Maria Lind
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Maria Lind (born in
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in 1966) is a Swedish curator, art writer and educator. Since 2020, she has been the Counsellor of Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of Sweden in Moscow. For over three decades, Lind has developed a distinct curatorial
methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...
that is art centred, process oriented and context sensitive. She expresses a staunch belief in art as a form of understanding the complexity of life, on par with science, politics and religion. Known for reimagining art institutions in ways that resonate with current artistic practices and social processes, her curatorial work has been associated, in a Northern and Western European context, with "new institutionalism". She has often brought attention to lesser-known artists and practices, including social practice, collective work and research-based art, anticipating their later acknowledgement in the art field. Lind has sought to widen the frame of art, dedicating a considerable amount of her work and writings to infrastructure, institutional methodologies, collaborative networks, conditions of production, art funding, and so on. More recently, she has insisted on the importance of placing art and artists centre stage: “I have a distinct feeling that we need to return to art itself, to focus on artworks and art projects in the wake of institutions becoming more and more obsessed with themselves, curating programmes being preoccupied with curating and curatorial students becoming stuck with in curatorial pirouettes or symbiotic collaborations. Not that art has disappeared completely, but it has been pushed into the background.” From 2011 to 2018, Lind was Director of
Tensta Konsthall Tensta konsthall is a center for contemporary art in the Stockholm suburb of Tensta, northwest of the city center. The gallery works with artists from both Sweden and abroad, often in conjunction with local associations and organizations in the ...
, Stockholm; in 2019 she was co-curator of the third edition of the Art Encounters Biennial, Timișoara; in 2016 she was appointed artistic director for the eleventh
Gwangju Bienniale Gwangju () is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office ...
, Gwangju. During the 2010s, she also held the position of Professor of Artistic Research at the Oslo Art Academy. Between 2008 and 2010 she was Director of the Graduate Program at the Center for Curatorial Studies,
Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...
; from 2003 to 2005 she was the Director of
IASPIS IASPIS, ''The International Artists Studio Program in Stockholm'', is a cultural exchange program financed by the Swedish Government. IASPIS facilitates a creative dialogue between visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as paintin ...
(International Artist Studio Program in Sweden), Stockholm. From 2002 to 2004 she was the Director of
Kunstverein München The Kunstverein München (km) is a non-profit art association located in the Hofgarten in Munich, Germany. It was founded in 1823 and is one of the oldest German art associations. The Kunstverein, a privately sponsored association with almost 1,3 ...
, Munich; from 1997 to 2001 she was a curator at
Moderna Museet Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö in t ...
in Stockholm; in 1998, she was co-curator of Manifesta 2, Luxembourg. In 2009, Lind received the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement. She has been an art critic at the national dailies ''
Svenska Dagbladet ''Svenska Dagbladet'' (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of ''Svenska Dagbladet'' appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the ...
'' and ''
Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ''Da ...
'', in addition to writing extensively for catalogues and other publications.


Curatorial work

Maria Lind's curatorial approach is highly versatile. She has challenged institutional structures, experimented with curatorial formats, and written, published, and taught extensively, working across a range of scales and contexts. From the creation of an independent art space in a shopping mall (Salon 3, together with Hans Ulrich Obrist and Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt, London, 1998–2000) to institutional leadership roles, Lind has engaged with the urgencies and specificities of place. As ''e-flux'' co-editor Brian Kuan Wood writes: “Using flexibility, duration, dislocation and displacement, and in particularly collaboration, each project is dealt with on its own terms, and the accounted for in a curated context. Indeed, while often conceived as isolated and structural solutions to problems posed in facilitating challenging work and making it public, from a curatorial perspective many of Lind's temporary and context-sensitive strategies can be considered paradigmatic in and of themselves.”


Writing and publishing

Beginning with her early writing for the free entertainment newspaper ''City Nytt'' and subsequent art criticism for the national newspapers ''
Svenska Dagbladet ''Svenska Dagbladet'' (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of ''Svenska Dagbladet'' appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the ...
'' and ''
Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ''Da ...
'', Lind's writing developed as an integral aspect of her work as a medium to produce discourse, generate debate and attend to artworks and artists. She has co-edited numerous publications, producing translations and participating in efforts to reinstate the legacies of iconic women and feminist writers such as the Roma writer and activist Katarina Taikon (''The Day I am Free: Katitzi'', 2019; published in Russian in 2021) and Russian revolutionary
Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й, née Domontovich, Домонто́вич;  – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Theoretician ...
(''Red Love: A Reader on Alexandra Kollontai'' / ''Kollontai: A Play by Agneta Pleijel'', 2020). ''The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art'' (2008), ''Contemporary Art and Its Commercial Markets'' (2012) and ''Abstraction'' (2014) all address important tendencies in
contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
, namely documentary approaches,
commercialisation Commercialization or commercialisation is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into ear ...
and abstraction. The anthology ''Situating the Curatorial'', which she edited in 2012, takes a closer look at the notion of "the curatorial". Two volumes collect her writing: ''Selected Maria Lind Writing'' (2010) and ''Seven Years: The Rematerialisation of Art from 2011 to 2017'' (2019). Her ''Konstringar: Vad gör samtidskonsten?'' (2021) published in Stockholm by
Natur & Kultur Natur & Kultur is a Swedish publishing foundation with head office in Stockholm known for an extensive series of teaching materials. Its logotype is an apple tree. Overview The publishing house was founded in 1922 by Johan Hansson and his wif ...
, is an attempt at "popular education" on contemporary art in written form.


