ – a new collaboration with satellite spaces around Stockholm to further extend the experience of a vibrant artist-run event over the whole city. Six artist-run spaces have joined for Supermarket 2019: Candyland, Detroit Stockholm, Galleri Majkens, Grafiska Sällskapet, Konstnärshuset /SKF and Tegen2. They will host a satellite gallery night on Friday April 5. Alice: Another novelty is the first year of Supermarket Forum, a one-day networking event for exhibitors, professional networking participants and invited guests – curators, gallerists, art managers, institutions and art organisers from the contemporary Swedish art sector. Our aim with Forum is to allow the exhibitors to meet a variety of representatives from Swedish art scene, present their projects in depth and talk to other participants and guests within a simple framework focused on establishing new connections. During the day we will also host performances and a panel discussion on censorship in art around the world, followed by a public opening of the art fair in the evening. Bosma, ‘Poes’, installation, 2017. Exhibited by Nieuwe Vide, Haarlem, Netherlands. How long is the process of putting together a Supermarket fair? What’s the process for inviting and curating the selection of exhibiting artists? Andreas: It is quite unbelievable how much time such a short event takes to organise. We work basically all year ‘round in the project team, starting right after the end of every Supermarket. It gradually becomes more and more hectic as the art fair’s date approaches. We also try to maintain our presence with quarterly newsletters and collaborative talks and presentations outside of the actual art fair throughout the year. Andreas: The applications are divided into several separate sections: the open call for exhibitors usually opens in October, the open call for performance artists and speakers opens a bit later, in November or December as well as the applications to the Professional Networking Participants programme. It is a lot to go through, as each year we receive more and more applications. The selection process is done by us in the project team; sometimes we invite an external selection board to help us out. The yearly theme serves as a framework for exhibitors and participants to think about, but we do not force anyone to follow it. One of the unique elements of Supermarket is that the selected exhibitors can show what they like: we do not impose any of our own visions upon them. However, one thing we try to alternate is the focus on different media, and we always like to see strong painting being presented, giving our project team’s bias as trained painters. You’ve moved to Sickla for this year’s edition of the festival. What was the reason for the change, and how are things going in the new home? Pontus: We have an exciting collaboration with Atrium Ljungberg in a brand new venue in Sickla. The first time we saw the room it felt really good and we knew that this was it. We like the certain charm that comes with industrial spaces. The pillars, the side light and the raw concrete make it look a bit like a church. We are looking forward to sharing it with the exhibitors and witnessing how it transforms with their artworks. Pontus: It will certainly take a lot of work to make the raw venue into an art fair, but it is definitely worth it! At the moment we are in full-speed preparation stage. This year’s theme is “Temporary Moratorium: All Allowed?” Can you expand on what that theme means for us a little? Alice: The theme comes out of reflecting on the transforming nature of taboos in society, and more specifically in contemporary art. We want to raise questions of what the taboos of today are and how they influence artists and the art market. It is clear that once scandalous subjects such as sex or nudity no longer stir up any reaction or contemplation in the audience. Taboos today have become more nuanced and suppressed, also very 9