Kunstkritikk has existed as an online magazine since 2003, originally in Norwegian and then, since 2010, as a Nordic magazine with editorial staff in Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. With substantial support from the New Carlsberg Foundation, the team behind the magazine is now launching Kunstkritikk International, to bring Nordic art to an international audience while maintaining its position as a key point of reference in the Nordic art conversation.
Nordic perspectives on international events
According to Jonas Ekeberg, editor-in-chief of Kunstkritikk, the timing of this launch of a Nordic-international art magazine is no coincidence. ‘We are seeing the contours of a modern, dynamic Nordic art scene with an international outlook. In Norway and Sweden, national museums are being built and upgraded, Copenhagen and Stockholm are hosting international art fairs, and Bergen, Gothenburg and Aarhus are hosting international biennales or triennales,’ says Ekeberg, adding, ‘The ever-expanding Nordic art scene is dependent on professional and knowledgeable critique. The ambition of Kunstkritikk is to spearhead the Nordic-international art conversation.’
Going forward, Kunstkritikk is going to publish reviews, commentaries and news related to Nordic and international art on a daily basis. The main emphasis remains on Nordic art in the form of reviews of exhibitions, interviews with Nordic artists and current reports from the art world. In addition, Kunstkritikk International is going to convey Nordic perspectives on the most important exhibitions and events in the art metropolises of the world.
In addition to the international edition, Kunstkritikk also presents a new design that has a higher emphasis on visual qualities and is better adapted to social media than the previous design.
Visit Kunstkritikk International
Part of an international focus
The New Carlsberg Foundation’s support for the international edition of Kunstkritikk should be seen in relation to the foundation’s growing international focus. Morten Kyndrup, board member of the New Carlsberg Foundation, comments, ‘In recent years, the foundation has enhanced its efforts concerning Danish art on the international scene. In supporting museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim and, most recently, the Phillips Collection with grants dedicated to purchasing, presenting and studying Danish art, our goal is to promote the considerable international interest that Danish art is currently, very deservedly, enjoying. As part of this effort, we also find it relevant to support Kunstkritikk’s ambition of extending its international outreach with qualified and critical coverage of Danish and Nordic art.’
‘We recognize the absolutely key functions of art critique in the world of art. It is no secret, after all, that in recent years the traditional media have downgraded their focus on serious art critique, which is part of the reason why we have now tentatively decided to grant funds to promote the launch of Kunstkritikk International, just as we also recently supported a Master Class in art critique organized by the Danish newspaper Politiken. We have focused exclusively on a few serious projects that we believe in and which can help strengthen and qualify art critique in general,’ Morten Kyndrup adds.
Kunstkritikk is also receiving support from the Arts Council Norway, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Fritt Ord Foundation (Norway), the Relief Fund for Visual Artists (Norway), the Nordic Culture Fund, the Danish Arts Foundation, the Swedish Arts Council and the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.