Pedagogy

Education is an integral part of Lind's practice, and she has taught in various contexts since the late 1980s, from
art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
and fine art contexts to curatorial and writing programs. As the director of the
Graduate Program Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and struc ...
at the
Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College Founded in 1990, the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard) is an exhibition and research center dedicated to the study of art and exhibition practices from the 1960s to the present. The Center initiated its graduate program in 1994 ...
, she reshaped the curriculum to align more closely with contemporary artistic and curatorial practices, while also teaching
coursework Coursework (also course work, especially British English) is work performed by students or trainees for the purpose of learning. Coursework may be specified and assigned by teachers, or by learning guides in self-taught courses. Coursework can e ...
herself. She has taught two courses at Salzburg's Summer Academy. Since 2014, she has been a guest lecturer for the CuratorLab course at
Konstfack Konstfack, or University of Arts, Crafts and Design, is a university college for higher education in the area of art, crafts and design in Stockholm, Sweden. History Konstfack has had several different names since it was founded in 1844 by the e ...
(University of Arts, Crafts and Design) in Stockholm, and for four years in the 2010s she was Professor of Artistic Research at the Oslo Art Academy. She has also co-initiated several educational initiatives, including the Gwangju Biennale Infra-School and the Art Encounters Biennial curating course in
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. During her tenure at Tensta Konsthall, the institutions supported and hosted artist Ahmet Ögut's The Silent University. Lind has lectured widely across the world since the 1990s.


Curator, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1997–2001)

In 1998 at
Moderna Museet Moderna Museet ("the Museum of Modern Art"), Stockholm, Sweden, is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened a new branch in Malmö in t ...
, Lind initiated a series of commissions, Moderna Museet Projects, making a point scarcely explored at the time: alongside thematic and retrospective exhibitions, an art museum can engage with contemporary art in multiple and fluid ways, in sync with the artists’ needs and artistic processes. As part of the series, over four years, twenty-nine artists were commissioned to make new works for the temporary project space in an old vicarage next door to the museum, or in locations chosen by the artists. Among the artists were
Koo Jeong A Koo Jeong A is a South-Korean born and Paris-based mixed-media and installation artist. Koo studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She worked as an artist-in-residence in the Augarten Contemporary in 2002. Her work has included still and ...
, Ēriks Božis, Annika Eriksson, Peter Geschwind,
Tobias Rehberger Tobias Rehberger (born June 2, 1966) is a German sculptor, born in Esslingen am Neckar. He studied under Thomas Bayrle and Martin Kippenberger at the Stadelschule in Frankfurt am Main, where he now teaches. Work Rehberger works in the wider ...
, Emese Benczúr,
Simon Starling Simon Starling (born 1967) is an English conceptual artist and won the Turner Prize in 2005. Early life Simon Starling was born in 1967 in Epsom, Surrey. He studied photography and art at Maidstone College of Art from 1986 to 1987, then at Trent ...
,
Ann Lislegaard Ann Lislegaard (born 1962 in Norway) is a contemporary artist living and working in Copenhagen, Denmark and New York City, US. She is known for her 3D film animations and sound-light installations often departing from ideas found in science fictio ...
, Jason Dodge,
Douglas Gordon Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Work Much of Gordon's w ...
,
Claire Barclay Claire Barclay (born 1968) is a Scottish artist. Her artistic practice uses a number of traditional media that include installation, sculpture and printmaking, but it also expands to encapsulate a diverse array of craft techniques. Central to h ...
, Dolores Zinny & Juan Maidagan, Elin Wikström, Liesbeth Bik & Jos van der Pol, Esra Ersen and
Philippe Parreno Philippe Parreno (born 1964 in Oran, Algeria) is a contemporary French artist who lives and works in Paris. His works include films, Installation art, installations, performances, drawings, and text. Parreno focuses on expanding ideas of time ...
. At Moderna Museet Lind also curated ''What If: Art on the Verge of Architecture and Design'' with, among others,
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (born 30 June 1965, in Strasbourg) is a French visual artist and educator. She is known for her work in video projection, photography, and art installations. She has worked in landscaping, design, and writing. "I alwa ...
,
Jorge Pardo Jorge Pardo may refer to: *Jorge Pardo (artist) *Jorge Pardo (musician) (born 1955), Spanish musician *J. D. Pardo Jorge Daniel Pardo (born September 7, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Jack Toretto in '' F9'' (2021), as ...
,
Martin Boyce Martin Boyce (born 1967) is a Scottish sculptor inspired by early 20th century modernism. Boyce was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire and educated at Holy Cross High School in Hamilton. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art, graduating with ...
and
Andrea Zittel Andrea Zittel (born 1965) is an American artist based in Joshua Tree, CA whose practice encompasses spaces, objects and modes of living in an ongoing investigation that explores the questions "How to live?" and "What gives life meaning?" Early li ...
. The exhibition was included in the book ''Show Time: The 50 Most Influential Exhibitions of Contemporary Art''. Additionally, she co-curated a retrospective of
Robert Smithson Robert Smithson (January 2, 1938 – July 20, 1973) was an American artist known for sculpture and land art who often used drawing and photography in relation to the spatial arts. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and m ...
’s work and initiated the monthly monographic screening series ''Contemporary Film and Video''. The latter occasioned the Swedish debut of moving image work by Jeroen de Rijke & Willem de Rooij,
Pierre Huyghe Pierre Huyghe (born 11 September 1962) is a French artist who works in a variety of media from films and sculptures to public interventions and living systems. Education Pierre Huyghe (pronounced ''hweeg'') was born in Paris in 1962. He lives ...
,
Monica Bonvicini Monica Bonvicini (born 1965 in Venice) is an Italian artist. In her work, Bonvicini investigates the relationship between power structures, gender and space. She works intermediately with installation, sculpture, video, photography and drawing me ...
,
Matthew Buckingham Matthew Buckingham (born 1963) is an American filmmaker and multimedia artist. He is a full-time faculty member at Columbia University and is the chair of the visual arts department. Life and work Buckingham studied at the Art Institute of Chica ...
,
Fiona Tan Fiona Tan (born 1966 in Pekanbaru, Indonesia) is a visual artist primarily known for her photography, film and video art installations. With her own complex cultural background, Tan's work is known for its skillful craftsmanship and emotional int ...
, Jaki Irvine, and
Deimantas Narkevicius Deimantas is a Lithuanian masculine given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that perso ...
, among others.


