Bildmuseet () is a contemporary

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

, northern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

History

The museum was founded in 1981 by

Umeå University Umeå University (; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present bord ...

and it exhibits Swedish and international

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

visual culture Visual culture is the aspect of culture expressed in visual images. Many academic fields study this subject, including cultural studies, art history, critical theory, philosophy, media studies, Deaf Studies, and anthropology. The field of vi ...

, design, and architecture, sometimes along with historical art retrospectives. In conjunction with the exhibitions program it also arranges lectures, screenings, concerts, performances, and workshops. The exhibitions include internationally renowned artists, filmmakers, photographers, and designers, such as for example

Walid Raad Walid Raad (Ra'ad) (Arabic: وليد رعد) (born 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon) is a contemporary media artist. The Atlas Group is a fictional collective, the work of which is produced by Walid Raad. He lives and works in New York, where he is curr ...

, Zineb Sedira, Tracey Rose,

Mario Merz Mario Merz (1 January 1925 – 9 November 2003) was an Italian artist, and husband of Marisa Merz. Life Born in Milan, Merz started drawing during World War II, when he was imprisoned for his activities with the ''Giustizia e Libertà'' ant ...

, Dayanita Singh,

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter and photographer. Varda's work employed location shooting in an era when the limitations of sound technology made it easier ...

, Felice Varini,

Joan Jonas Joan Jonas (born July 13, 1936) is an American visual artist and a pioneer of video and performance art, "a central figure in the performance art movement of the late 1960s".Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Early life Juli ...

Stan Douglas Stan Douglas (born October 11, 1960) is a Canadian artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Since the late 1980s, he has created works in film and photography as well as theatre productions and other multidisciplinary projects that invest ...

Leonor Fini Leonor Fini (30 August 1907 – 18 January 1996) was an Argentine-Italian surrealist painter, designer, illustrator, and author, known for her depictions of powerful and erotic women. Early life Fini was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Ma ...

, Rafel Lozano-Hemmer, Julio Le Parc,

John Akomfrah Sir John Akomfrah (born 4 May 1957) is a Ghanaian-born British artist, writer, film director, screenwriter, theorist and curator of Ghanaian descent, whose "commitment to a radicalism both of politics and of cinematic form finds expression in ...

, Charles och Ray Eames, Jumana Emil Abboud,

Ana Mendieta Ana Mendieta (November 18, 1948 – September 8, 1985) was a Cuban-American performance artist, sculptor, painter, and video artist who is best known for her "earth-body" artwork. She is considered one of the most influential Cuban-American ar ...

, and Faith Ringgold. In spring 2012, the museum moved into new premises on the

Umeå Arts Campus Umeå Arts Campus is the name of a former industry area that recently (2009–2012) was rebuilt to house several of the arts educations at Umeå University in Sweden. The arts campus will be an education center for architecture, design and artwor ...

. The new Bildmuseet, hosted in a seven-storey building (Architecture:

Henning Larsen Architects Henning Larsen Architects is an international architectural firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1959 by Henning Larsen, it has around 750 employees. In 2008, it opened an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and in 2011, an office in Munich ...

) opened to the public May 19, 2012.

Honours

In 2013, Bildmuseet was nominated fly the

European Museum Forum The European Museum Forum is a museum organization under the Council of Europe. It is an independent, non-profit-making charity, registered in the United Kingdom and founded in 1977. The European Museum Forum organizes the annual European Museum ...

as one of three museums for the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

's prize ''The Council of Europe Museum Prize 2014''. Late 2017 the British newspaper

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

listed Bildmuseet as one of "42 incredible museums to visit in your lifetime".

The building

The outside of the building is covered in randomly spaced windows and a larch facing that will fade to grey in time. Within the building is decorated in white with windows that look out over the

Ume river The Ume River (Swedish: ''Ume älv'' or ''Umeälven'') is one of the main rivers in northern Sweden. It is around long, and flows in a south-eastern direction from its source, the lake ''Överuman'' by the Norway, Norwegian border within the Scand ...

side.

External links

References

{{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Sweden University museums in Sweden Museums in Umeå 1981 establishments in Sweden Art museums and galleries established in 1981 Henning Larsen Architects buildings White Arkitekter buildings 20th-century establishments in Västerbotten County