Director, Kunstverein München, Munich (2002–2004)

During her directorship at
Kunstverein München The Kunstverein München (km) is a non-profit art association located in the Hofgarten in Munich, Germany. It was founded in 1823 and is one of the oldest German art associations. The Kunstverein, a privately sponsored association with almost 1,3 ...
, Maria Lind and her team (Curator Sören Grammel, Assistant Curators Katarina Schlieben, Judith Schwartzbart, Tessa Praun and Julienne Lorz) privileged process, long-term
Collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...
s and collective thinking. A group of fifteen artists, curators and Critics (including Apolonija Šušteršič,
Carey Young Carey Young (born 1970) is a visual artist whose work is often inspired by law, politics and economics. The tools, language and architectures of these fields act as material for her videos, text works, performances and photographs, often develo ...
, Matts Leiderstam,
Lynne Cooke Lynne Cooke is an Australian-born art scholar. Since August 2014 she has been the Senior Curator, Special Projects in Modern Art, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Early life and education Born in Geelong, Australia, Cooke receive ...
and Jan Verwoert) acting as "Sputniks" (
Fellow traveller The term ''fellow traveller'' (also ''fellow traveler'') identifies a person who is intellectually sympathetic to the ideology of a political organization, and who co-operates in the organization's politics, without being a formal member of that o ...
s), were invited to reimagine the role of this art institution and to work closely with it. The program also included projects by Oda Projesi,
Bojan Šarčević Bojan Šarčević (; born 1974) is a visual artist. His work includes Video art, video, installations, site-responsive architectural interventions, photographic collage, more or less abstract sculpture, and printed publications. Bojan Šarčević i ...
and
Chantal Akerman Chantal Anne Akerman (; 6 June 19505 October 2015) was a Belgian film director, screenwriter, artist, and Film studies, film professor at the City College of New York. She is best known for films such as ''Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 108 ...
. Marion von Osten's research-based "project exhibition" ''Studio Europe'' was an early discussion on art and
post-Fordism Post-Fordism is the dominant system of economic production, consumption, and associated socio-economic phenomena in most industrialized countries since the late 20th century. It is contrasted with Fordism, the system formulated in Henry Ford's aut ...
.
Retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...
s with
Christine Borland Christine Borland (born 1965) is a Scottish artist. Born in Darvel, Ayrshire, Scotland, Borland is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1997 (won by Gillian Wearing) for her work ''From Life'' at Tra ...
and
Rirkrit Tiravanija Rirkrit Tiravanija ( th, ฤกษ์ฤทธิ์ ตีระวนิช, pronunciation: [] or Tea-rah-vah-nitJerry Saltz (May 7, 2007)Conspicuous Consumption''New York Magazine''.) is a Thai contemporary artist residing in New York City, Be ...
experimented with the format of mid-career
survey Survey may refer to: Statistics and human research * Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population * Survey (human research), including opinion polls Spatial measurement * Surveying, the techniq ...
exhibitions. The group project ''Totally Motivated: A Sociocultural Manoeuvre'' was a playful collaboration between five curators and ten artists exploring the relationship between professional and amateur art practices.


Director, Iaspis (International Artist Studio Program in Sweden), Stockholm (2003–2005)

At Iaspis, Maria Lind organised a programme of symposia and seminars engaging with research and addressing conditions of production in contemporary art and collaborative practices. These included the symposia "Taking the Matter into Common Hands: On Collaborative Practices in Contemporary Art” (co-curated with Joanna Billing and Lars Nilsson) with, among others,
Anton Vidokle Anton Vidokle is an artist and founder of e-flux. Born 1965, Vidokle lives in New York and Berlin. Work In 2004 Vidokle co-organized e-flux video rental with Julieta Aranda, which traveled to Berlin, Frankfurt; Extra City, Antwerp; Carpenter Cent ...
, Chto Delat (What Is to Be Done?) and STEALTH.unlimited; "Citizenship: Changing Conditions” with, among others, Chantal Mouffe and Stefan Jonsson; “Why Archives?”; “New Relation-alities”; “A Fiesta of Tough Choices”, co-curated with Tirdad Zolghadr; “Travelling Magazine Table”; and the seminar series “Tendencies in Time”. During her tenure, she co-edited the report ''European Cultural Policies 2015: A Report with Scenarios on the Future of Public Funding for Contemporary Art in Europe'' commissioned by the European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies and Iaspis.


Director, Graduate Program at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York (2008–2010)

During her directorship of the Center for Curatorial Studies, Lind sought to engage students more directly with art and artists by introducing a number of new components to the curriculum. These included studio visits, an artists’ residency program (for example, residencies with Bernd Krauss and Marysia Lewandowska), hosting/supervision at CCS exhibitions, and mediation as a part of students’ final projects. Together with artist
Hito Steyerl Hito Steyerl (born 1 January 1966) is a German filmmaker, moving image artist, writer, and innovator of the essay documentary.
, she initiated the research project and exhibition ''The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art'', with, among others,
Yael Bartana Yael Bartana ( he, יעל ברתנא; born 1970) is an Israeli artist, filmmaker and photographer, whose past works have encompassed multiple mediums, including photography, film, video, sound, and installation. Many of her pieces feature polit ...
, Haroun Farocki,
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 ...
, Omer Fast,
Emily Jacir Emily Jacir ( ar, املي جاسر) is a Palestinian artist and filmmaker. Biography Jacir was born in Bethlehem in 1973, Jacir spent her childhood in Saudi Arabia, attending high school in Italy. She attended the University of Dallas, Memph ...
,
Olivia Plender Olivia Plender (born 1977) is an artist based in London and Stockholm. She is known for her installations, performances, videos, and comics. Life and career Plender was born in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in th ...
and Steven Shore. She also curated ''Philippe Parreno'' and the group show ''Personal Protocols and Other Preferences'', with Esra Ersen, Michael Beutler and Kirstine Roeppsdorff. While her tenure coincided with a new generation of curators incubated by curatorial studies programmes, Lind acknowledged the limits to what such education can provide: “If there are three things that any education can help foster – methodology, discourse and networks – curating programmes typically offer only the latter two. They can help students acquire ways of talking about art, curating and related matters, and they allow for the formation of peer groups with whom it is possible to have valuable and long-term exchanges.”


Director, Tensta konsthall, Stockholm (2011–2018)

Maria Lind's
tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...
at Tensta Konsthall, in the Stockholm suburb of
Tensta Tensta is a district in Spånga-Tensta, Spånga-Tensta borough, Stockholm, Sweden. There are about 6,000 apartments in Tensta
, showed the potential of a small-scale art space situated at the "periphery". It also exemplified her deployment of a methodology that she defined in a 2009 essay as "the curatorial"  – that which "emerges in the multiplicity of connections and layers, in how they are orchestrated to challenge the status quo, with the works themselves placed at the center of the project". "Consisting of signification processes and relationships between objects, people, places, ideas and so forth", the curatorial is "a presence that strives to create friction and push new ideas". Originally commissioned in 2009 by ''
Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...
'' as the inaugural column in a series dedicated to curating, this essay has been influential in the field of curatorial studies and practice. Informed by
Chantal Mouffe Chantal Mouffe (; born 17 June 1943) is a Belgian political theorist, formerly teaching at University of Westminster. She is best known for her contribution to the development—jointly with Ernesto Laclau, with whom she co-authored her most fre ...
’s distinction between "politics" and "political", Lind's articulation of "the curatorial" uplifted the notion that curators and art institutions can play an active role in the
public sphere The public sphere (german: Öffentlichkeit) is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action. A "Public" is "of or concerning th ...
. Together with Tensta konsthall's team (including Ulrika Flink, Hedvig Wiezell, Emily Fahlén, Asrin Haidari, Paulina Sokolow, Fahyma Alnablsi, Didem Yildirim, Asha Mohammed and Hanna Nordell), Lind transformed the institution into a new model for the art institution as locally embedded and internationally connected. She describes her approach as twofold: both as a practice of “digging where we stood”, and one of developing a multifaceted programme that would be relevant for professionals as well as others—“a generous edge”. This vision operated at multiple levels. The design duo Metahaven conceived the overall visual communication infrastructure for the institution, making a "mark" instead of a logo (for use on the website, exhibition handouts, and signage). A cafeteria was established by a local nonprofit organisation as a multifunctional place for hospitality and activities for new and regular visitors (as in the weekly gatherings "Swedish with Baby", or the Women's Café). The ephemeral ''Tensta Museum: Reports from New Sweden'', initiated in 2013, collected and presented histories and
memories Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
in relation to the location and people living and working there. Art activities dedicated to children and talks focused on children's education were recurrent as well. Numerous local collaborations were organised, including with a local women's centre, the Kurdish Association, the Tensta Library, a home for elderly people, an allotment garden and schools in the area. ''Art and Shops'' (2018) was a collaboration with shop and restaurant owners whose business were located in the mall right above the konsthall, in whose premises art was shown. ''Art Treasures: Grains of Gold from the Public Schools of Tensta'' (2018) consisted of a yearlong exhibition of artworks belonging to the municipality, and borrowed from the local schools, at the konsthall; simultaneously a series of contemporary art shows were held at the schools. The institution's programme was multifaceted. Among its long-term inquiries were ''Abstract Possible: The Stockholm Synergies'', 2012, with, among others, Doug Ashford, Mika Tajima, Matias Faldbakken, Wade Guyton and José Léon Cerillo; ''The New Model'', in collaboration with Lars Bang Larsen, 2011–ongoing, with, among others, Magnus Bärtås and Ane Hjort Guttu; ''The Eros Effect: Art Solidarity Movements and the Struggle for Social Justice'', 2015. The konsthall hosted solo exhibitions (Iman Issa, 2013; Ingela Ihrman, 2016; Leonor Antunes, 2017; Naeem Mohaiemen 2017), group shows (''Soon Enough: Art in Action'', 2018, with, among others, Zhou Tao, Joar Nango, Alma Heikkilä, Marie Kölbaek Iversen, Amol Patil and Anne Low), and commissioned works (''Transmission from the Liberated Zones'', Filipa César, 2015–2016; ''Red Love'', Dora García, 2020; ''Sometimes It Was Beautiful'', Christian Nyampeta, 2018; ''A Table Becomes a Table with Candlestick Legs'', Anne Low, 2018). The institution was also home to retrospectives (Marie-Louise Ekman accompanied by Sister Corita Kent, Mladen Stilinovic and Martha Wilson, 2013; ''Standard Length of a Miracle'', Goldin+Senneby, 2016), art walks, seminars, and screenings. Another defining aspect of Tensta Konsthall's programme was its institutional partnerships, which included collaboration with
ArkDes The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design ( sv, Statens centrum för arkitektur och design) or ArkDes, previously known as the Museum of Architecture (''Arkitekturmuseet''), is a Swedish national museum dedicated to architecture and design. I ...
in Stockholm, the Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
(an exhibition dedicated to the transdisciplinary designer Frederick Kiesler, annotated by Celine Condorelli); ''Migration: Traces in an Art Collection'', in partnership with Malmö Konstmuseum; co-initiation and membership of Cluster (a network of eight contemporary visual art organisations located in residential areas situated on the peripheries of cities from Europe to the Middle East); and the networks Sibling Art Centers of Stockholm and Klister, comprising small- and medium-size art institutions across Sweden. Students from CuratorLab at Konstfack (University of Arts, Crafts and Design) led by Joanna Warsza were repeatedly involved in research and public programming. The Tensta Konsthall Text Prize was initiated in 2014, highlighting young writers from the Stockholm suburbs.


Artistic director, Eleventh Gwangju Biennial (2016)

As the artistic director of the eleventh edition of the Gwangju Biennial, Maria Lind conceived a wide-ranging programme together with curator
Binna Choi Binna Choi (born 1977) is a South Korean curator and the director of Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons. Education and career Choi completed her curatorial studies at the De Appel in Amsterdam 2004, after graduation she joined BAK, ...
, assistant curators Azar Mahmoudian, Margarida Mendes, Michelle Wong and the Gwangju-based art collective Mite-Ugro, invited to join the curatorial team as local curatorial associates. Entitled "The Eighth Climate (What Does Art Do?)", this edition of the biennial channelled attention to art as a guiding principle for imagining the future. Among the featured artists were Ahmet Ögut, Suki Seokyeong Kang, Christian Nyampeta, Prajakta Potnis, Emily Roysdon, Amalia Pica, David Maljkovic, Gunilla Klingberg and Adam Pendelton. Alongside an exhibition that extended from the Gwangju Biennial building to other locations in the city and online, the biennial comprised "Monthly Gatherings" (''Wol-rae-hoe''), conceived together with the collective Mite-Ugro; an "Infra-School" in collaboration with art schools and universities in Gwangju, Seoul and beyond; around 100 national and international "biennale fellows"; a forum with the fellows; a publication; and a website. The biennial went on for an entire year, in line with Lind's focus on long-term perspectives and embeddedness.


Curator, Art Encounters Biennial, Timișoara (2019)

The third edition of the Art Encounters Biennial was curated by Maria Lind and Anca Rujoiu. As with the Gwangju Biennial, this edition proposed a methodology as a structuring device rather than a main theme. Stretching the biennial's activities to a one-year programme, multiple parts formed its whole: monthly events, the biennial exhibition, screenings, a curatorial school, an independent publishing platform and a publication. The conventional biennial exhibition monolith was disassembled into small-scale, freestanding exhibitions and interventions with abundant local connections. Among the participants were Alexandra Croitoru, Dan Acostioaei, Małgorzata Mirga-Tas, Ane Graff, Bella Rune, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Agnieszka Polska, Thao Ngyuen Phan, Ana Maria Millan, Behzad Khosravi Noori and Zelimir Zilnik.


Biography

Maria Lind grew up in Stockholm and Sandviken, Sweden. Her great-grandfather (1901–1964) was active in the labour movement, employed as a metalworker for the mine in Riddarhyttan, and later a journalist and editor with a strong focus on literature and art. He was one of the founders of the arts advocacy organisation Konstfrämjandet, and his writing and art collecting have served as inspiration for Lind. From an early age, she showed an interest in culture, with libraries and the People's House (''Folkets hus'') movement, with its theatres and art institutions, becoming formative influences on her life. Before finishing senior high school at Brännkyrka gymnasium, she had begun leading guided tours of the art at the museum Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde. Lind received her MA in 1990 in art history and Russian from the University of Stockholm. The same year, she was accepted as a PhD student at the Department of Art History, University of Stockholm. From 1990 to 1994, she continued her studies in the history of ideas, semiotics and feminist theory at the university; between 1995 and 1996, she participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program, New York. Her tenure on the editorial board of the Stockholm-based art journal ''Index'' (1994–1998) provided what she has called a "second university". She is the mother of Primo Gillick Lind, born in 2005.


List of selected curatorial projects

* 2020–ongoing: 52proposalsforthe20s (Instagram) * 2019–2020: ''Migration: Traces in an Art Collection''. Co-curated with Cecilia Widenheim; at Tensta konsthall and Malmö Konstmuseum. * 2019: Art Encounters Biennial in Timișoara. Co-curated with Anca Rujoiu. * 2016: Eleventh Gwangju Biennial. Artistic Director, with curator Binna Choi and Assistant Curators Azar Mahmoudian, Margarida Mendes, Michelle Wong and Mite-Ugro. * 2016: Frederick Kiesler Retrospective, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Vienna. Co-curated with Dieter Bogner and Bärbel Vischer. * 2015: ''Future Light''. Curator, with Rana Begum, Elena Damiani, Shezad Dawood, Mounir Farmanfarmaian, Amalia Pica, Yelena Popova, Walid Raad, Haegue Yang and others, as part of the first Vienna Biennial, Museum Angewandte Kunst and Kunsthalle Wien. * 2011–2019: As Director of Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm. Co-curator of, among other projects, ''Frederick Kiesler: Visions at Work'', annotated by Celine Condorelli and six student groups; ''The New Model'', with Dave Hullfish Bailey, Magnus Bärtås, Ane Hjort Guttu, and Hito Steyerl. Curator of ''Tensta Museum: Reports from New Sweden''; ''Meta and Regina: Two Magazine Sisters in Crime''; ''The Paths to the Commons are Infinite'' by Ayreen Anastas & Rene Gabri; solo exhibitions with Mats Adelman, Babak Afrassiabi & Nasrin Tabatabai, Filipa Cesar, Goldin+Senneby, Ingela Ihrman, Iman Issa, Bernd Krauss, LTTR, Naeem Mohaiemen, Marion von Osten, Hinrich Sachs, Natascha Sadr Haghighian and Ylva Westerlund. * Since 2010: ''Abstract Possible: The Stockholm Synergies'', with Doug Ashford, Claire Barclay, Jose Leon Cerrillo, Matias Faldbakken, Goldin+Senneby, Mika Tajima and others. Exhibitions in Malmö Konsthall, 2010; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, 2011; White Space, Zurich, 2011; Eastside Projects, Birmingham, 2012; Tensta konsthall, 2012–ongoing. * 2008–2010: As Director, Graduate Program, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. Curator of Philippe Parreno, ''The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art'', with Matthew Buckingham, Hito Steyerl, Walid Raad, Petra Bauer, Carles Guerra, Michael Rakowitz, Rosalind Nashashibi & Lucy Skaer, Emily Jacir, Omer Fast, Yael Bartana, Deimantas Narkevičius and others; ''Personal Protocols and Other Preferences'', with Michael Beutler, Esra Ersen and Kirstine Roepstorff''; I’ve Got Something in My Eye'', with Bikvanderpol; ''Mobile Observation (Transmitting and Receiving) Station'', with Lisi Raskin; ''Inside the White Cube: Nicholas Africano''; ''American Soldier'', with Bernd Krauss at the Goethe Institute in New York (as part of Performa 09); ''Wyoming Evenings: What Is the Good of Work?'', series of four talks with Marion von Osten, Tom McCarthy, Michael Hardt, Liam Gillick, Gianni Vattimo and others, co-curated with Simon Critchley and co-organised with the Goethe Institute. * 2003–2005: As Director, Iaspis (International Artist Studio Program in Sweden), Stockholm. * Curator of exhibitions with Andrea Geyer, Ibon Aranberri, Tommy Stöckel and Saskia Holmkvist. Co-curator of the symposia ''Taking the Matter Into Common Hands: On Collaborative Practices in Contemporary Art'', with Copenhagen Free University, Brian Holmes, Marysia Lewandowska, WHW and others; ''Citizenship: Changing Conditions'', with Andrea Geyer, Chantal Mouffe and Stefan Jonsson; ''Why Archives?'', with Ibon Aranerri and Roger Buergel; ''New Relation-alities'', with Gardar Eide Einarsson, Alex Farqhuarson and Nina Möntmann; ''A Fiesta of Tough Choices'', with Timothy Brennan, Jonathan Harris, Hito Steyerl and Tirdad Zolghadr; ''Travelling Magazine Table'', with Karl Larsson & Andreas Mangione, Regina Möller and Georg Schöllhammer; and the seminar series “Tendencies in Time” with Matei Bejenaru, Philippe Vergne, Barbara Steiner and others. Co-editor of the report ''European Cultural Policies 2015: A Report with Scenarios on the Future of Public Funding for Contemporary Art in Europe'', eiPCP and Iaspis. * 2002–2004: As Director, Kunstverein München. Curator of exhibitions by Deimantas Narkevicius, Oda Projesi, Bojan Sarcevic, Chantal Akerman, Philippe Parreno and Marion von Osten, Christine Borland and Rirkrit Tiravanija; and group project ''Totally Motivated: A Sociocultural Manoeuvre'', with Luca Frei, Carla Zaccagnini, Matias Faldbakken and others. During these years, Carey Young, Apolonija Šušteršič, Jan Verwoert, Lynne Cooke, Matts Leiderstam and others functioned as “sputniks”, fellow travellers, to the institution. * 2002: As Commissioner, Sweden's participation in the São Paulo Biennial. Curator of solo exhibition by Annika Eriksson. * 1997–2001: Moderna Museet Stockholm. Curator of Moderna Museet Projects, with Maria Lindberg, Koo Jeong-a, Eriks Bozis, Annika Eriksson, Peter Geschwind, Tobias Rehberger, Emese Benczur, Fanni Niemi-Junkola, Simon Starling, Apolonija Šušteršič, Miriam Bäckström, Hinirch Sachs, Matts Leiderstam, Ann Lislegaard, Jason Dodge, Douglas Gordon, Honoré d'O, Tor-Magnus Lundeby, Magnus Wallin, Claire Barclay, Dolores Zinny & Juan Maidagan, Elin Wikström, Liesbeth Bik & Jos van der Pol, Regina Möller, Markus Schinwald, Johanna Billing, Pia Rönicke, Philippe Parreno and Esra Ersen. * 2000: Moderna Museet Stockholm. Curator of ''Contemporary Film and Video'', with Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Jeroen de Rijke & Willem de Rooij, Douglas Gordon, Pipilotti Rist, Elke Krystufek, Hajnal Nemeth, Peter Land, Gitte Villesen, Pierre Huyghe, Lova Hamilton, Sofie Persvik, Matthew Buckingham, Annika Larsson, Philippe Parreno, Fiona Tan, Jaki Irvine, AK Dolven, Pia Greschner, Monica Bonvicini, and Deimantas Narkevicius * 2000: Moderna Museet Stockholm. Co-curator, ''Blick: New Nordic Film and Video'' * 1999: Moderna Museet Stockholm. Co-curator, ''Carsten Höller: New World''. * 1999: Moderna Museet Stockholm. Co-curator, ''Robert Smithson Retrospective: Works 1955–73''. * 1999: Moderna Museet Stockholm. Curator, ''What If: Art on the Verge of Architecture and Design'', with Liam Gillick, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Philippe Parreno, Gunilla Klingberg, Jorge Pardo, Superflex, N55, Pia Rönicke and others. * 1999: ''Non Stop Video Club'' by Apolonija Šušteršič, Mala Galerija, Ljubljana. * 1998: ''Personal & Ritual'', with Pipilotti Rist, Gitte Villesen, Peter Land, Alan Curral and others; at the City Museum in Skopje, as part of the Skopje Summer Festival. * 1998–2000: Salon 3, with Rebecca Gordon Nesbitt and Hans Ulrich Obrist; in the Elephant & Castle shopping centre, London. * 1998: As Commissioner, Sweden's participation in the São Paulo Biennial. Solo exhibition by Ann-Sofi Sidén. * 1998: ''Come Closer: 90s Art from Scandinavia and Its Predecessors''. Co-curated with Marie-Louise Ekman, Öyvind Fahlström, Annika von Hausswolff, Joachim Koester, Addi Köpcke, Ann Lislegaard, Bjarne Melgaard, Kjartan Slettemark and others; at Liechtensteinische Staatliche Kunstsammlung, Nikolaj Kirke Copenhagen and Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest. * 1998: ''Marie-Louise Ekman – en retrospektiv utställning'', Kulturhuset Stockholm, Malmö Konstmuseum, Sundsvalls Museum Kulturmagasinet, Gotlands Konstmuseum Visby, Bildmuseet Umeå and Borås Konstmuseum. * 1998: Co-curator, UKS-biennalen; at various venues in Norway. * 1998: ''Studio Visit'', in collaboration with Annika Eriksson and Matts Leiderstam; at Duende, Rotterdam. * 1998: Co-curator, Manifesta 2, Luxembourg. * 1998: ''Swedish Mess'', part of Arkipelag – Stockholm, co-curated with Sara Arrhenius; with Tobias Bernstrup, Anna-Maria Ekstrand, Lova Hamilton, Kjartan Slettemark, Johan Zetterqvist, Magnus Wallin and others; at Nordiska Museet, Stockholm. * 1998: ''Press & Expose – Recent Videos from Sweden'', as part of Nuit Blanche, Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Travelling. * 1997–98: Co-curator, ''Blind Date'', a series of four artistic blind dates in Munich (Ann Lislegaard-Olaf Nicolai), Berlin (Thomas Bechinger-Nathan Coley), Malmö (Olav Westphalen-Elin Wikström) and Stockholm (Iris Häussler-Maria Lindberg). * 1997: ''Letter & Event'', with Rirkrit Tiravanija, Douglas Gordon, Elin Wikström, Henrik Håkansson, Carsten Höller, Christine Borland, Jaan Toomik, Gitte Villesen, Matts Leiderstam and others; at Apex Art New York. * 1997: ''Clean & Sane'', with Julie Roberts, Claire Barclay, Douglas Gordon, Marianna Uuttinen, Carin Ellberg, Jane Simpson, Hadrian Pigott, Jason Dodge, Ann Lislegaard and others; at Edsvik Konst och Kultur, Stockholm, and Galleri F15, Moss. * 1996: ''Sawn-Off'', with Dave Allen at Kulturhuset, Stockholm; Christine Borland at Galleri Enkehuset, Stockholm, Nathan Coley at Galleri Index, Stockholm; Jacqueline Donachie at Norrtälje konsthall; Douglas Gordon at Uppsala konstmuseum; and Julie Roberts at Olle Olsson Huset, Solna. * 1996: ''I Am Curious''; concept and coordination of a series of four exhibitions of contemporary art from Sweden in independent art spaces in London and Glasgow (Cubitt Gallery, Hales Gallery, Independent Art Space and Transmission). * 1994–1995: ''437 Self Portraits'' by Carin Ellberg; at, among other places, Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Malmö Konstmuseum and Konstakademien, Stockholm. * 1993–1994: ''Skäggiga damen'' (The bearded lady), co-curated with three fellow students from the Department of Art History at Galleri Forum in Stockholm, Galleri 60 in Umeå and Göteborgs Konstmuseum in Gothenburg.


List of Publications

* 2021: ''Tensta Museum: Reports from New Sweden'', edited by Maria Lind (Berlin and Stockholm: Sternberg Press and Tensta konsthall). * 2021: “Konstringar – Vad gör samtidskonsten?”, ''Natur & Kultur'', Stockholm. * 2020: ''Migration: Traces in an Art Collection'', co-edited with Cecilia Widenheim (Berlin and Malmö: Sternberg Press and Malmö Art Museum). * 2020: ''The New Model: An Inquiry'', co-edited with Lars Bang Larsen (Berlin and Stockholm: Sternberg Press and Tensta konsthall). * 2020: ''Red Love: A Reader on Alexandra Kollontai / Kollontai: A Play by Agneta Pleijel'', co-edited with Michele Masucci and Joanna Warsza (Stockholm and Berlin: Konstfack, Sternberg Press, and Tensta konsthall). * 2019: ''Seven Years: The Rematerialisation of Art from 2011 to 2017'', columns by Maria Lind (Berlin: Sternberg Press). * 2016: ''Frederick Kiesler: Life Visions'', co-edited with Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Dieter Bogner and Bärbel Vischer (Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag). * 2015: ''Future Light'', online reader published by Kunsthalle Wien and Museum Angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna. * 2014: ''Art and the F Word: Reflections on the Browning of Europe'', co-edited with WHW (Berlin: Sternberg Press). * 2013: ''Cluster: A Dialectionary'', co-edited with Binna Choi, Emily Pethick and Natasa Petresin (Berlin: Sternberg Press). * 2013: ''Abstraction, Documents on Contemporary Art'' (London: MIT Press and Whitechapel Gallery). * 2013: ''No Is Not an Answer: On the Work of Marie-Louise Ekman'', co-edited with Tone Hansen (Berlin: Sternberg Press). * 2012: ''Performing the Curatorial: With and Beyond Art'' (Berlin: Sternberg Press). * 2012: ''Contemporary Art and Its Commercial Markets: A Report on Current Conditions and Future Scenarios'', co-edited with Olav Velthuis (Berlin: Sternberg Press). * 2010: ''Selected Maria Lind Writing'', edited by Beatrice von Bismarck, Ana Paula Cohen, Liam Gillick, Brian Kuan Wood and Tirdad Zolghadr (Berlin: Sternberg Press). * 2008: ''The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art'', co-edited with Hito Steyerl (Berlin: Sternberg Press). * 2011: Guest editor of ''Paletten'', no. 1, Stockholm. * 2011–2017: Columnist, ''Art Review'', London. * 2008–2010, 2018–2020: Critic, ''Dagens Nyheter'', Stockholm. * 2010–2012: Contributor, ''Artforum'', New York. * 2002–2004: Publisher and editor of the ''Kunstverein München Drucksache'' (newsletter), with six issues. * 2004: ''Curating with Light Luggage'', co-edited with Liam Gillick (Frankfurt: Revolver Archiv für aktuelle Kunst), the result of a symposium at Kunstverein München with the same title. * 2007: ''Taking the Matter into Common Hands: Collaborative Practices in Contemporary Art'' (London: Black Dog Publishing,); ''A Fiesta of Tough Choices'' (Oslo: Torpedo). * Numerous catalogue texts and texts for anthologies on art, gender theory and curating, for instance: on Ann-Sofi Sidén, for the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh; Gunilla Klingberg, for Momentum Festival of Nordic Art in Moss; and Michael Beutler's ''Pecafil'' (New York: Lukas & Sternberg). One of ten curators contributing to ''Fresh Cream'' (New York: Phaidon, 2000). * 1995–1998: Editorial board member, ''Index'', Stockholm. * 1993–1997: Art critic, ''Svenska Dagbladet'', Stockholm.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lind, Maria Stockholm University alumni Swedish art curators 1966 births Swedish art historians Swedish women historians Swedish art critics Swedish women art critics Directors of museums in Sweden 21st-century Swedish women writers Artists from Stockholm Living people Swedish women curators